THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



to the asparagus bed. Make four trenches, 

 each sixteen inches deep, three feet apart 

 and twenty-five feet long; put six inches of 

 well-rotted manure in the bottom and cover 

 this with four inches of rich garden soil; 

 then set the plants eighteen inches apart, 

 spreading out the roots carefully, and fill 

 up the trenches with good earth. It is a 

 saving of time to buy the plants, and if 

 two years old, they may bear the year after 

 they are set. If one-year-old plants are 

 used, the bed should not be cut for two 

 years. 



Asparagus should be set out in the Spring. 

 Care must be taken to have the manure 

 well packed down and the plants firmly set 

 in the earth. In the very early Spring, the 

 third week of March if not before, the As- 

 paragus bed should receive a thick coating 

 of stable manure, which must be well forked 

 into the ground at once. In early Summer, 

 as soon as the bed has ceased bearing, sow 

 over the surface of the bed two bags each 



