434 The Principles of Vegetable -Gardening 



the cutting of the plants should cease in early summer in 

 order to allow them opportunity to grow and to store up 

 energy for the following year. The tops are mown in 

 late fall, and the land is top-dressed with manure before 

 winter sets in. Asparagus is grown for its young shoots, 

 and the quality is determined by the succulence of these 

 shoots. A good plantation should last twenty years and 

 more, at least in the North. Propagated by seed. 



Asparagus is a gross feeder. Land can scarcely be 

 too rich. If the land is originally hard and coarse, it 

 should be prepared a year or two in advance by the 

 raising of some thoroughly tilled crop, as potatoes, and 

 with this crop as much manure as possible should have 

 been used. The asparagus plantation should be made 

 for a lifetime. Therefore it is well to give careful 

 attention to the selection of the soil and to the choice of 

 a place that can be permanently set aside for the pur- 

 pose. In the home garden, asparagus should be in rows 

 at one side of the plantation, so that it will not interfere 

 with the plowing of the garden area. It usually looks 

 best at the farther side of the garden, where its beauti- 

 ful herbage makes a background border in summer and 

 fall. The old idea was to have asparagus '" beds." The 

 new idea is to plant asparagus in rows as one would 

 plant rhubarb or corn, and to till it with horse tools 

 rather than with hoes and finger weeders. For the 

 ordinary family, one row alongside the garden, 75 to 

 100 feet long, may be expected to furnish a sufficient 

 supply. As a field crop, it is ordinarily grown in the 

 best and richest soil available. The permanency of the 

 plantation will depend largely on the original quality of 



