44 ASPARAGUS 
the beds, because all the sunshine obtainable is needed 
to bring the spears quickly to the surface. Whenever 
practicable the asparagus bed should be protected from 
cold winds, and so slope that the fui benefit of the 
sunshine will be obtained during the whole day. 
Brinckmeier, in his ‘‘ Braunschweiger Sparge!buch,”’ 
gives the following three rules for guidance in select- 
ing a location for asparagus beds: 
‘“t. One should choose, in reference to ground char- 
acteristics, open, free-lying land, protected to the north 
and east [which, for American conditions, should be 
north and west], 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 southeasterly slope, because either east, west, or 
north exposure will cause shade during a greater or 
less portion of the day. 
‘‘2. Standing, stagnant ground water, 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 ground water.’’ 
For commercial purposes on a large scale, and when 
the trucker has the choice of location, a well-drained, 
light, deep, sandy loam, with a light clay subsoil, is to 
be preferred to any other. Heavy clay soil, or land 
with a hard-pan subsoil, or, in fa¢t, any soil that is 
cold and wet, is totally unfit for profitable asparagus 
growing, unless it is thoroughly underdrained and 
made lighter by a plentiful addition of sand and muck. 
Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more 
