2Q 



green peas and coming as it does when there are go 

 few vegetables to be had, it should be found in every 

 garden. It is propagated by seed and by separating 

 old roots. The former way is preferable though it 

 will be longer before it is fit for use since the plants 

 require to be three or four years old before they will 

 do to crop. 



**The seed — oua oz. being sufficient for 900 or 1000 plants, — 

 id to be thinly sown, in drills sixteen inches apart, early in the 

 spring — say from about the middle of April to the beginning of 

 May, due regard beiiig had to the forwardness of the season. — 

 Cover the seed about an inch and a half deep. If the weather 

 continue dry, the ground ought to be covered with straw or brush 

 during the middle of the day, until germination takes place. Or, 

 water may be frequently applied in small quantities, until the same 

 end is accomplished. When the young plants are a few inches 

 high, they must be thinned out to distances of six or eight inches 

 in the drill. The surface should be kept open and free from weeds. 

 By the middle or latter part af November, remove the withered 

 stalks, by cutting them down close to the ground, and then cover 

 the bed with two inches of rotten dung, overlaid by coarse stable 

 litter. This protection not only saves the roots from being injur- 

 ed by the frv-^.st, but secures a vigorous growth during the next 

 summer." — Sclie7ick's Gardener's Text-Book. 



*'In the making of AspTnigus beds, the chief point to be con- 

 sidered is to make choice of a proper soil; choose the best which 

 the garden atfords; it must not be wet, nor too strong, nor stub- 

 born, but such as is moderately light and pliable, so that it will 

 readily fall to pieces in digging or raking, and in a situation that 

 enjoys the full sun. The ground intended for Asparagus beds 

 should have a large supply of rotten or other good dung, laid sev- 

 eral inches thick; it should then be regularly trenched two or 

 three feet, and the dung buried equally in each trench as the 

 progress goes on. The ground being made level, it should be di- 

 vided into beds, four feet and a half wide, with paths two feet 

 wide between bed and bed. Four rows of Asparagus should be 

 planted in each bed, and ten or twelve inches distance to be al- 

 lowed between plant and plant in the row, letting the outside rows 

 of each bed be nine inches from the edge; or tiSey may be plant- 

 ed only in single rows, tw(3 feet and a half apart, or in narrow 

 beds containing two rows of roots only. It is of very great im- 

 portance for ensuring success in the planting of Asparagus to lift 

 the roots carefully, and to expose them to the air as short a time 

 as possible. No plant feels an injury in the root more keenly 

 than Asparagus, and, from the b(;ittlenes3 of the roots when they 

 are once broken, they do not readily shoot again." Comp. Gard. 



