62 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURiST. 



firmly packed down, especially over the 

 lower ends of thfe roots ; one-half of 

 the remaining ditch is then filled in, 

 and the rest not before the shoots 

 have grown several inches above the 

 level of the ground. The subsequent 

 cultivation is the same as given above. 



During the second year, no care is 

 required except to keep the bed clear 

 until the stalks cover the entire ground. 

 The tliird year, and not sooner, the 

 cutting may commence, but if there 

 are any roots which have not made a 

 very strong growth it is best not to cut 

 from these, and in fact as soon as any 

 plants show lack of vigor the cutting 

 should be discontinued. Many Aspara- 

 gus-beds are ruined by too long-con- 

 tinued cutting. We have found it a 

 good rule to commence cutting as 

 soon as the first stalks appear, and 

 stop with the beginning of Strawberry 

 picking. 



Immediately after the cutting season, 

 when the roots are enfeebled by the 

 severe tax of having produced many 

 times more than their natural require- 

 ment of stalks, is the best time for 

 manuring ; yet an application of fer- 

 tilizers does not come amiss at any 

 time. 



The stems, which, after the cutting 

 iseason, shoot up with great rapidity, 

 should not be disturbed until they die 

 off naturally, when they should be cut 

 and burned. Salt is, by general con- 

 sent, considered a special fertilizer for 

 Asparagus. We have during several 

 years applied salt to one part of our 

 bed, and not to the other, without per- 

 ceiving the least difierence in the res- 

 pective yields. At any rate, salt can 

 do no harm, no matter how liberally 

 applied. Stable-manure, bone-meal, 

 superphosphates, and in fact almost 

 any kind of fertilizer, and plenty of it, 

 are beneficial to Asparagus. — American 

 Garden. 



PURE NATIVE WINES. 



On the occasion of the recent meet- 

 ing of the Fruit Growers' Association, 

 held in the city of Hamilton, we were 

 invited with several of the members 

 to visit the wine vaults of Messrs. 

 Barnes & Haskins. We were quite 

 surprised to find that this enterprise 

 had attained to such extensive dimen- 

 sions, and that already there was a 

 varied stock of old native wines pro- 

 duced from grapes grown in their own 

 vineyards near to the city. It would 

 seem that these gentlemen have been 

 quietly perfecting these wines for some 

 years, until now they compare favor- 

 ably with the best imported, with this 

 decided advantage that they are pure, 

 free from adulteration of every sort, 

 and not strengthened by the addition 

 of spirits. We all know how difficult 

 it has long been to get unadulterated 

 wines, and that much of the so-called 

 wine of commerce is only spirits colored 

 and flavored to imitate the wine whose 

 name it bears; and now that the 

 phylloxera has made such wholesale 

 destruction of the vineyards of Europe, 

 and thereby caused such an immense 

 decrease in the quantity of wine pro- 

 duced, it will be next to impossible to 

 obtain a gallon of pure wine from those 

 countries. Indeed, the importation of 

 American cheap spirits by the wine 

 producing countries of Europe, to be 

 manufactured into counterfeit wines 

 and sent back for consumption in 

 America, has reached gigantic propor- 

 tions. 



We were assured by Mr. Haskins 

 that the chief object of his firm is to 

 produce wines that shall be pure and 

 free from all adulteration, made from 

 the juice of the grape only, and that 

 for several years they have annually 

 pressed many tons of grapes, all of 

 which were of Canadian gi'owth. Their 



