1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



37 



]i!astcriHl, hut inlorior to the [ilastorcd land.* I hc- 

 liove the iiilkiciice (ahove ?poli(Mi ol") of the plas- 

 ter, extends some fitieen or twenty leet, and lln-- 

 ther in a dry season, than a wet. In liict, jilasler 

 acts nmcli l)elier in a dry season, at. least the dil- 

 li'rence is much more perceplihle in a dry tlian a 

 wet season. 



This year, 1835, in sowing my plaster on the 

 clover, I iiad two beds plastered at the rate of two 

 bushels to the acre, the balance of the field beino; 

 at the rate ol" one bushel ; leaving now and then 

 a bed unplastered, as usual, lor experiment sake; 

 there was no pereeptiltle diderence between the 

 one and two bushels, but very great in liu'or of the 

 plastered over the unplaslered, in both instances. 

 I would not advise to use plaster so economi- 

 cally as a half bushel to the acre; lor every man 

 can well allbrd to use a bushel to the acre, it pays 

 so well iiir itself in the increase of crop. But a hall 

 bushel is better than no plaster, and in the instance 

 abovementioned, answered as well as a bushel; hut 

 it may have been owing to my land having been so 

 often plastered belbre, that it requires less to alfect 

 if, (haviug used plaster tor twenty years,) though 

 thiit is mere conjecture. 



While on the subject of gypsum, let me advise 

 those who can get the French plaster, always to 

 use that, in preference to the Nova Scotia plaster, 

 as the French is much more apt to be ijenuine. 

 The Nova Scotia plaster is very generally mixed 

 with lime stone, but the French ne\'er. The 

 French is much softer, and more easily prepared 

 lor use, also, a very great advantage, when the 

 liirmer pounds or beats his own plaster, which is 

 decided economy; lor you may get plaster in the 

 lump for half what j^ou give lor the ground plas- 

 ter, and then you can judge whether it is genuine 

 or not. The pounding or beating, is not so labo- 

 rious, as one would imaoine. VV'ith a large trough 

 dug out of a pine, or other tree, and large dog- 

 wood pestles, or rammers, a farmer may beat his 

 plaster every winter, on rainy days, without leel- 

 ing it at all. In fact, those who do not make to- 

 bacco, have very little tor their hands to do in rainy 

 weather, and frequently expose their hands in bad 

 weather, because they have no in-door work lor 

 them. With old axes, or sledge hammers, you 

 crack the large lumps of plaster, to the size of one 

 and a half or two inches square, and put them into 

 the trough, to be pounded, or beat by the rammers, 

 or [)e£tles; and after beating some time, you sift the 

 plaster through a tolerably fine wire sifter, and 

 throw back the coarse pieces into the trough, to 

 be beat over again with more plaster, until j'ou 

 have it all fine enough. And it need not be very 

 fine; twenty two or twenty three bushels to the 

 ton, is sufficiently fine. 



This experiment is hardly worth recording, ex- 

 cept that some over-economical liirmers might be 

 tempted to use plaster, if they could do it at the 

 small expense of half a bushel to the acre ; and I 

 am sure if ever they saw the effect of it on their 

 own land, they would never fail to use it alter- 

 wards, even at the expense of a bushel, or more, 

 to the acre. 



Hill Cartkr. 



*This remarkable effect does not rest for support 

 only upon Mr. Carter's observation — and none is more 

 to be relied on tlian his. But though it must be admit- 

 ted, it seems unaccountable. — Ed. 



From Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. 

 ON THE CULTURK OF ASPARAGUS. 



By ul. Forsyih. 



There is, perhaps, no article in the culture of 

 which more unnecessary liirms ai'e gone through 

 than with this. We see the plant (a native "^of 

 Britain) covered with 6 in., or perhaps 1 ft., of 

 soil or litter, in winter, to keep the li-ost li-om it, or 

 to mulch it when it is in a dormant stale; thouiili 

 we may as well mulch a layer of seed potatoes at 

 Michaelmas, to benefit their buds lor the succeed- 

 ing summer. 



But to come to the point, and that is, to culti- 

 vate asparagus to the highest state of perlection 

 at the lowest charges. "Let a heap of manure, 

 equal to a layer of 9 in. deep all over the trround 

 intended for asparagus, be prepared of the follow- 

 ing materials :— One third good loamy turf, or turf 

 ofsandy peat; and two tlurds of the best dung 

 from the stables and cattle layers; with about two 

 bushels of drill bones to every |)ole of ground. 

 The turf ought to be pared off, and piled up, a 

 year previous to its being wanted ; and the dung 

 properly mixed and fermented at least sis weeks 

 before. The bone manure may be spread over 

 the rest before they are trenched into the quarter. 

 In the process of trenching, let the manure be 

 equally incorporated with every part. In plant- 

 ing, let one-year-old plants be inserted 1 in. below, 

 the level of the surface, in lines alternately 9 in.' 

 and 3 ft. apart, in the same way as peas are gene- 

 rally planted. If the plot be extensive, paths 3i 

 ft. wide, may be run across the rows, at the dis- 

 tance of 16 ft. apart, to prevent wheeling, and as 

 much as possible, walkinff. between the lines. 

 The plants may be i'rotn 4 in. to 6 in. apart in the 

 row, bedded and covered with leaf-soil, or dung 

 reduced to a soil ; and, as mulching with half- 

 rotten dung, and extensive waterings in dry 

 weather, are the principal leatures of culture, it is 

 indispensably necessary that the ground be effect- 

 ually drained, summer drought and winter satura- 

 tion being the grand evils to be guarded against. 

 From the latter end of May till Michaelmas'; is the 

 time that asparagus is generally lelt without any 

 culture, except routine weeding, &c. Now, this is 

 almost the only season that any culture can be of 

 much service to the plant ; lor it is evident, that, if 

 we encourage the plants whilst they are in a state 

 of active develcpement, that is, when they are 

 shooting up to seed, l)y forking, freriuent hoeing, 

 mulching, and wateriiig between the rows, as if 

 •lowers and seed were all we wanted, we shall 

 invigorate the plants, and enable them to form 

 fine plump crowns for next season ; but I cannot 

 see how banking the beds up with soil, or mulch- 

 ing them with strawy litter belbre winter (the roots 

 being then in a state of rest), can be of any great 

 service to the plants. A short time before tbelauds 

 appear in spring, a little fine soil may be drawn 

 over the crowns, in order to blanch the lower 

 halves of the buds. 



In cutting, let the earth be first scraped away 

 from the bud, that the gatherer may see where 

 and what he is about to cut. Two or three years 

 must elapse, afler planting, before any buds can be 

 profitably gathered for use ; after which term, the 

 lines may be allowed to remain until they become 

 straggling and un[)roductive. In most gardens, 

 however, they are generally wanted for forcing 



