CUTTING 23 



making the plants unnaturally deep. I would advise that 

 this work be done late in January, a mulch being applied 

 and just a little earth thrown over the manure to rot it. 

 Where it can be obtained, stable manure or sea weed, well 

 mixed with sand, is good for the plants, and if fish manure 

 and night soil can be had so much the better. Every 

 alternate year this mixture might be applied, and in the fol- 

 lowing year in November eight hundredweight of kainit. 

 Early in March add six hundredweight of superphosphate, 

 in May one and a half hundredweight of nitrate of soda, 

 and in July one and a half hundredweight of nitrate 

 of soda. Guano for a change instead of either of these 

 annual dressings can be substituted at the rate of twelve 

 hundredweight per acre, for asparagus seems to like any 

 manures, and salt also can be put on with advantage at 

 the rate of twelve to fifteen hundredweight per acre, 

 but this is not so necessary when kainit is used, as this 

 contains a large quantity of salt. This system of alterna- 

 tion will be better for the plants than the old way of 

 putting on a heavy dressing of dung in the winter or 

 autumn without any change from year to year. 



CUTTING 



About the middle of February, a few inches of the sur- 

 rounding soil should be thrown up over the crowns or 

 plants, and for this purpose a top dressing of sand is helpful 

 to add with the soil for earthing, as, when the gathering 

 commences, the little hill over each crown can be drawn 

 down, and instead of an asparagus knife being used the 

 shoots can be broken off by the fingers. If a knife be 

 used, I prefer an old pruning knife to the well-known 

 asparagus knife. Take the top of the shoot carefully 

 between your thumb and fore-finger, then with the knife 

 in the other hand push it perpendicularly into the soil 

 alongside the shoot which you are about to cut, then 



