ASPARAGUS FOR MARKET. 115 



VEGETABLE CULTURE AND MARKET-GARDENING. 



Mr. O. B. Hadwen, of Worcester. I am entirely unpre- 

 pared to open so important a subject. If any gentleman will 

 name any vegetable for cultivation, I will give what facts I 

 know in relation to its cultivation in a very concise way. 



Asparagus. — The cultivation of asparagus, which, perhaps, 

 those living in the immediate vicinity of cities and large towns 

 are more or less engaged in, is one of well-known importance. 

 There are many ways in which asparagus has been success- 

 fully grown. I have grown it for about thirty years as a 

 market veo^etable. I have raised it from the seed, and it still 

 remains in the bed where it was originally planted. Perhaps 

 it is unnecessary to state that the ground should be made rich 

 in the commencement, and continued rich throughout the 

 after-years of its growth. My practice formerly was to sow 

 asparagus in rows, some two feet and a half apart, after 

 enriching the ground, thinning out the plants to about eight 

 inches in the row. It has been my practice to top-dress the 

 bed with well-decomposed manure every spring, and the con- 

 stant accumulation by the top-dressing (sometimes putting 

 on sand, if on clay soil) is congenial to the growth of the 

 asparagus, and you will get good returns. Asparagus is a 

 crop which remains in the ground for a long time. My bed, 

 which has been planted for about thirty years, was never 

 more productive than the last season. I have younger beds, 

 but I find I get the laro-est stalks from the old ones. It is a 

 vegetable which we all know something of. As an old farmer 

 once said, "It is like pork in the cellar to have a good bed of 

 asparagus." It is the earliest vegetable we have, and always 

 satisfactory on the table. I would state further, that the bug, 

 which is found very troublesome in some sections, I have had 

 no experience with. 



Mr. Cheever. I would like to ask the best way of treat- 

 ing asparagus in the fall, before the tops naturally die, while 

 it is maturing its seed? Whether to mow early, before the 

 crop is matured, and remove the tops, or let it take its natural 

 course, — let the seeds drop and come up the next year as 

 weeds? What is the practice of the best cultivators? I 

 would like to have that question answered, if it can be. 



