CHAP, vi.] THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 145 
meagre, insipid, and very tough, the former 
is not only succulent and finely flavoured, 
but grows to an enormous size. There are 
three sorts of asparagus grown for the London 
market: the Battersea, which has a thick 
whitish stalk, only just tipped with a pinkish 
head; the Gravesend, which is much more 
slender, and has both the stalk and head 
green; and the Giant, which is an enormous 
variety of the first. Asparagus is always 
raised from seed; but, as the stalks are not 
fit to cut till the roots are two or three years 
old, persons wishing to plant an asparagus 
bed generally purchase one-year or two-years’ 
old plants from a nurseryman. 
Asparagus plants require a light, rich, 
sandy loam, and the ground in which they 
are to be planted is always first trenched 
from three to four feet deep, or even more, 
and plenty of stable dung is buried at the 
bottom of the trench; the beds are then 
marked out four feet wide, with paths two 
feet wide left between, and the plants are 
planted in rows about six inches deep (the 
crown of the root being left about two inches 
below the surface), and nine inches apart. 
L 
