284 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



you can keep adding a little more soil off the banks to the crowns, 

 so that by the middle of June, when you have let it grow for the sea- 

 son you will have your bed level on the surface. 



CUTTING THE GRASS. 



Cutting the grass should always be done by the same man, and 

 wherever practicable, I would recommend that it be done by the 

 gardener; and if he has not time to do it, then he should select the 

 most trustworthy man he has under him, for it requires good judg- 

 ment, especially when you are cutting white grass, for if you are 

 not careful in observing the proper angle at which you insert your 

 knife you will cut off the young shoots that have not yet appeared 

 above the ground. By having the same man cut the grass every 

 day he becomes familiar with every crown in the bed and he will 

 soon learn the proper way to insert the knife. Of course, where 

 green grass will do, so much care is not necessary in cutting. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



Two or three applications of salt during the cutting season will 

 be very beneficial not only in helping to keep the bed free from weeds, 

 but I think it improves the quality of the crop. 



Early in November, when the summer's growth has ripened, and 

 before the seed has a chance to drop, the bed should be cleaned by 

 cutting awoy the stalks with the scythe and burning them up. The 

 bed should then have a good top dressing of well-rolled cow manure 

 from three to four inches deep, free from straw, so that it will dig 

 in nicely in the spring. The bed should be dug carefully in the 

 spring as soon as the ground is dry enough and before the yonng 

 shoots appear. A dressing of ground bone, or soot, or in fact any 

 commercial fertilizer, applied in the spring, will be very beneficial 

 to the crop. 



The old adage: "Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well," 

 applies to asparagus more than to any other crop. And if you 

 take good care of your asparagus bed it will take good care of you 

 for ten weeks in each and every year. 



