SEA-KALE, ASPARAGUS, ARTICHOKES, ETC. 



115 



the stalk has perished, we give a good coat of stable manure, and cover 

 with earth. In spring, about the middle of March, the earth is raked off 

 into the alley. The first shoots appear (fig. 1.60) about the 

 second week in April, but are then frequently frosted. The 

 shoots continue to appear, and come again after the first are 

 cut, till July, but too much cutting exhausts the bed. Aspa- 

 ragus is essentially the May vegetal, and enough should be 

 grown to have daily produce till peas come in season. 

 Foreigners fully appreciate asparagus, and in Italy wild 

 asparagus is frequently on table; its flavour is so intensified 

 as to be almost nauseous. In Paris enormous- heads are "idiam. 

 brought to market from (I have been told) the South of France, but 

 how it attains those immoderate proportions I am unaware, although 

 I have made particular inquiries upon this point. Many persons 

 salt their asparagus beds, but I have never done so to mine, and 

 yet they yield good produce. Asparagus, as sold in the London 

 market, is cut too young, because then it looks larger. In private 

 gardens it should always be cut with so much 

 green that a length of at least three inches 

 without any stringy matter is entirely eatable. 

 Sometimes, when I have been able to procure 

 roots from an old bed, I have forced it in 

 a frame over a gentle hot-bed, but it requires 

 all the light possible to give flavour. Forced 

 asparagus upon any scale is a luxury only 

 adapted for state feasts. There is perhaps 

 only one variety of asparagus ; and it is very 

 doubtful if the so-called giant varieties present 

 any real differences. 



As Sea-kale (fig. 161) is in use over many 

 months, it requires a proportionately large 

 plantation. It is propagated by seed, or more 

 commonly by little offsets from the larger plants. The first crop we 

 obtain by taking up roots and placing them in a gentle hot-bed, care- 



I 2 



Fig. 161. — Sea kale, J size. 



