THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
under the soil, and so save the digestion of myself 
and family. 
Without a good asparagus bed a country home 
is hopelessly deficient. From experience I have 
come to believe that the very best sort is the Ar- 
genteuil, a French variety of extraordinary tender- 
ness and great size of stalk. I have often cut it 
eight and ten inches in length, and tender clear to 
the bottom. Yet the Palmetto and Conover’s Co- 
lossal and Moore’s Crossbred, and Columbian 
Mammoth White are all of exceedingly good qual- 
ity. The best method of securing good plants is to 
sow seed late in the fall, or early in the spring, in 
boxes, or in a spent hotbed, or in the open ground, 
in drills about one foot apart; cover the seed about 
one inch, and leave the plants growing about three 
inches apart in the row; transplant when two or 
three years old. I am not certain from personal 
experience, although I strongly suspect, that we 
shall do much better with this delicious vegetable 
if we sow where the plants are to remain, thinning 
out to about one foot apart. In this case I would 
sow the seed a little deeper, and in somewhat hol- 
lowed drills. Then, as the plants grow, I would 
fill up the hollowed drill, and even mound slightly, 
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