ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



83 



and 3 ft. apart in the rows, in order that I may be eligible for 

 your prizes. In iny other beds the plants stand 2§ ft. apart 

 in the rows, which are 4 ft. asunder. I have always thought 

 them rather too close, as at the end of the summer they 

 become a complete thicket. I found amongst Connover's 

 Colossal just the same peculiarity as regards growth which I 

 have described in reference to plants raised from seed saved 

 here. Some of the one year's seedlings of that kind produced 

 some six or seven small shoots, while others had two or three 

 sturdy ones characteristic of the plant. I always maintain that 

 to this matter of selection too much attention cannot be given, 

 if fine Asparagus be the object in view. It may be thought that 

 I allow the Asparagus to get too far through the ground 

 before it is cut, but we like a little more green than the 

 French, as a rule, allow. 



G union Park, Norwich. W. Allan. 



[With the above communication came fifty heads of the 

 best Asparagus which we have yet seen grown in England. 

 This Asparagus was blanched for a considerable distance up 

 the stem, but not quite so much as the French samples, there 

 being, on an average, about J in. more green. There was, 

 however, such a great length of blanched stem, that the 

 Gunton Park samples may serve to throw considerable light 

 on the question of blanched v. green Asparagus. The portions 

 cooked were about 7 in. long, and each was edible to its base. 

 For Ih in. of the lower part of the 7 in., where the outer 

 skin was tough, the interior was quite tender and perceptibly 

 of a more delicate flavour than that of the upper part. The 

 flavour of the whole was excellent, and the samples well 

 served to show how delicate large and well- grown blanched 

 Asparagus is when cooked fresh. The heads were not so large as 

 the enormous " giant" specimens seen in Co vent Garden ; but 

 these large heads are often hollow, and sometimes " monsters," 

 owing to two stems growing together. Mr. Allan's observation 

 about the different growths of the seedlings is a very in- 



