202 THE HOME ACRE. 



else, the deeper and richer the soil, the larger and 

 more luxuriant the crop. Listen to Thompson, 

 the great English gardener: " If the ground has 

 been drained, trenched, or made good to the depth 

 of three feet, as directed for the kitchen-garden 

 generally [ !], that depth will suffice for the growth 

 of asparagus." We should think so ; yet I am fast 

 reaching the conclusion that under most circum- 

 stances it would in the end repay us to secure that 

 depth of rich soil throughout our gardens, not only 

 for asparagus, but for everything else. Few of 

 the hasty, slipshod gardeners of America have any 

 idea of the results secured by extending root pas- 

 turage to the depth of three feet instead of six or 

 seven inches ; soil thus prepared would defy flood 

 and drought, and everything planted therein would 

 attain almost perfection, asparagus included. But 

 who has not seen little gardens by the road-side in 

 which all the esculents seemed growing together 

 much as they would be blended in the pot there- 

 after? Yet from such patches, half snatched from 

 barrenness, many a hearty, wholesome dinner re- 

 sults. Let us have a garden at once, then improve 

 it indefinitely. 



I will give in brief just what is essential to secure 

 a good and lasting asparagus bed. We can if we 

 choose grow our own plants, and thus be sure of 

 good ones. The seed can be sown in late October 



