124 Siibtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



washed away. A single spring will provide a sufficient 

 area to supply all the cress that a family will want to use. 

 If more is needed, beds may be excavated just below the 

 level of the stream, planted and then flooded. The 

 sowing is very simple ; it amounts to nothing but drop- 

 ping the seed in a moist place. The best time for this is 

 during September, October, or November. A ten-cent 

 package will yield all the cress that several families will 

 care to use. After a little patch is once established it will 

 continue to produce this vegetable for several years, but 

 sooner or later, from various reasons, it will have to be sown 

 or replanted. There is no extensive market for this prod- 

 uct, and yet there are hundreds of families in the South 

 who would be glad to have it. All that is necessary in 

 preparing it for the table is to see that the branches that 

 have been cut off are thoroughly washed and freed from 

 dirt. It is usually eaten with salt. It is excellent when 

 prepared as salad. Water-cress is sold to a large extent 

 during the cool months in the large cities of the United 

 States and Europe. The best English water-cress is 

 grown in spring water coming directly from undergroimd, 

 so that it is warm in the winter. 



ASPARAGUS 



The edible shoots, which form this vegetable, sprout up 

 in quantities only after the plants have been resting during 

 the cold season; thus in regions where there is no cold, 

 but only a cool season, asparagus does not flourish. Thus, 

 in India, asparagus can only be grown fairly well on the 

 mountains, some thousands of feet high. Asparagus does 



