FARMERS' REGISTER— MODE OF REARING ASPARAGUS. 



135 



I have frequently remarked that a field of clo- 

 ver which was grazed moderately while young 

 (from the time the wheat was taken off until the 

 time to put cattle up into winter quarters,) would 

 take a much earlier start the next spring than one 

 which had not been grazed, owing to the weeds in 

 the latter case choking up and keeping back the 

 young clover. 



The standing pasture may be made of the most 

 inferior land on the farm, which will, in the course 

 of some years, be very much improved by it ; or 

 you may convtXrt your woods into a standing pas- 

 ture by enclosing them, and clearing up the under- 

 growth, &c.; and frequently on farms, there are 

 swamps, marshes, or strips of land that cannot be 

 cultivated, which inake very good standing pas- 

 tures ; so that, in the two last cases, you have all 

 your cleared land to cultivate. One of the strong- 

 est proofs of the superiority of the four shift sys- 

 tems is, that my friend Selden of Westover, who 

 lias adopted it, now makes double as large crops as 

 his predecessors did, and has put entirely a different 

 face on the land : though he would make good 

 crops under any system, for he is a first rate far- 

 mer. ' HILL CARTilR. 



A NEW MODE OP REARIICG ASPARAGUS. 



JuxE 17th, 1833. 



To the Editor of the Farmers^ Register. 



Yours of 31st ultimo was received, and with 

 great pleasure I now comply with your request to 

 furnish you with my plan for making asparagus, 

 which you are at liberty to publish in any form 

 you may think suitable, provided you do not men- 

 lion my name. 



The asparagus seed should be sown from the 

 middle of March to the last of April, in a rich 

 spot, (not too much exposed to the mid-day sun,) 

 one inch deep, and the seed one inch apart ; after 

 tliey come up, to be kept clear of grass and weeds 

 during the summer, by hand weeding ; to be dug 

 up the next fall or spring — (I prefer the spring, as 

 the roots do not grow during the winter, if set out 

 in the fall, and are liable to be killed by a severe 

 winter,) and set in beds prepared as follows : Dig 

 out the size of the beds nine inches deep — cover 

 the bottom three inches deep v/ith rich marl, 

 (which has been my practice,) though I believe 

 that oyster shells half burned will be as good, as it 

 is intended as a lasting heating manure to protect the 

 roots in winter, and force the vegetable early in the 

 spring : then put three inches deep of coarse stable 

 manure, then three inches of rich earth. This 

 brings the beds on a level with the surface of the 

 earth. Next lay off the beds in rows eighteen by 

 twelve inches apart, and put a single eye or spire 

 in each spot where the lines intersect, and cover 

 them three inches deep with rich earth. Plank 

 the sides of the beds, as this prevents grass and 

 other roots from running into the beds, and also 

 keeps the outside roots from being exposed, by 

 the sides of the beds washing away. The beds 

 should be kept clean by hand weeding, and all the 

 earth and manure used in making them, should be 



ferfectly free from grass roots and noxious weeds. 

 n the fall of the year after the seeds have matur- 

 ed, cut the tops off close to the beds, (being care- 

 ful that not a single seed is left to vegetate on the 

 beds,) as they have already as many roots as the 

 space they occupy should containj and if addition- 



al roots are suffered to form from year to year from 

 the falling of the seed every fall, the beds will 

 soon be so much clustered with roots that the 

 vegetable must degenerate, at least in size and 

 length, as the new roots form near, or on the sur- 

 face. Some prevent this by burning, but I think 

 the best v/ay is to pick them off by hand, bcibre 

 the ball that contains the seed breaks. You then 

 top dress the beds with coarse stable manure, let it 

 lie on all winter, and in the following spring rake 

 off the coarsest part, and fork in the remainder, 

 being careful that the fork does not touch the roots. 

 Pursue tliis course two falls, and early in the third 

 spring, before the beds are forked up, put on two 

 inches of light well rotted manure — fork it in 

 with the stable manure, then put on from three to 

 four inches deep of clean sand from the river 

 shore, and you will cut in tlie month of April the 

 best vegetable we have in Virginia. I would not 

 give my beds for the balance of my garden. I 

 think there is much in the kind of seed. I have a 

 gallon, and if you will say how they must be con- 

 veyed, I will with pleasure send you some. I ob- 

 tained my seed from New York ; they were mark- 

 ed " giant asparagus." 



The cover of sand is important on several ac- 

 counts : its being a great absorber of heat and 

 moisture, so soon as the vegetable gets through 

 the soil, it is hastily thrown through the sand to 

 the suriace in a bleached tender state, and the cut- 

 ting from day to day is more uniformly of the 

 same tender delicious vegetable. The sand also 

 prevents grass from growing on the beds, which 

 obviates the necessity of so much hand weeding 

 during the season for cutting, by which the beds 

 frequently become trampled, and the vegetable 

 that is about to come through the surface mashed 

 down, which not only destroys the spires that are 

 so trampled on by the gardener in tiie process of 

 hand weeding, but (I think) injures the root. — 

 The sand should be laid in the alleys between 

 the beds, in the fall, when the beds are about to 

 receive the top-dressing of stable litter to keep 

 them warm through the winter ; and when the 

 sand is about to be replaced in the spring, it 

 should be passed through a sieve of such size as 

 will not let the balls (that contain the seed) pass 

 through. This will be another means of prevent- 

 ing the seed from vegetating on the beds. There 

 is a practice very prevalent with gardeners to 

 plant lettuce, radishes, and other early vegetables 

 on the beds; this should never be done, and parti- 

 cularly with radishes, as they have a long root that 

 extends to the roots of the asparagus, and must se- 

 riously interfere with them. 



I frequently cut asparagus from three to five 

 and a half, and once I cut a spire six inches in cir- 

 cumference, and from five to eight inches long ; it 

 could have been cut longer, but it is never tender 

 near the root. 



We have complied -^vith the command of our esteem- 

 ed correspondeni by v.-itliholding from the foregoing let- 

 ter a signature, than which no better can be offered as 

 authority for any statement of facts. But in any form 

 that may be most agreeable to himself, we shall be al- 

 ways pleased to receive and publish any result of his 

 practical and successful operations in improving and cul- 

 tivating the soil. Until we can make permanent ar- 

 rangements for such purposes, the seed which he offers 

 may be left with Mr. White, t!ie printer of the Far- 

 mers' Register, who will distribute them among any of 

 our patrons who will make application. — [Editor. 



