The Culture of Vegetables 



preparatory work done at convenient times in advance of the planting 

 season. Assuming that rows are decided on, commence operations 

 by digging a broad deep trench, throwing out the soil to the right 

 and left to form sloping sides until there is a perpendicular depth of 

 twenty-seven inches from the top of the ridge. About one foot of 

 prepared soil should be placed in the bottom of the trench. This 

 may be composed of such material as the trimmings of hedges, 

 sweepings of shrubberies, twigs from a faggot pile, wood ashes and 

 leaf-mould. The constituents must to some extent depend on the 

 materials at command. What is wanted is a light compost, consisting 

 almost wholly of vegetable matter in a more or less advanced state 

 of decomposition. Add three or four inches of rich loam, and on 

 this, at the beginning of April, plant strong one-year roots of a robust- 

 growing variety. Between the plants it is customary to allow a space 

 of at least two feet, and some growers put them a full yard apart. 

 Cover the crowns with three inches of rich soil, previously mixed 

 with manure and laid up for the purpose. The second and following 

 rows are to be treated in the same way, and the work must be so 

 managed that an equal distance of four and a half or five feet is left 

 between the rows. When the foliage dies down in autumn, a layer 

 of fertile loam mixed with rotten manure should be spread over 

 the surface. In the succeeding spring remove just the top crust of 

 soil and give a thick dressing of decayed manure alone, upon which 

 the soil can be restored. During the autumn of the second year the 

 furrow must be filled with horse manure for the winter. Remove 

 this manure in March, and substitute good loam containing a liberal 

 admixture of decayed manure previously incorporated with the soil. 

 The slight ridges that remain can then be levelled down. By this 

 treatment large handsome sticks of Asparagus may be cut in the 

 third year. To maintain the plants in a high state of efficiency, it 

 must be clearly understood that forcing with horse manure will be 

 necessary every subsequent year. Blanching may be accomplished 

 by any of the usual methods, and Sea Kale pots are both convenient 

 and effectual. Not a weed should be visible on the beds at any 

 time. 



Forcing is variously practised, and the best possible system, 

 doubtless, is to force in the beds, and thereby train the plants to their 

 work so that they become used to it. The growers that supply Paris 

 with forced Asparagus produce the white sample in the beds, and the 

 green by removal of the roots to frames. Forcing in beds may be 

 accomplished by means of trenches filled with fermenting material 



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