PLANTING LIST 315 



every spring, and after every cutting season, with top-dressing, freely. 

 Nitrate of soda is helpful at these times. Manure in the fall, and 

 dig the manure into the ground in early spring, if you can afford it. 

 But my practice is to sow crimson clover among the plants before 

 Aug. 15. This makes a thick mat before winter, protects the 

 ground, and is dug into the ground in spring. This is as good as 

 manure for the plants. In digging do not go too deep, or you will 

 injure the roots. 



Forty to fifty plants, in good condition and well fed, ought to 

 produce a bunch a day. 



Cut lightly the first year, say for not more than two weeks. After 

 that cut for five or six weeks every spring. More than this is hard 

 on the bed. Cut the shoots when about five inches tall, cutting 

 two inches or more underground. Thrust the knife in pretty 

 straight, and do not injure other shoots or the crown of the plant. 



Cultivate regularly after every rain, and let no weeds grow. 

 The worst weed in an asparagus bed is the young asparagus plant. 

 Numbers spring up every year, so that at least once, after the 

 cutting season, the bed should be carefully weeded with knife or 

 trowel, getting out the roots. Watch carefully for more young 

 plants far another fortnight. 



On account of the rust, the variety is important. The Argen- 

 teuil is considered pretty safe, but the government is experimenting 

 in raising a rust-proof kind. Write to the Department of Agricul- 

 ture at Washington, or to the Experiment Station at Concord, 

 Massachusetts. A perfectly rust-proof variety is not yet known. 



Luckily the rust is not so troublesome as it was. There is little 

 to do against it except to feed the plants well. Pests are beetles, 

 whose slugs eat the young leaves. They can be poisoned, or if 

 knocked off onto the ground will die. 



Asters : There are two kinds, perennial and annual. 



Perennial Aster (Starwort, Michaelmas Daisy) : A native plant, 

 growing wild in many places. The seed is seldom offered by seeds- 

 men, and for the plants one must go to the field, to one's neigh- 

 bors (who will often supply seed), or to the nurseryman. There 



