ASH. 



26 



ASPARAGUS. 



this culture, offsets may be brought into 

 flower in their third year. 



Other varieties are A. crinitum, A. dra- 

 cuncutus, A. Italicum, and A. maculatum, 

 also known as " Lords and Ladies," or 

 Cuckoo Pint. All are hardy perennials 

 and suitable for outdoor growth, requiring 

 protection only in the winter, in the form 

 of a little litter thrown over the places 

 where they grow. 



Ash and Chief Varieties. 



Of the ash, Fraxinus, besides Fraxinus 

 excelsior, the common ash, there are F. 

 pendula, the weeping ash ; F. aurea 

 pendula, the golden weeping ash ; F. 

 aucubafolia, the aucuba-leaved ash ; and 

 F. crispa> the curled ash. 



Asparagus (nat. ord. Llliacea). 



Sowing Seed. This delicious vegetable 

 is a general favourite ; but it is more costly 

 than ordinary vegetables, and for this reason 

 is never greatly in demand. To raise as- 

 paragus from seed, which it yields in 

 abundance, if allowed, in the autumn, the 

 seed should be gathered when fully ripe, 



ASPARAGUS. 



hung up to dry, and rubbed out when 

 sufficiently so. It may be sown thinly on 

 ground that has been well dug, but not 

 manured, any time from the beginning of 

 March to June. If sown broadcast, it 

 should be scattered thinly and evenly, and 

 trodden in, and the ground raked over ; if 



in drills, they should be about a foot apart 

 and an inch deep, the seeds sown thinly, 

 and pressed and raked over. The plants 

 make more root than top the first year; 

 but if they are kept clear of weeds, and the 

 ground stirred often between them, they 

 will grow vigorously the second year, and 

 be fit to plant out the following spring. 

 Beds of asparagus may be made as late as 

 September. 



Another practice strongly recommended 

 by some cultivators is to sow asparagus 

 seeds at once on the beds where they are to 

 grow. This needs deep trenching and heavy 

 manuring. The beds thus prepared, a line 

 is drawn in the 4-foot beds a foot from each 

 edge, and a foot apart. Upon these lines, 

 at every 12 inches, a few seeds are planted 

 about an inch deep. When the seedlings 

 come up, thin out, leaving only one of the 

 most vigorous plants. A bed thus sown, 

 and carefully weeded and manured, and 

 the surface stirred in autumn and spring, 

 will produce buds in the fourth year, and 

 fine large plants in the fifth year, and will 

 continue to bear for twelve or fourteen 

 years. 



Making Plantations. At whatever time 

 it may be determined to make plantations 

 of this vegetable, they should be made on a 

 rich soil, neither wet nor too stiff, but pul- 

 verising readily under the spade. On this 

 soil a coating of rich well-rotted stable 

 manure, three or four inches thick, should 

 be spread, after which the ground should 

 be trenched three spades deep, the manure 

 being buried pretty equally at the bottom 

 spit of each trench. The ground being 

 dug and levelled, divide it into 4-foot beds, 

 with alleys two feet wide between each bed. 



Planting. Select strong one-year-old 

 plants without tops, and plant them two 

 rows in each 4-foot bed, the rows a foot 

 from each side of the bed, and the plants 

 a foot apart in the rows. The method of 

 planting is as follows : Strain the garden- 



