190 
A KITCHEN GARDEN 
the open ground, which should he especially pre¬ 
pared for the purpose by extra heavy manuring. Let 
the plants remain in this bed, to grow strong and 
stocky. Never let the ground in this bed become 
dry; give thorough cultivation and cut off the tops of 
the plants once or twice, to make them grow stocky. 
When six or eight inches high, lift the plants care¬ 
fully and set them six or eight inches apart, in 
trenches a foot wide and fourteen or more inches 
in depth. Several inches of rotted stable manure 
should be mixed with the soil at the bottom of the 
trench. When planting, firm the ground well around 
each plant Supply enough water to keep the ground 
at the bottom of the trench very moist all the time. 
As the plants grow, press soil around the bottom of 
each plant and tie together at the top with string, to 
keep the stems straight and in an upright position. 
The blanching or earthing up is done by gradually 
filling up the trench with ground as the plants grow. 
Care should be taken not to get any ground into the 
hearts of the plants and never to earth up while they 
are wet. Sowing seed in the open ground and grow¬ 
ing plants on the level surface may do for cool 
northern latitudes, but my experience is that it will 
not do here in southern Illinois. Boston Market and 
Crawford’s Half Dwarf are as good as any of the 
taller varieties, and are more easily blanched.* 
* The plan here described involves much unnecessary labor. It takes con¬ 
siderable time to dig the trenches, and, unless the soil of the garden were 
unusually deep, this depth of trench, fourteen inches, would bring up and 
mix with the surface a great deal of very poor subsoil. As rich soil cannot 
be found at this depth, a liberal supply of manure must be put down, for 
