46 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



made isolated one year and in the form of a continuous ridge 

 the next. There is, however, no advantage in this : on the 

 contrary, we think that there is a double inconvenience 

 involved in this method, for not only is the labour of cultiva- 

 tion rendered much more difficult and irregular, but the stools 

 do not gain so much benefit from the rain. It happens fre- 

 quently that during the gathering in of the crop heavy rains 

 set in, followed by great drought. In this case the mounds 

 become excessively hard, and the heads find the greatest 

 difficulty in penetrating the thick crust of their prison. 'Now 

 is the time to use the three-pronged fork and stir up the earth 

 to the depth of from 1 to li in. only, so as not to injure the 

 young heads, which are just beginning to push their way 

 through. Three such forkings are sufficient for each mound. 



Gathering the Crop, Keeping", Packing for Market, 

 and Transport.— The Asparagus cutter must know his 

 business, otherwise he will do more harm than good by injuring 

 the stools. In former times Asparagus cutters used a long 

 knife curved at the point, the cutting edge of which was 

 toothed like a saw or nicked like a scythe. This erroneous 

 method has long since been abandoned, and the crop is 

 gathered as follows : We must first of all clear away the soil 

 which surrounds the head we are going to gather, either with 

 the fingers or else with the point of the knife used for cutting 

 it. The knife is then thrust down so as almost to reach the 

 root, taking care not to cut or bruise the neighbouring heads 

 which have not yet pierced the soil. The head is seized 

 between the knife and the thumb as near the root as possible, 

 by pressing the blade of the knife firmly against its base, 

 taking care not to bend or bruise the head in the middle. 

 The head, being held firmly between the knife and the thumb, 

 is gently pulled or twisted out and removed, the ho]e left 

 by it is filled with soil by means of the cutting knife or the 

 fingers, and the operation is finished. Care must be taken 

 not to cut the head with the knife, which is only used as a 

 lever and not as a cutting instrument. In order that Aspara- 



