324 "Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



soil. Still, if the former is not at hand, the latter will answer the 

 purpose. 



As it is now spring and we are naturally looking for something 

 fresh and nice, what shall it be? Asparagus is not only the earliest 

 of our out-of-door crops, but it is one of the very best of them. 

 And how many of my farmer friends, either here or elsewhere, have 

 nicely prepared beds of this delicate and delicious vegetable? I 

 am often surprised to find so few beds of it even among our best 

 farmers; but am well satisfied that one of the principal reasons for 

 there not being more of them, is the ridiculous and extravagant 

 directions that are yearly given in our papers and elsewhere for 

 setting a bed, making it so tedious and expensive, that many are 

 deterred from ever making an attempt at getting one. I have be- 

 tween one and two acres of it that annually yield very large crops, 

 and I will tell you how I set it. I select a piece of good land and 

 manure it very heavily, plowing it under. Then put on more ma- 

 nure on the top of the ground, and harrow it in. This last should 

 be fine manure. 



Then take a shovel plow, and make furrows three feet apart. 

 These furrows are for the plants, and should be so deep that the 

 crown or head of the plant from which the stalk starts should not 

 be less than four inches nor more than six inches below the surface 

 of the soil after the bed is finished. Now, we are ready for the 

 plants. Conover's Collossal is probably the best. Get good strong 

 roots, either one or two years old, and set them in the new made 

 furrows from fifteen to eighteen inches apart in the row, spreading 

 the roots out in every direction about the crown of the plant, and 

 thus getting them as near their natural position as possible. It is 

 well now to put still more manure in the furrows on the plants, and 

 then fill up the furrows,' making the bed level, and the asparagus 

 bed is made. If it is properly cared for, it will last your life time. 

 No trenches three feet deep with stones and planks in the bottom, 

 and other things equally useless on the top. After the bed has 

 been made as directed, it will need no further care the first season 

 except sufficient cultivation to keep the weeds and grass from in- 

 terfering with its growth. The following spring, and in fact every 

 spring thereafter, the dry tops should be cut off close to the ground 

 and burnt as soon as the bed is fit to work, and a coat of manure 

 put on the bed and dug under. For this purpose we use a six- 



