THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



225 



dry, then lay them over every place in 

 the jar. They exclude the air perfectly, 

 and are better, and cause less work than 

 anything else. — Country Gentleman. 



ASPARAGUS. 



The most essential requisite for suc- 

 cessful Asparagus culture is suflScient 

 space, and yet not one bed in ten is 

 planted with a view to supply this need. 

 The old system of paving the bottom 

 and crowding the roots into narrow 

 beds, so that they could not extend in 

 either direction, must have been bor- 

 rowed from the Chinese, with whom 

 the dwarfing and distorting of forest 

 trees and women's feet has reached the 

 highest perfection, and ranks among 

 the fine arts. But, as even the Celes- 

 tials are commencing to shake off old 



Asparagus Crown. 

 su[>erstitious notions, we shall, perhaps, 

 also participate in the march of pro- 

 gress, and plant Asparagus according 

 to the natural laws governing the 

 plant. 



The best and easiest way to raise 

 Asparagus in the garden is to plant it 

 two feet apart in a single row, and let 

 the roots reach out, for their nourish- 

 ment, as far as they may. If it is not 

 feasible to lengthen the row sufiiciently 

 to produce all the Asparagus desired, 

 a second row may be planted not 

 nearer than four feet to the first, and 

 when more space can be given a dis- 

 tance of six feet is preferable. — Ameri- 

 can Garden. 



PROLONGING THE SEASON OF PEAS. 



How to prolong the bearing season 

 of Peas, as much as possible, has always 

 been a problem, the solution of which is 

 of great importance to every one who 

 cultivates a garden, and the experience 

 of Mr. H. J. Seymour, Madison Co., 

 New-York, in this regard, deserves con- 

 sideration. 



Mr. Seymour writes : " While hoeing, 

 last summer, my Little Gem Peas, grow- 

 ing on rich, mucky land, between straw - 

 berry rows four feet apart, I noticed that 

 some of the plants had more than one 

 bearing stalk. The question occurred 

 to me why all could not have several 

 stalks, and, of course, more pods, pro- 

 vided the land was rich enough and there 

 was room enough between them for air 

 and sunshine. Then came the thought 

 of what I had heard and read about 

 shortening-in-plants to make them more 

 stocky and fruitful, and of the practica- 

 bility of a similar treatment for peas. 

 It was already late in the season, the 

 fii-st blossoms just showing themselves 

 in most cases, yet the experiment was 

 worth trying, and as I had an acre of 

 these peas it could not amount to much 

 if I did injure a few plants. So I coun- 

 ted off just six hundred plants on one 

 row, stuck a stake firmly in the ground 

 and pinched remorselessly an inch or 

 more, blossoms and all, from the top of 

 every one of these plants. Then I coun- 

 ted six hundred plants on the row next 

 to this, and drove a stake, without dis- 

 turbing the plants. 



"I watched the decapitated vines with 

 much interest, and sure enough new 

 branches came out abundantly near the 

 ground and from the axils of the leaves. 

 They finally budded, blossomed, and 

 fruited more abundantly than their 

 neighbors, although about a week later. 

 None of the peas were picked, the entire 

 crop being saved for seed. They were 

 threshed, winnowed, and carefully mea- 



