In its native habitat, on the shores of the Mediterranean, asparagus sends up its delicate shoots twice in the year; but, cultivated in our colder clime, this wild seashore plant has a short season. On this account, as well as for its diuretic qualities and the general favor with which it is received, we shall do well to serve it often while it is in season.

Men who have written on cookery expatiate to great extent on the cooking of asparagus. Thudichum insists that it is "almost invariably overboiled by modern cooks." He says that cooks should remember the Roman saying, which becomes applicable when anything is to be done quickly: "Do it in no more time than is necessary to boil asparagus."

Asparagus should be fully cooked, and yet each stalk should be left intact and possess a certain crispness. Sir Henry Thompson advises that "the stalks be cut of exactly equal lengths, tied in a bunch and boiled, standing tips upward in a deep saucepan; nearly two inches of the tips should be out of water, the steam sufficing to cook them, while the hard, stalky part is rendered soft and succulent by the longer boiling which this plan permits."

By the latter authority, then, a longer time is required for cooking asparagus than the conventional twenty minutes almost invariably prescribed by most writers, and our own experience is in harmony with this view. Fresh-cut asparagus, grown in warm, moist weather, may be cooked in the conventional time; but after it has been kept, or when it has been grown in a dry, hot season, the time of cooking must be perceptibly lengthened.

The German frau adds a small piece of butter - a teaspoonful to a quart - to the water in which both asparagus and peas are to be cooked; a sprig of mint is also added to the peas. These are valuable additions, when the quality of the vegetable is doubtful, otherwise there is no material gain. Salt added to the water heightens the green color of both these vegetables, and this condiment is not unpleasing to most palates.

The tender tips of asparagus, called "asparagus peas" are served in consommé, in omelets, either with or without sauce, and in scrambled eggs. Three asparagus stalks, held in two rings cut from cooked carrots, make an appropriate garnish for roast mutton.

Opinions differ as to the serving of asparagus with toast, but as the stalks will not absorb all the liquid in which they are cooked, no matter how carefully the cooking is carried out, and as this is too valuable to waste, the toast is, sometimes at least, worthy of consideration.