654 ASPARAGACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



ing to raise the ground in the paths between the beds, so as to make 

 them hold a copious supply of manure-water, instead of sinking the 

 path. In planting, we prefer two rows a foot apart, and the plants 

 the same distance apart in the row, then a three-feet space and two 

 more rows of plants, and so on until the ground is planted. The ad- 

 vantage of single or double-row planting is, that the plants in the 

 growing season are better exposed to light, and have more room to 

 grow. The certain way to complete success in the cultivation of this 

 plant is a deep, rich, porous soil, plenty of manure-water through the 

 summer and autumn, a coat of manure to cover the whole of the ground 

 when the stems are cut down in the autumn ; and, if ordinary manure 

 cannot be had, then a few handfuls of Peruvian guano added to the 

 salt at each dressing through the summer. In planting always prefer 

 plants one year old. 



" In cutting, never touch a stem until the third year after planting, 

 and then only take a few stems from each root. When the plants 

 become strong, cut every shoot up to the end of May or first week in 

 June, then leave the strongest shoot upon each plant, and you may 

 continue to cut for a fortnight or three weeks longer, when you must 

 cease altogether. More beds are ruined by excessive cutting late in 

 the season than by any other cause. We have been speaking of cut- 

 ting ; but when we gather asparagus for our own eating, we never cut 

 at all, but are content to let it grow to the height of six or eight inches, 

 and then break it off between the forefingers at the proper length ; it 

 is brittle as an icicle. It is true we have no handle to bur asparagus ; 

 but what we gather we can eat, which is more than can be said for the 

 mismanaged article sold in our markets." 



Gathering. To suit the taste of some persons, asparagus should be 

 so far grown as to become green, but in general it is preferred more 

 or less blanched, that is, when the shoot is three or four inches above 

 the surface of the soil, with the terminal bud close and plump. In 

 some parts of the Continent each particular stalk is blanched by 

 putting a wooden or earthenware tube, eighteen inches long, and one 

 inch in diameter within, over it; and at St. Sebastian the beds are 

 covered, before cutting commences, to the depth of eight inches with 

 dead leaves, which effects the same object, and keeps the soil moist. 

 The last mode well deserves to be adopted in this country, as well as 

 that of watering abundantly during the gathering season. In young 

 plantations, gather only the largest stalks for two or three weeks, and 

 then permit the whole of the others that may be produced to run to 

 flower ; but in plantations in full vigour gather all the stems that 

 appear, whether large or small, for a month or six weeks, or till the 

 time fixed on for leaving off gathering If, instead of gathering all 

 the stems, some are allowed to run to flower while the gathering is 

 going on, but few more stems will be sent up from the root, and these 

 weak on account of the main force of the sap being spent in the 

 flowering stem. To ensure large stalks, gathering should not be con- 

 tinued longer than the middle of June, or if continued to the end of 

 the month, no cutting should take place the following year. It must 



