572 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.XLVI. 



while, on the coutrarv, the idler is sure to become vicious. Give him but 

 a stimulant to labour, by allowing him a proportionate interest in the value 

 of his efforts, and you render him at once a friend to social order. 



Chapter XLVI. 

 THE FARMER'S GARDEN. 



The directions on gardens, which are contained in the Chapter on Cottage 

 Economv, relate exclusively to those cultivated by the peasantry for their 

 own use'; but as it often happens that the labourer is called on to act as 

 his master's gardener, it is necessary he should know how to manage cer- 

 tain plants which are rarely found in his own, and therefore have not yet 

 been mentioned. 



The first we will mention is that excellent vegetable delicacy asparagus, 

 of which every farmer wishes to have a couple of beds ; more especially 

 as when once laid down it continues productive for many years. Nei- 

 ther does it require half the care and attention usually bestowed upon it. 

 As a native of Britain it is perfectly hardy; and the custom is to give the 

 beds a winter covering, — not to keep out frost, but to cause an extra degree 

 of warmth, exciting the roots to earlier action. The fact is, asparagus being 

 a o-ross feeder, and particularly fond of rich alluvial land, it should, in the 

 first place, be planted on an extraordinarily enriched, deeply-trenched soil, 

 where it will luxuriate for a long course of 'years. The ground intended 

 for asparagus should have a thick coat of good dung trenched in, and also 

 a coat of very rotten dress digged into the surface. The plot is divided 

 into four-feet-wide beds, with two-feet-wide alleys between. Three rows of 

 two-year old plants (bought of a nurseryman) are placed in drills, ten 

 inches apart, made by the hoe, the roots being spread out right and left, 

 and covered carefully with'loose earth ; the whole being afterwards smoothed 

 by the rake*. The season for planting is the close of March, or early in 

 April t, and during the following summer the beds are only kept clean of 

 weeds. When the stems have died down in the autumn, they should be 

 cleared off, and the surface broken up or stirred, not too deeply, with a fork, 

 care beino- taken not to disturb the roots. The beds may then be covered 

 for the winter with a coat of short, decayed litter, and over this a little 

 earth may be thrown from the alleys. In the month of March this mould 

 and litter may be raked off and digged into the alleys, which operation is 

 called the spring dressing. This autumn and spring dressing is continued 

 every year afterwards. 



Asparaqiis is always allowed to grow and gain strength for three or four 

 years before any demands are made upon it for the table. This forbearance 

 allows the plants to establish themselves in their new place, and so become 

 able to bear a partial cutting in the fourth, and a general cutting in the 



* " The plants should be placed so deep as to permit the crowns to be covered with 

 two inches of fine earth, and the roots ou^ht to be let down to their full extent into the 

 ground in a rather open and expanded order." Towers, on the Cultivation of Asparagus. 

 Quart. Journ. of Ag. vol. vi. p. 537. 



f " Dry weather should be chosen ; because the earth, when it is in a free and open 

 condition, may readily be made to fall amonjj the stringy processes of the roots; but 

 when planted, each row should be liberally watered once, to enable them to start into 

 growth without any loss of time." Jb. 



