•56 



THE CANADIAN HORT1CULTUR1S2 . 



use. It is the earliest, most wholesome, and 

 easiest grown of vegetables. It takes three 

 or four years to get good asparagus fit for 

 use from seed, but when once obtained it 

 will last several years and give an abundant 

 supply in April and May of good whole- 

 some food. A good mulching of manure 

 in the fall, and cultivation in the summer i.> 

 all it needs when once established. A cou- 

 ple of rows about a hundred feet in length 

 wQuld provide sufficient of this vegetable for 

 a large family. The seed should be sown 

 as early as possible in spring in drills about 

 one and a half inches in depth and about 

 three or four feet apart. Conover's Colos- 

 sal asparagus is about the best and hardiest 

 variety. Two-year-old plants will give 

 quicker results than seedlings. 



Pdas^ Parslky, Onions, Parsnips, Let- 

 tuce, Salsify and Leeks should be sown 

 as soon as the ground can be worked. Peas 

 should be sown in drills and covered with 

 about two inches of soil. Dwarf varieties, 

 such as Gradus, Horsford's Market Garden, 

 and Stratagem, are good varieties to sow. 

 Sow these two feet apart between the rows. 

 Parsnips should be sown in drills about an 

 inch deep and eighteen inches between the 

 drills. Onions, lettuce, parsley and leeks 

 in drills about fifteen inches apart, covering 

 the seed with about half an inch of soil. The 

 drills for salsify should be eighteen inches 

 apart, and the seed covered with about an 

 inch of soil. Prizetaker and Danver's Yel- 

 low Onion are about the two best varieties 

 of onions. The White Portugal is the best 

 white onion. Sow these in drills one foot 

 apart and cover the seed with about half an 

 inch of soil. Onions like good rich soil. 

 The Nonpariel, Gardener's Favorite and 

 Early Ohio are three good varieties of let- 

 tuce. Sow in drills nearly an inch in depth 

 and fifteen inches between the drills. 



Leeks should be transplanted into well- 

 manured shallow trenches when the plants 

 are five or six inches in height. Put the 

 plants six or eight inches apart, give them 

 plenty of water in the summer, and mould 

 the plants up toward fall. Potatoes can be 

 planted late in April or early in May. Beans, 

 beets, radishes and carrots should be sown 

 early in May. 



FKUIT GARDEN 



Strawberry Plants should have their 

 winter mulch removed at once, if not already 

 done. Fork between the rows and pick out 

 all weeds as soon as the weather permits. 

 About I lb. of nitrate of soda to every square 

 rod of the strawberry patch, applied early in 

 May, will prove a good fertilizer for an old 

 patch. Sprinkle the nitrate of soda between 

 the rows and not on the plants, as it might 

 damage the foliage. 



Prune all gooseberry and currant bushes 

 at once, if not already done. It is rather 

 late for pruning apple, pear and plum trees, 

 but all dead wood and suckers can still be 

 removed. 



The dead wood should be cleaned out 

 from the raspberry canes. Stake and tic 

 up the strongest canes left. Top them back 

 to from four to five feet in height. Cuth- 

 bert and Golden Queen raspberries are the 

 two best varieties for home use. Fork be- 

 tween the rows before the ground gets hard 

 and dry. A mulching of fairly short 

 manure in May will help the crop of rasp- 

 berries. Put the mulch on after the weed 

 crop has started and been hoed down once 

 or twice. By doing this before the mulch 

 is put on very few weeds will appear until 

 autumn. 



