CULTIVATION 63 
during the first year is to keep close and constant 
watch over the asparagus beetle, and at its first 
appearance to apply the remedies recommended in the 
chapter on injurious insects. Plants deprived of their 
foliage at this early stage of their life have but a poor 
chance to recover from the loss. 
If it is found that some of the plants have not 
started by the middle of June, it is best to replace 
them with growing plants of the same age, which 
should have been kept in a reserve bed for this pur- 
pose. If this replanting is done carefully, so as not 
to mutilate any of the roots, and on a cloudy day, it 
is best not to cut back the tops very severely. Unless 
a copious rain sets in soon after planting, the roots 
have to be heavily watered, after which they will 
keep on growing at once without suffering any set- 
back. 
The formerly all but universal practice was to cover 
the roots with manure after the stalks had been 
removed in the fall for fear of frost injuring or kill- 
ing the roots. In sections where winters are very 
severe this may still be desirable, as may be seen from 
the statement of so keen an observer as Professor J. C. 
Whitten, of the Missouri Experiment Station: ‘‘ Most 
writers advise applying dressing of old fine manure 
during the growing season when the plants can use it. 
in our soil better results are obtained by applying it in 
winter. It prevents the soil from running together 
and hardening, and also prevents the sprouts from 
coming through, as they otherwise often do, too early 
in spring, and becoming weakened by subsequent 
severe freezing.’’ 
