156 ASPARAGUS 
of the mineral fertilizers the pea crop will be heavy, 
and should be allowed to fully ripen and decay on the 
land, to be plowed under, and the process repeated the 
following year. In the mean time the seed should be 
sown for the growth of the roots for setting the land. 
Two crops of cow-peas allowed to die on the land 
and turned under will give a store of vegetable 
matter that would be hard to get in any other manner. ° 
While heavy manuring with stable manures is very 
desirable where the material can be had at a reasonable 
cost, the larger part, and, in fact, nearly all of the 
Southern asparagus, must be grown by the aid of chem- 
ical fertilizers, and the storing up of humus in the 
land from the decaying peas is an important factor in 
the placing of the soil in a condition to render the 
chemical fertilizers of more use, since the moisture- 
retaining nature of the organic matter plays an im- 
portant part in the solution of matters in the soil. 
Aside from this, there will be a large increase in the 
nitrogen contents of the soil through the nitrification 
of this organic matter. 
The second crop of peas should be plowed under in 
late fall when perfectly ripe and dead, so that the land 
can be gotten into condition for planting in early 
spring. ‘The land should be thoroughly plowed, and 
if the clay subsoil comes near the surface it should be 
loosened with the subsoil plow. Furrows are then 
run out four and a half to five feet apart, going twice 
in the furrow, and then cleaning out with shovels till 
there is a trench a foot deep. In the bottom of this 
trench place a good coat of black earth from the forest, 
or, if well-rotted manure can be had, use that of course. 
