CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 153 
piow on either side and run it astride the row, covering 
everything in the row. Doing this on Saturday after- 
noon holds the asparagns back over the following 
day. Then we take the middle out with a one-horse 
cultivator. This is done probably three times during 
the cutting season, which is eight weeks. With the 
help of one of these weeders, which we use at least once 
a week, we keep the bed quite clean of all weeds, and 
this I consider very essential. The cultivation should 
continue after cutting until the top growth becomes so 
large as to protect the ground, and then there will be 
but little trouble late in the season about weeds. It 
doesn’t pay to grow them anywhere, and especially not 
in asparagus beds. 
In planting, the ground should be well prepared 
and furrowed out eight inches in depth, four and one- 
half feet apart, and the plants two and one-half feet in 
the row, with a little fine manure in bottom of row; 
put about two inches of soil on the plants to cover. 
Then as the sprouts come up, keep on filling the 
furrows by cultivation. 
I have been using some commercial manures the 
past two years, applying at the rate of one ton to the 
acre about the rows in the spring; then nearly a ton of 
salt to the acre applied at any time. It helps keep 
weeds down and gives the asparagus a good flavor. 
Above all, do not forget to apply the fertilizer, and 
Plenty, with a big ‘‘ P,’’ of it—either stable manure or 
commercial fertilizers. Probably there will be less 
weeds by using the latter, but there needs to be a great 
deal of the former in the beginning for several years, 
to give the bed a good body of rich earth, from whick 
