THE SECKETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 259 



ingly later, about six weeks of growing weather being required to get them in 

 proper shape for winter. On the approach of cold weather a light covering of 

 straw, forest leaves, or salt hay should be given, as the young plants, not being 

 entirely hardy, will not stand our rigorous winters without some protection. la 

 the southern States fall sowing is carried on more extensively than spring sowing, 

 for the reason the crop thus having an earlier start is more likely to be perfected 

 before the severe drouths of summer, and even in this latitude some of the finest 

 onions we ever saw were from fall sown seeds. The ground requires the same 

 preparation as for spring sowing and should the weather not be very moist at 

 the time of sowing it will be necessary to roll it well in order to insure the 

 perfect germination of the seeds. — Seed Time and Harvest. 



SALT AND ASPARAGUS. 



P. T. Quinn says that he has frequenty put on as much as two inches in 

 thickness of salt on different parts of an asparagus bed, and the young plants 

 have come through this coating without any apparent injury. But he thinks 

 as a matter of utility or economy, a dressing at the rate of twenty-five or thirty 

 bushels of salt to the acre is quite enough, in connection with the annual 

 covering of farm-yard manure or compost, applied in the autumn or spring. 

 When the plants of a new bed are set in autumn they should be eight or nine 

 inches deep. In spring they may be set at first three inches deep, and when the 

 shoots are several inches hi^h earth mav be drawn in around them to fill the 

 nine inch furrow. Beds should be set in autumn only on light or well 

 underdrained soil. Mr. Qainn recommends setting the plants at distances of 

 two by four feet, which, we think, quite near enough. Such plantations may 

 be easily cultivated with a horse. 



ASPARAGUS ROWS. 



About twenty years ago a part of my garden was devoted to grape vines, 

 which were set out in rows eight feet apart. An adjoining space was subsequently 

 prepared for asparagus, and for the sake of convenience in working the whole 

 ground, I sowed my asparagus seed in lines with my grape vines, and consequently 

 for nearly twenty years I have grown my asparagus in rows instead of in beds. 

 The distance between the rows was accidental, but the result has been very 

 gratifying in every particular. The intervals have been utilized for crops of 

 small vegetables, melons, and strawberries, until this year, but in consequence 

 of finding that the roots of the asparagus have been meeting between the rows 

 for some time, the entire space must, in future, be kept clean, and given up to 

 the asparagus. 



An additional argument for space, — say from five to eight feet between the 

 rows, is found in the important fact that the asparagus can be gathered in its 

 season, and the ground cared for at all seasons with great facility. The crop 

 is always early, persistent, and large, and of superior quality ; and the plants 

 •show no diminution in vigor of growth. — D. S. D., in Country Oentleman. 



Hartford, Connecticut. 



