Notes and Gleanings. 237 



We have cultivated asparagus during the last thirty years, and regard it as one 

 of the cheapest and best of our garden vegetables. There is no esculent within 

 our knowledge more hardy, more easily grown, or that suffers less from the 

 attacks of insects or disease than this. // never fails. It is so easily grown, 

 and the yield is so generous, that we really have little sympathy for any owner 

 of a garden, who may esteem it a delicacy, and at the same time neglects to pro- 

 vide for a supply. If such persons complain of meagre bunches, shrivelling 

 sprouts, and high prices, we care not. They have asparagus in name, and this is 

 all they deserve, or should expect. 



From a couple of small beds, about eight by thirty feet, we gather in super- 

 abundance. During its season of use, it is rarely, if ever, necessarily absent 

 from our table ; and a bountiful indulgence is daily at our command. 



With regard to cutting, we have at times practised most of the plans advised 

 by different growers. That it is generally gathered at too early a stage of growth 

 there can be little question. Nothing certainly is gained in quantity by taking 

 the sprouts as soon as they appear, and we think nothing is gained in quality. 

 We do not consider a shoot in its greatest perfection until it has attained a 

 height of ten or twelve inches. When thus developed, we not only find a large 

 portion of the sprout tender and fit for use, but there is a certain delicacy of flavor 

 in these more mature shoots which is altogether wanting in those of scarcely a 

 day's duration. So far from regarding a sprout as worthless in consequence of 

 the slight e.xpansion of the tip or crown, we think this measure of growth 

 desirable. In short, we prefer "green" asparagus. 



In severing the stalk, we make the cutting only so far below the surface as may 

 be necessary to provide for the covering of the sear by the earth when the shoot 

 is removed — the average depth not exceeding half an inch. Thus managed, 

 very little injury results to the crowns of the roots or the undeveloped sprouts, 

 and the bed at all times presents a neat appearance. Our principal objection to the 

 S3'stem of ^;'6'c7/^/;/^ off the shoots, recommended by Mr. Baldwin, is, that the pro- 

 cess leaves the plantation ragged and unsightly, and more difficult of cultivation. 



The general practice of boiHng and serving the shoots entire is neither con- 

 venient nor economical. The sprouts should be taken one by one, and the tough 

 or more fibrous part removed either by cutting or breaking, reserving only that 

 portion for use which is found to be tender and eatable. After being thus pre- 

 pared, the tips are sometimes snapped or cut in small sections, cooked, and served 

 like beans or peas — a method we commend and generally practise. 



Shelter for Pear Orchards. — At the meeting of the Wisconsin Hor- 

 ticultural Society, Mr. Suel Foster recommended giving pear trees more shelter 

 than has heretofore been thought necessary. He would shelter them on the south 

 as well as the north, and not only around the borders, but through the orchard, 

 planting a row of evergreens at every fourth row of pears, and setting the pears 

 and evergreens in close proximity. 



His list of pears for Iowa is Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Beurre d'Anjou, Onon- 

 daga, Seckel, and Doyenne d'ete, named in the order in which they have proved 

 themselves worthy. 



