No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 283 



then put in the bottom of the trench a layer of manure six inches 

 deep, then a layer of dirt off your next row; again a layer of manure, 

 and so on every other layer of manure and dirt until you have the 

 whole bed dug over. 



When digging, keej) a sharp lookout for stones, and remove all 

 of them, no matter how small, as they will interfere with the cut- 

 ting; especially so if you want white grass. 



SOIL. 



The best soil for growing asparagus is a rather light, sandy soil. 

 Not only will it produce you the nicest heads, but it will produce 

 three heads to the one that you will get from a heavy clay soil. I 

 would recommend that wherever the soil is not naturally light that 

 it be made so in preparing the bed by mixing sand or some other 

 light material with it. 



PLANTING. 



Having had the whole bed dug over, we now start to dig trendies 

 for the plants. These should be dug twenty inches deep and four feet 

 apart, and Ihe plants in the row not less than three feet; and where 

 room is no object I would recommend putting the plants four feet 

 apart in the row and covering the crowns to the depts of two or 

 three inches. 



Spring is the best time to plant; do not do it in the fall, as the 

 crowns will rot, or at least nine-tenths will, so you will have to re- 

 plant in the spring after all. 



Two-year-old roots are generally used, and I would advise anyone 

 planting a bed of say five hundred roots, to order from the nursery- 

 man at least one thousand and pick from them the strongest crowns 

 and those that have been the least injured, and throw the remainder 

 away. 



TREATMENT. 



All that is necessary to do the first year is to keep the bed free 

 from weeds; this will have to be done with the hoe. Care should 

 be taken that there is not too much soil hoed off the banks, as it 

 all drops into the trenches and is liable to smother the crowns. 



The second year the treatment is about the same as the first, ex- 

 cept that you can go a little deeper with the hoe. Each time you 

 hoe you can pull a little soil off the banks around the growing 

 plants, so that about August, when you have hoed for the last time, 

 you will have about twelve inches of soil above the crowns. 



In the third year, if you have succeeded with your bed, you may 

 begin cutting^ and from time to time as the bed requires digging, 



