ASPARAGUS ii 



and render worthless. After May 20 the litter may be removed, if 

 needful ; but if appearances are of secondary importance, it may be 

 left to shrink away on the spot. 



Asparagus as supplied by market growers is needlessly long 

 in the stem. The bundles have an imposing appearance no doubt, 

 but the useless length adds nothing to the comfort of those at table, 

 and is a wasteful tax on the energy of the plant. For home con- 

 sumption it will generally suffice if the white portion is three or four 

 inches long, and this determines the depth at which the sticks should 

 be cut. Here it may be useful to remark that deeply buried roots do 

 not thrive so well as those which are nearer the surface, nor do they 

 produce such early crops. The sticks are usually cut by thrusting 

 down a stiff narrow-pointed knife, or specially made saw, close to 

 each shoot, and it is necessary to do this with judgment, or adjacent 

 shoots, which are not sufficiently advanced to reveal their presence by 

 lifting the soil, may be damaged. To avoid this risk of injury by the 

 knife it is possible from some beds to obtain the sticks without the 

 aid of any implement by a twist and pull combined, but the process 

 needs a dexterous hand and is impracticable in tenacious soils. The 

 sticks of a handsome sample will be white four or five inches of their 

 length ; the tops close, plump, of a purplish-green colour, and the 

 colour extending two or at most three inches down the stems. 

 Both size and degree of colouring are, however, so entirely questions 

 of taste that no definite rule can be stated. It is more to the purpose 

 to say that, if liberally grown, the plant may be cut from in the third 

 year ; and that cutting should cease about the middle of June, or early 

 in July, according to the district. As regards the good of the plant 

 the sooner cutting ceases the better, as the next year's buds have to 

 be formed in the roots by the aid of the leaf growth of this season. 



There are two more points of very great importance in respect of 

 the general management. Some crops get on pretty well when 

 neglected and crowded with weeds. But it is not so with Asparagus. 

 The plant appears to have been designed to enjoy life in solitude, 

 being unfit for competition ; and if weeds make way in an Asparagus 

 bed, the cultivator will pay a heavy penalty for his neglect of duty. 

 The limitation of the beds to a width of three feet, therefore, is of 

 consequence, because it facilitates weeding without putting a foot on 

 them. The other point arises out of the necessity of affording 

 support to the frail plant in places where it may happen to be exposed 

 to wind. When Asparagus in high summer is rudely shaken, the 

 stems snap off at the base, and the roots lose the service of the whole 



