162 VEGETABLE GARDEN IN a 



is said that plants that do not bear seed produce more sprouts 

 than those that do. Such plants may be increased by divisions. 



Planting. While asparagus should always be moved in 

 the spring, it is not necessary to move it very early, though 

 it is better to do so; but it may be successfully transplanted 

 as late as the first of June. Any long sprouts that may 

 have started should be broken off when the plants are set 

 out. The land for planting should be heavily manured, 

 deeply plowed, and finely pulverized; and it is important 

 to do this work well, as asparagus beds well made should 

 last at least twenty years. The opinions of different 

 growers as to distance between plants vary much. It 

 has been advocated to set the plants four feet apart each 

 way and if the soil is remarkably fertile this distance will 

 not be too great; if the land is not very rich, it is customary 

 to put the plants at intervals of three feet in rows four 

 feet apart. If a bed for a family garden is desired where 

 space is limited, it is probably best to set the plants three 

 by three feet apart. About 100 plants will produce all 

 the sprouts needed in an ordinary home garden. 



Depth to Plant. For ordinary purposes asparagus 

 roots should be planted about six inches deep; the deeper 

 they are planted the later they will be about starting in 

 the spring; if planted much less than six inches deep, the 

 the roots often push up to the surface and interfere with 

 cultivation. The plants should not be covered to the 

 full depth of six inches at once, or the shoots may never 

 be able to push up to the surface. The furrows should be 

 made with a plow to the proper depth, the plants placed 

 in the bottom of the furrow and covered about three inches 

 to begin with, and the furrows filled in by after culti- 

 vation as the tops grow. By the middle of the summer 

 the furrows should be level full. 



