TO BOIL ASPARAGUS.

Large or full grown asparagus is the best. Before you begin to prepare
it for cooking, set on the fire a pot with plenty of water, and
sprinkle into it a handful of salt. Your asparagus should be all of the
same size. Scrape the stalks till they are perfectly nice and white;
cut them all of equal length, and short, so as to leave them but two or
three inches below the green part. To serve up asparagus with long
stalks is now becoming obsolete. As you scrape them, throw them into a
pan of cold water. Then tie them up in small bundles with bass or tape,
as twine will cut them to pieces. When the water is boiling fast, put
in the asparagus, and boil it an hour; if old it will require an hour
and a quarter. When it is nearly done boiling, toast a large slice of
bread sufficient to cover the dish (first cutting off the crust) and
dip it into the asparagus water in the pot. Lay it in a dish, and,
having drained the asparagus, place it on the toast with all the heads
pointed inwards towards the centre, and the stalks spreading outwards.
Serve up melted butter with it.