278 Journal of the Horticultnral Society of London. 



it with the soil. There will now be an opening at the top, and one third of 

 the earth left at the bottom. Tread the whole surface over, and again lay 

 on six inches in depth of dung, forking it up the hill, and keeping the same 

 opening. The whole mass of ear;h and dung will then be tlioroughly 

 mixed from bottom to top, and the opening will take the remainder of the 

 earth thrown out of the first trench. 



The work should be done in dry (not frosty) weather — say, in October. 

 The ground being thus prepared, throw it up in rough spits, one spade deep, 

 to be pulverized by the frost against planting time. 



My time of planting is, when I observe the plants to have grown about 

 an inch above the ground in the seed-bed, choosing a dry day when the 

 soil will work freely. After having marked out my beds four feet in width, 

 and having allowed two feet for the alleys, I strain a garden line or each 

 side, and, as before mentioned, with a rake draw the soil equally off the bed 

 into the alleys about two inches and a half deep. I then strain the line ex- 

 actly through the middle of the bed, and, with the point of a dibble, make 

 light marks one foot six inches apart. That being done, I then strain the 

 lines nine inciies from the margins of the bed, being a distance of one foot 

 three inches from the middle row to the outside ones. These I mark in the 

 same way as I did the middle one ; but so that the plants will not be oppo- 

 site each other. Every thing being now ready, plants are obtained from 

 the seed-bed, selecting the finest, and exposing them as little as possible to 

 sun and air. I place one plant over each mark made in the bed, spreading 

 the roots out as regularly as possible on the surface, and laying, as I pro- 

 ceed, a little soil with the hand from the alleys on the plants, in order to 

 fix them in their places. The bed being planted, I strain the lines on the 

 outside, and, with a spade, throw the soil from the alleys over the crowns, 

 covering thein about an inch and a half, but not deeper. If any burned veg- 

 etable matter can be obtained from the rubbish heap, I shotild recommend 

 coating the beds over about half an inch in depth with it, after they have been 

 planted. In autumn, when the stalks are ripe, cut them down close, and 

 clean off the beds, taking care not to disturb the soil, the crowns being so 

 near the surface. Make a mixture of equal parts rotten dung and burned 

 garden rubbish, and coat the beds with it three inches in thickness, just 

 covering it with soil from the alleys. In this state, allow them to remain 

 during winter, and, early in March, run it through with a fork down to the 

 level of the bed when covered. 



1 have cut a few heads the second year afler planting ; but in the third 

 year one half the fine asparagus that comes up may be cut without injuring 

 the plants. The fourth year, the beds are in fine bearing condition ; and 

 when in this state, my method is, to keep every thing cut, both large and 

 small, up to the first or second week in June, with the exception of the 

 heads selected for producing seed. After this time, I allow the whole to 

 take its natural growth, and I find my beds to continue for years in a good 

 bearing slate. Some of them were made ten years ago, and I have cut 

 finer asparagus from them this season than I did three years back. And I 



