54 ASPARAGUS 
cultivation, unless the entire bed be raised by adding 
soil to the whole surface. 
While it is true that the deeper the crowns are 
planted the later they will start in the spring, this is 
of account only during the first few years. Besides, 
the factor of earliness is not of nearly as much impor- 
tance now as it was before northern markets were 
so bountifully supplied with the southern grown crops 
several months before the opening of the northern 
season. Shallow-planted asparagus sprouts earlier, 
but soon exhausts itself, sending up spindling, tough 
shoots, while the deeper-planted crowns produce large 
and succulent sprouts throughout the season. When 
green asparagus is desired, and there is no danger of 
the beetles eating the sprouts before they are fit for 
use, a depth of two or three inches is sufficient, but 
for white or blanched asparagus a depth of from eight 
to ten inches is necessary. 
MANNER OF PLANTING 
As in other details of asparagus culture, the 
methods of planting have undergone very material 
changes. The formerly usual practice of digging 
deep trenches was not well founded—in the light of 
our present experience and knowledge—and could be 
useful only for drainage. How little regard was paid 
to the nature and requirements of the plant may read- 
ily be perceived by reading the following directions for 
making an asparagus bed, but little over half a century 
ago, in Bridgeman’s ‘‘ Young Gardeners’ Assistant”’ : 
‘The ground for the asparagus bed should have a 
large supply of well-rotted dung, three or four inches 
