ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



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gus may be gathered in this manner, it must be grown on 

 the Argenteuil system, otherwise the heads being hard and 

 woody it will be found impossible to detach them easily from 

 the parent stool. Where this method is carried out carefully 

 it has a great advantage over the old-fashioned system of 

 cutting with a saw-bladed knife, and we strongly recommend 

 all growers to practise it. It is somewhat slower, it is true, 

 but it has the great advantage of not wounding the heads 

 surrounding those which are pulled up, as well as of sepa- 

 rating the useless stump of each head from the stool, instead 

 of allowing it to wither and rot. For this purpose we have 

 invented a special instrument in the form of a large, flat, 

 shallow spoon, which is very easy to use. The best time for 

 gathering Asparagus is when it shows some 14 in. to 2 in. above 

 the ground. If it is gathered sooner than this there is a loss, in 

 consequence of the heads not being sufficisntly mature. If 

 we defer it until later, the heads lose their proper flavour 

 and hue, and become bitter in taste and green in colour; 

 besides which it is only eatable throughout a portion of its 

 length. 



Keeping". — If we cannot use the gathered Asparagus at 

 once, it must be carefully moved into a cellar specially de- 

 voted to the purpose. It must not be either washed or damped, 

 and must be spread on the ground in the coolest and darkest 

 part of the cellar out of reach of the light. Asparagus may 

 be kept in this way for nearly a week, but it loses part of its 

 flavour, becomes harder, and does not cook so well. If the 

 crop is intended for market, it must be tied up into bundles, 

 the size of which is regulated by the locality to which they 

 are intended to be sent. At Argenteuil the bundles are 

 generally from 64 in. to 7i in. in diameter in the middle, and 

 from 4i in. to 5i in. in diameter at the head. To make the 

 heads up into bundles, a small bench is used, to which is 

 fixed at right angles a piece of board containing a hole of 

 from 41 in. to 5 J in. in diameter, and If in. deep, the hole 

 being backed by another piece of board firmly screwed on. 

 About 10 in. in front of this piece of board is another up- 



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