THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 147 
more than two-thirds of the buds at the crown of the roots start, 
and the beds are in consequence not so productive as they other- 
wise would be. 
At the same time it may be well to mention the fact that the 
beds are very much weakened by being cut from after the first or 
second week in June, according as the season may be early or late. 
Seed of Asparagus may still be sown, if a supply of roots for plant- 
ing is wanted ; and cultivators are now generally agreed that Cono- 
ver's Colossal, an American variety, grown largely in Long Island, 
New York, is so far superior to the English types, that it furnishes 
shoots large enough for the table at least a season sooner, and under 
ordinary culture, attains a much larger size. The seed should be 
sown in drills twelve inches apart, and the plants be thinned to four 
inches in the rows. Blanks in the beds may be filled up by insert- 
ing three or four seeds where the roots should be, and when the 
plants are large enough, thin each clump down to one. Planting, 
at the proper season, roots two or three years old, is to a certain 
extent best; but seed sown as here advised affords a certain and 
inexpensive means of filling up patchy beds. 
The main crop of Beet should, as a matter of course, be sown in 
April ; but there is yet time to sow with a certainty of obtaining a 
crop of first-class roots. The beds sown at the proper time will, 
towards the middle of the month, require thinning, and to ensure 
nice roots, the plants should be thinned to a distance of about twelve 
inches apart. 
The most productive of the Broad Beans may again be sown 
where they are in request throughout tbe summer; but speaking 
generally, the middle of April is quite late enough for the last sow- 
ing. Kidney and Runner Beans, which are of the utmost value in 
small gardens, must be sown in quantities in the course of the 
month. If a nice warm border can be spared, a sowing of one of 
the earliest dwarf kinds should be made in the first week; and 
perhaps the very best for sowing thus early is Sir Joseph Paxton, for 
it combines productiveness and earliness in a remarkable manner. 
This sowing will require protection at aight from morning frosts 
after the plants push through the soil, so long as there is any danger 
from frost, for a very few degrees will suffice to cut them off. A few 
boards, newspapers, or canvas may be employed for sheltering the 
rows. About the middle of the month sow a good breadth of Sir 
Joseph Paxton or some other good kind that turns in quickly ; and 
Cutbush’s Giant, which is rather late, and produces a heavy crop of 
immense and exceedingly tender pods. By sowing as here advised, 
asuccession will be obtained from the earliest moment until the 
first crop of Scarlet Runners, which should be sown about the third 
week in May, will come into bearing. Early sown Runners usually 
fail in September, and to maintain a supply until late in the autumn, 
sow at the end of May Carter’s Champion, which is a very fine 
variety, or make a second sowing of the old Scarlet recommended 
for the first sowing. Dwarf Kidney Beans are seldom so productive 
as they otherwise would be, because of the rows being too close 
together, and the plants crowded in the rows. ‘To ensure produc- 
May. 
