154 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 3 



and five feet deep, with the assurance that a pro- 

 portionably great and permanent crop of the as- 

 paragus would be produced. I have tried two 

 feet, and thirty inches, and believe tliat a perfectly 

 well enriched soil to that extent, will be more effi- 

 cient than six feet of a dead, cold substratum. At 

 all events, a good six-inch layer of rich manure 

 should be laid at the bottom of each trench, and 

 the first being cleared and so prepared, the soil and 

 a due proportion of the manure are to be put into 

 it, and mixed as equally as possible, till the earth 

 be raised at least six inches above the old surflice 

 level. Tiius the work is to proceed, trench after 

 trench, until the entire plot be filled up with tho- 

 roughly moved and incorporated materials; the last 

 trench must be filled wilh earth out of the first. 

 At this stage of the work it will be found tliat the 

 reserved earth will be insufficient to complete the 

 plot: in order, therefore, to equalize the surface, it 

 will be prudent to dig the bed again in a contrary 

 direction after an interval of a week; and pre- 

 vious to this operation, I Avould recommend that 

 about a gallon of common salt be regularly sprin- 

 kled over the whole surface; it will tend to bring 

 the bed into that chemical condition, which a 

 constant dressing of sea-weed would induce. 



Having thus described the preparation of the 

 bed, I observe once for all, that if turf be in plenty 

 It cannot be made too deep; and this will hold 

 good in the preparation of all garden plots where 

 vegetables alone are to be grown. For fruit-trees, 

 I believe that eighteen inches of ])ure maiden 

 turfy loam, without one particle of animal ma- 

 nure, over a six-inch stratum of coarse stones, 

 brick-bats, rocky fragments, or the like, would, be 

 a more fertile medium of growth, and one infi- 

 nitely more conducive to the health of the tree, 

 than double the depth of a highly enriched gar- 

 den soil. This digression will be permitted, as it 

 includes a general remark applicable to culture in 

 most departments. 



The bed thus double-digged will be ready for 

 cropping, and though it might be as well to have 

 thus prepared the soil during the dry weather of 

 the winter, it will yet be in good time if the work 

 be accomplished during the month of March. 

 After the ground shall have settled for a week, 

 two beds, each three feet wide, should be marked 

 out, and this width will admit of an alley between 

 the beds, and one on each side of them, more 

 than a foot in breadth. To form these, strain a 

 line on the outside of the beds, and two down the 

 middle space between them, so as to mark out the 

 limits of the beds, throw the earth out of the alley 

 upon the beds, that their surfiice level may be six 

 inches above the base of the alleys. If turf be at 

 hand, it would be riHit to place three inverted well 

 cut turfs the whole length of the alleys, and thus 

 to form good and solid walks; a dressing of salt 

 should then be sprinkled over the turf to prevent 

 the growth of the grass. Some persons use a 

 deep layer of ashes; but whatever be the material 

 employed, the beds ought to be raised a few inches 

 above the walks, not, however, to provide for 

 drainage, but to render the future culture conve- 

 nient, and to give a finished appearance to the 

 plantation. 



Sowing Seed. — Early in April and in fine 

 weather, stretch a line three times up and down 

 the bed, by means of stakes driven info each end, 

 exactly one foot apart, and the like distance with- 



in the sides; draw three drills an inch and a half 

 deep, with the angle of a hoe, and make the bot- 

 tom of each drill even, by pressing into it lightly 

 a straight even pole, like the handle of a long' 

 rake. Scatter asparagus seed as regularly as pos- 

 sible along the drills, or if the the seed be known 

 to be good, three or lour seeds may be carefully 

 dropped at inch distances, in spaces nine inches 

 apart: the ultimate object is to obtain one good 

 plant, at every space of nine inches, therefore the 

 good sense of the gardener will guide him so to 

 manage the seed-sowing, as to combine economy 

 of seed and time wilh security of result. Bad 

 seed taken out of very old berries may perhaps 

 scarcely produce one jilant from twenty grains, 

 though the seeds will remain good for three or four 

 years. 



When the young plants germinate they should 

 be permitted to grow to the height of three inches, 

 or till the leaves become perfectly developed, and 

 it appear which plant Avill prove strong. If two 

 ,arise clove tog-ether, one should be removed as 

 soon as possible, by means of a flat, sharp-pointed 

 stick, and the whole should be thinned out early, 

 so that there may be a space of two or three 

 ■inches between plant and plant. The spaces be- 

 tween the rows must be kept clean by passing a 

 flat or Dutch hoe cautiously over the surface, and 

 as the plants acquire strength, they may be thinned 

 out to tour inches apart; but it would be rather 

 imprudent to attempt a more severe thinning-out 

 during the first year, and till the winter pass over, 

 as it will be impossible to decide to what extent 

 extreme moisture of ground, frosts, snow, and 

 other enemies, may prove destructive during the 

 torpid season. If the plants stand the winter well, 

 the supernumeraries may be employed to great 

 advantage; but of the use to which they may be 

 turned, and, indeed, of the treatment of the seed- 

 bed during autumn, nothing need now be said. 



Planting Asparagus Beds. — This is the method 

 usually adopted, and plants two years old from the 

 sowing are generally recommended. I believe that 

 the age is of" little consequence as far as security 

 may be considered; and that three or four year 

 old plants may be employed, when it is the object 

 to obtain produce within the period of twelve or 

 fifteen months. Yearly plants are safe also, and 

 these may be planted four inches apart in shallow 

 trenches, or open drills cut with a spade aIon» 

 lines stretched very fight, and at the distances 

 mentioned before. The plants should be placed so 

 deep as to permit the crowns to be covered with 

 two inches of fine earth, and the roots ought to be 

 let down to their fiill extent into the ground in a 

 rather open and expanded order, and be perfect- 

 ly coated, and in contact with the soil. Dry 

 weather at the close of March, or eariy in April, 

 should be chosen; because the earth, when it is in 

 a free and open condition, may readily be made to 

 fall among the stringy processes of the roots; buf 

 when planted, each row should be liberally wa- 

 tered once, to fix the plants securely, and to ena- 

 ble them to start into growth without any loss of 

 time. The routine culture of the beds will be in 

 all respects similar to that before described; and 

 if blanks occur in consequence of the decay of 

 some of the mots, they may be filled up with 

 young growing |)lants, as late even as the middle 

 of .Tune; provided that each be raised from the 

 seed, or nurejcry-bed, without injury, and be set 



