42 
A KITCHEN GARDEN 
injuring them. Where more than one row is de¬ 
sired they should be planted about three feet apart, 
to admit of cultivation and free access to the beds 
for cutting. An advantage in sowing the seed is 
that the crowns are naturally established at a 
proper depth. In planting the crowns obtained from 
the nurseryman they should be set at a depth of 
three or four inches at the most; not one foot under 
the surface, as is the common practice of truckers. 
Market gardeners cut the shoots as soon as the tips 
appear above the surface, so that their shoots are 
blanched for their whole length; but they do this at 
the expense of the table quality, as only the tips are 
edible in this way, and even these taste very much 
like old hay to any one who has been accustomed to 
the richness and delicate flavor of shoots cut at the 
surface when they are from three to four inches in 
height; this method has also the advantage of not 
destroying the young shoots just coming up, as the 
stalks are only cut an inch or so underground, and 
the knife only reaches the one intended to he cut. 
If the appearance of the blanched asparagus is de¬ 
sired, it can be much better obtained (that is, with less 
sacrifice of quality) by placing four or five inches of 
hay, straw or other litter over the crowns, which can 
be pushed away from the stalk when cutting and 
easily replaced. There is another strong reason for 
not following the deep planting, as usually practiced, 
and that is, in having your crowns so much nearer 
the surface they feel the warming and growing influ¬ 
ence of the sun sooner in the season, and you are able 
