of Rural Art and Taste. 



59 



lizer for this plant. From that time to the 

 present the horticultural book makers have 

 copied and handed down this theory. It 

 has even been recommended to apply as 

 much as a bushel of salt to each square rod, 

 to serve as a fertilizer to the asparagus, and 

 at the same time kill the weeds. But some 

 of the weeds will bear this amount of salt 

 as well as the asparagus. A few years ago 

 it occurred to him that the asparagus plants 

 could appropriate but a very small part of 

 this salt; as an experiment put out a bed of 

 a quarter of an acre, without using any salt, 

 and from this bed, treated like the others 

 with the exception of the salt, he has cut 

 his best asparagus, beating even Cono- 

 ver's. Birds have dropped seeds from his 

 bedsi n the thin soil of the pine woods back 

 of his house, and the plants grow there six 

 feet high, without manure or cultivation. 

 He supposed, by-and-by, some new book- 

 maker might discover these plants, and from 

 them deduce the theory that asparagus 

 grows naturally in the sand of pine barrens. 

 A bunch of " Conover's Colossal Aspara- 

 gus " (eighteen stems weighing twenty-six 

 ounces) was sent to the Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Exhibition. Capt. Moore, the 

 same day showed twelve stems of his Con- 

 cord variety that weighed twenty-four 

 ounces. He knows of no reliable variety 

 that can be perpetuated by seed. He pre- 

 fers a rather dry, sandy soil for this crop. 

 It can be manured at any time. If done in 

 June most likely there will be a heavy crop 

 of weeds, at a time when it will not be con- 

 venient or easy to kill them. Would set 

 the plants eight inches deep, for the greater 

 safety of cultivating with the horse, without 

 injury to the crown of the plant. If set 

 shallow it may be cut earlier, but there is 

 no profit in this, as the early cut has to 

 compete in market with that from the South, 

 and the late (say after the 25th of May) 

 always brings the best price, and the ear- 

 liest cut is often injured by frosts. If we 

 cut early must stop early, so as not to injure 

 the bed. Best to renew bed when fifteen 

 years old, as on young beds the stems are 



larger and of better shape. Would change 

 the kind of manure frequently. 



Mr. L. had a young bed, a part of which 

 was manured with nitrate of soda only, and 

 that part looks as well as that on which barn 

 manure was used. 



Much of the asparagus raised about here 

 the past year was crooked, and Mr. Moore 

 thought it was owing to the prevalence of 

 cold winds. 



Mr. F. thinks the occasional crookedness 

 of the shoots is caused by the drying effects 

 of the wind, as the bend is always to the 

 wind. In his experience sandy soil does 

 better than heavy. Has a general impres- 

 sion that salt is beneficial. He used fifteen 

 bushels to the acre. 



Wash for Fruit Trees.— The following 

 is a wash used by William Saunders, of the 

 government gardens at Washington : Put 

 half a bushel of lime and four pounds of 

 powdered sulphur in a tight barrel, slacking 

 the lime with hot water, the mouth of the 

 barrel being covered with a cloth; this is 

 reduced to the consistency of ordinary white- 

 wash, and, at the time of application, half 

 an ounce of carbolic acid is added to each 

 gallon of liquid. Mr. Sunders says : " I 

 generally apply it in the spring, before the 

 leaves make their appearance, but I am con- 

 vinced that it would be more effective if ap- 

 plied later; but then it is difficult to do so 

 when the tree is in foliage." 3Ir. Saunders 

 applies the wash, not only to the stem of the 

 tree, but, to some extent, to the main 

 branches. — N. E. Homestead. 



Keeping "Winter Pears.— A ^writer in 

 the Agriculturist adopts this mode of keep- 

 ing winter pears : Winter Nelis and Vicar 

 of Winkfield pears are barreled as late in 

 autumn as will be safe from frost, headed 

 up tight, and placed on the north side of a 

 building until there is danger of freezing, 

 when they are removed to the cellar, which 

 is kept by the thermometer at a temperature 

 at from 35° to 40°. They remain hard till 

 the middle of January, and may be ripened 

 ' any time by bringing them into a warm 



