ASPARAGUS.
Asparagus is a member of the Lily Family, as the tiny, bell-shaped flowers, and the fleshy ber ries declare, but the narrow leaves, and the needle branched plant, when it reaches four feet in height, suggest any other family than the lily. I think the species, which stands alone, must have originated by the sea (or risen like Venus from the waves). You may pour brine on your aspara gus bed, or scatter dry salt on the soil until the weeds lie down and die. The asparagus shoots come up refreshed and invigorated by the salt bath furnished their roots.
The edible parts of this vegetable are the fleshy shoots rising from vigorous crowns, that have been storing for some years the reserve food to produce the crop. The French gardeners have been very successful in producing choice vari eties) They like best those whose stalks are thick, short, and rosy at the tip. In Holland and Bel
gium, a perfectly blanched stalk is the ideal. In American gardens, green stalks, if they are tender, are counted better in flavor than the blanched ones.
The shoots are continuously cut from the un covering of the bed in April until new peas appear in the markets, and are ready in the gardens. Then the asparagus has a chance to grow unmo lested. The bed is soon covered with a dense bramble of plants that bear their seeds, and thus seed the ground under them. The full develop ment of the leafy tops stores the roots and crowns with reserve food, which is drawn upon to make the cutting good in the asparagus season that fol lows the rest period of winter.
California produces a tremendous asparagus crop, that goes fresh to local markets, or is canned for shipment to eastern cities.