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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



ful to pick during late fall or early winter, 

 when almost all other green vegetables ex- 

 cept cabbage are gone. A sowing made 

 about the second week in September will 

 often winter over and produce a supply long 

 before the spring-sown spinach is available 

 for use. This latter point is quite a con- 

 sideration, as spinach that has wintered over 

 is ready for the table even before that deli- 

 cious spring vegetable asparagus is avail- 

 able for use. 



Spinach can be sown where peas, beans 

 or corn has been taken off. The ground 

 should be well dug and manured before the 

 seed is sown. The common round leaf 

 spinach, or the Viroflay will winter over 

 usually quite as well as the prickly seeded 

 spinach that is generally recommended for 

 autumn sowing. 



ASPARAGUS. 



Too little of this useful and healthful 

 vegetable is grown by amateur vegetable 

 growers. Coming in as it does in early 

 spring and summer, before most all other 

 vegetables are obtainable, its value cannot 

 be over estimated, to say nothing of its well 

 known medicinal and health-giving proper- 

 ties. If you have only a very limited 

 amount of garden ground, by all means 

 have some asparagus in it. Prepare the 

 ground for it this fall by plowing or digging 

 deeply a piece of the richest part of the gar- 

 den. Plenty of well rotted stable manure 

 should be worked into the ground. Let 



Try Mulching Plants with lawn clip- 

 pings, weeds or manure. It will save water- 

 ing and keep soil from drying out. This 

 has been my plan for years, although I had 

 my garden laid with water pipes and hy- 

 drants. It takes too much time to use a 

 hose or a watering can. If you have no 

 mulch, try stirring soil frequently with hoe. 

 Loosen earth and nature will send up mois- 

 ture from below. — (N. S. Dunlop, Mont- 

 real. Oue. 



the soil lie in rough ridges all winter. In 

 the spring the ground should be forked or 

 dug over, and the seed sown or plants 

 planted as early as the ground can be 

 worked. 



A strip of ground about six feet in width 

 and 50 feet in length will allow of two rows 

 being put in, which will in a year or two 

 give a plentiful supply oi this succulent 

 vegetable sufficient for a large family. As- 

 paragus grown from seed usually takes 

 three years from sowing before it is fit for 

 table. By planting two-year-old plants 

 good asparagus can be had the first year 

 after planting. Connover's Colossal and 

 Palmetto asparagus are about the two best 

 varieties to plant. 



One point in selecting the ground for an 

 asparagus bed must not be lost sight of, and 

 that is to select a piece of soil where the 

 water wul drain off readily during winter 

 and early spring, as otherwise the plants 

 may suffer, or at Dest the asparagus will be 

 much later in the spring than if a piece of 

 well drained soil is selected. When once 

 secured an asparagus bed will last for years 

 if cared for properly. 



In sowing seeds of any kind select them 

 from the best specimens possible. The se- 

 lection and saving of tne best types of varie- 

 ties is equally as important to secure the 

 best results, as is the after culture and care 

 of the plants. IVJice and dampness are the two 

 greatest enemies to avoid when saving seed. 



Should Use Caution. — Ginseng is one 

 of the crops about which I would advise 

 growers to exercise caution. They should 

 not rush into the culture of it extensively. 

 There are several who have been attempt- 

 ing it 'n Ontario, but I am doubtful if it will 

 ever prove as profitable as it has been repre- 

 sented to be, particularly by those growers 

 who have seed and roots to sell to intending 

 planters.— (Prof. H. L. Hutt, Ont. Agri. 

 College, Guelph. 



