FALL WORK. 145 



to give these valuable results of the application of 

 science to strawberries, we must now return to our 

 fall work. Next in importance to the strawberries 

 was the asparagus-bed, and great were the prepara 

 tions made for it. Bridgeman was consulted. He 

 is somewhat obscure, arid I did not practically under 

 stand some of his directions, especially the one which 

 he lays down as of the first importance, that the 

 plot of ground must be thoroughly &quot; trenched.&quot; Of 

 course, I was perfectly acquainted with the meaning 

 of that word in its ordinary acceptation it signifies 

 to dig a ditch ; but the exact purpose of a ditch in 

 an asparagus-bed was not entirely apparent. It was 

 not for drainage, for, as far as I could make out, the 

 ditch was to be filled up again as soon as made ; it 

 was not merely as an ornament, or to separate these 

 valuable plants from their baser and less aristocratic 

 neighbors, but it had some occult purpose manifest 

 ly connected with a subtle and technical interpreta 

 tion. An application to the last pictorial and una 

 bridged &quot; Worcester&quot; did no good : there &quot; trench&quot; 

 was made to mean a &quot; pit, drain, or ditch.&quot; As &quot; drain 

 or ditch&quot; were impossible, so &quot;pit&quot; seemed equally 

 out of the question. 



Not seeing any better way out of the dilemma, and 

 the necessity to proceed being pressing, I put a bold 

 G 



