
13 
Fruit or other trees or high shrubs must not be alicwed in the aspar- 
agus bed, because of the shade they throw over the beds and because 
their roots make heavy drafts upon the soil. Nor should high trees, 
hedges, hills, or buildings be so near as to throw a shadow upon the 
beds, because all the sunshine obtainable is needed to bring the spears 
quickly to the surface. 
The land should be protected from the north or east (or from the 
direction of the prevalent winds) and so slope that the full benefit of 
the sunshine will be obtained during the whole day. Brinckmeier, in 
his ‘‘ Braunschweiger Spargelbuch,” gives the following three rules for 
- guidance in selecting a location for asparagus beds: 
(1) One should choose, in reference to ground characteristics, open, free-lying land, 
protected to the north and east, of gradual slope, free from trees or shrubbery. 
(2) The field should be exposed to the rays of the sun all day long; therefore a 
southern exposure is desirable, or, if that is not obtainable, a southwesterly or south- 
easterly slope, because either east, west, or north exposure will cause shadows during 
a greater or less portion of the day. 
(3) Standing, stagnant groundwater, which can not be drawn off by drainage, is 
to be avoided, the requirements of the plants indicating a somewhat damp subsoil, 
but not too high groundwater. 
From the above it is deduced, and experience corroborates the theory, 
that a not too porous, but a well-drained, light, deep, sandy loam, with 
a clay subsoil, is to be preferred to all others. 
Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more so than great fer- 
tility, for the latter can be produced by the heavy manuring which the 
future cultivation will require; and to the end that weeds may be few, 
it is well that for a year or two previous to planting the land should 
have been occupied by some hoed crop, such as potatoes, beets, cab- 
bages, etc. 
In the late fall or early winter the selected area, should it be a light 
sandy loam as described above, needs to be deeply plowed, and if the 
subsoil is not already of an open and porous nature, through which 
surface water will readily drain and the roots easily penetrate, a sub- 
soil plow should follow, breaking the soil to the depth of at least 15 
inches. After harrowing the field, a good compost of well-rotted horse, 
cow, sheep, or other manure should be spread broadcast and left to the 
action of the weather until as early in the spring as the ground is in 
condition to be worked, when the manure should be plowed in, the sur- 
face carefully harrowed, and the soil put in a light and friable condition. 
Formerly it was customary to trench the whole field, and in case the 
soil was too binding and stiff, to mix in sand, ete., in order to amelio- 
rate its condition. In fact such practice is still commonly followed 
among the intensive growers in the thickly populated countries of 
Europe. But trenching is very expensive, and it has been proved to be 
unnecessary, and in some soils, where, for instance, the soil was sand 
with but little humus, the placing of the better soil below, with the 
unfertile sand above, is a positive detriment. 
