56 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



largest recorded shoots have been grown. The asparagus row is a good 

 place for throwing the wood ashes. 



" The keenest satisfaction may be derived by the amateur gardener from 

 the growth of immense shoots of this garden esculent. They develop so 

 rapidly in the growing season that hope is not long deferred after the 

 shoots begin to thrust their heads through the surface. But at the outset 

 one must wait for the first crop until tw^o years from the setting of the 

 plants, when a short season of picking may be made. 



"I should have said earlier that in our climate the best time for planting 

 is in spring, when the garden is made. 



"A knife should never be employed in gathering the product. The 

 stems should be broken off as far iDeneath. the ground as they will snap 

 readily. Theii no injury will be done to other buds and the whole stem 

 may be used for cooking. The consumer who purchases asparagus at the 

 stores, of which one half the stalk is white and woody, will appreciate the 

 advice to use no knife in gathering the stems. 



"If the soil above the crowns is kept loose and friable, the shoots will be 

 straight and tender. 



" In our climate, where we are likely to have sharp frosts during the 

 asparagus season, the precautionary measure of having a little coarse litter 

 along the row of asparagus, to be hastily drawn over the tender shoots 

 when the temperature drops, is a wise one. Often a picking that would 

 otherwise be entirely destroyed may be saved by this thoughtfulness. 



" The gathering of the product, after the bed is in full bearing, should 

 be complete. Do not allow the spindling, thready shoots to grow, but keep 

 the plantation clean of sprouts until the season shall be over. The period 

 of gathering depends entirely upon the character of the season. A safe 

 rule to follow is to close the asparagus season with the advent of early 

 peas from your own garden. 



"It is not uncommon with me to have shoots, under ordinary field cult- 

 ure, over an inch in diameter, and by special attention this may be increased 

 by one half. Mr. Burr, in his Garden Vegetables, records the largest pro- 

 duct in Britain, from one plant, to have been grown by a Mr. Grayson, 

 aggregating one hundred stalks with a weight of forty-two pounds. 



"Dr. Kennicott writes of a bed planted twenty-four years, with the plants 

 four feet apart, cultivated with a horse and receiving annual dressings of 

 manure, which fui;;^iished a family of twenty for two months in each year, 

 at a less aggregate expense than that required to produce a dozen messes 

 of green peas for the same table. He says that any ground which will 

 grow a premium crop of corn will grow prize-taking asparagus. 



"In arranging for a long season of asparagus, amateurs have taken 

 advantage of the fact that every inch of earth above the crown of the plants 

 defers the date of picking two days. By having a few plants with crowns 

 near the surface the season may be advanced somewhat and the picking 

 from these plants should be discontinued correspondingly early. 



THE MARKET PLANTATION. 



"It is best to grow one's own plants if practicable. If not, the best 

 yearling plants should be secured, af a cost not exceeding three dollars per 

 thousand in cpiantity. 



"With a supply of fine yearling plants on hand, and a piece of ground 



