46 Southern Gardener^ s Practical Manual 



done very sparingly and for only a short season. After 

 the intercultural crops are gathered, surface cultivation 

 must be continued until fall, the stalks again cut and 

 removed and a covering of manure two inches deep 

 sown over the whole bed. A dressing of 200 pounds 

 of nitrate of soda per acre, applied in February when the 

 manure is worked into the soil, will increase the size 

 and vigor of the shoots. The third spring, the plants 

 now having sufficient strength to bear it, all shoots may 

 be cut until green peas are ready for use, when all 

 growth should be allowed to remain but cultivation 

 continued until the plants fully occupy the land. A bed 

 properly cared for should last twenty years. No garden 

 is complete without this delicious and wholesome vege- 

 table. Asparagus is one of the most profitable market 

 crops grown. It ships well and is always in demand in 

 its season in our large cities. Male plants produce larger 

 shoots than the female and are more desirable in garden 

 or fields. 



Asparagus is a dioecious plant, having flowers contain- 

 ing the female organs of reproduction on one plant and 

 those bearing the stamens or male organs on another. 

 To save seed, cut carefully the best plants bearing the 

 red berries; mash and wash the pulp from these. This 

 may be poured off with the water, the seed settling to 

 the bottom. After drying thoroughly, store them and 

 they will be good for four years. 



The only serious fungous disease is the asparagus 

 rust. In localities subject to this disease, the old stalks, 

 together with all spontaneous growths, are burned on the 

 fields. At one time, the crops of some sections were 



