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CULTURE OF ASPARAGUS. 



HOW TO RAISE "GIANT" ASPARAGUS. 

 BY T. B., NEW- YORK. 



Mn. Editor — There are sold in the seed- 

 stores, several sorts of Asparagus, which 

 claim to grow to unusual size, and produce 

 giant stalks. I have bought and planted 

 these sorts, and have found them not per- 



I want to tell you and your readers, if 



you will have a little patience with me, how grow on the top of my briny Asparagus 



favorite condiment. I cover the surface of 

 the bed about a quarter of an inch thick 

 with line packing salt ; it is not too much. 

 As the spring rains come down, it gradually 

 dissolves. Not a weed will appear during 



ceptibly different from the common old sort, the whole season. Every thing else, pig- 



weed, chick-weed, purslane, all refuse to 



I grow common Asparagus, so that it will 

 always rival any giant production, whether 

 from Brobdignag or Kentucky. Every one 

 who has seen my beds, has begged me for 

 the seed — thinking it anew sort — but I have 

 pointed to the manure heap — (the farmer's 

 best bank) — and told them that the secret 

 all laid there. The seed was only such as 

 might be had in every garden. 



About the 1st of November — as soon as 

 the frost has well blackened the Asparagus 

 tops — I take a scythe, and mow all close 

 down to the surface of the bed ; let it lie a 

 day or two, then set fire to the heap of 

 stalks; burn it to ashes, and spread the ashes 

 over the surface of the bed. 



I then go to my barn-yard ; I take a load 

 of clean, fresh stable manure, and add 

 thereto, half a bushel of hen-dung ; turning 

 over and mixing the whole together, 

 throughout. This makes a pretty powerful 

 compost. I apply one such load to every 

 twenty feet in length of my Asparagus beds, 

 which are six feet Avide. With a strong 

 three pronged spud, or forkj I dig this 

 dressing under. The whole is now left for 

 the winter. 



In the spring, as early as possible, I turn 

 the top of the bed over lightly, once 

 more. Now, as the Asparagus grows natu- 

 rally on this side of the ocean, and loves 

 salt water. I give it an annual supply of its 



beds. But it would do your eyes good tu 

 see the strong, stout, tender stalks of tlif 

 vegetable itself, pushing through the sur- 

 face early in the season. I do not at all 

 stretch a point, when I say that they are 

 often as large round as my hoe handle, and 

 as tender and succulent as any I ever tasted. 

 The same round of treatment is given to my 

 bed every year. 



I have a word to say about cutting Aspa- 

 ragus, and then I am done. Market gar- 

 deners, and I believe a good many other 

 people, cut Asparagus as soon as the point 

 of the shoot pushes an inch or two through 

 the ground. They have then about two 

 inches of what grows above ground, and 

 about four or six inches of what grows be- 

 low. The latter looks lohitt and tempting ; 

 I suppose people think that for the same 

 reason that the white part of Celery is len- 

 der, the white part of Asparagus must be 

 too. There is as much difference, as there 

 is between a goose and a gander. It is as 

 tough as a Stick; and this is the reason why 

 people, when it is boiled, always are forced 

 to eat the tops and leave the bottom of the 

 shoots on their plates. 



My way is, never to cut any shoots of 

 Asparagus below the surface of the ground. 

 Cut it as soon as it has grown to proper 

 height, say five or six inches above ground. 

 The whole is then green, but it is all /t?i» 



