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post of ashes and rotten leaves, and about the rows 

 let this compost stand about four inches thick when 

 the operation is finished. On the approach of severe 

 winter weather, cover up the quarter with stable 

 dung, and over the covering frequently, during winter, 

 pour as much of the drainings of the dunghill as you 

 can collect. 



The top dressing compost might be thus composed : 

 one-fourth sandy peat moss, from the surface of a dry 

 heath; one-fourth furnace ashes, well sifted; and 

 one-fourth vegetable mould, formed from tree leaves ; 

 one-fourth well-rotted stable dung, with a small por- 

 tion of quickhme, all well mixed and prepared. {CaL 

 Hort. Mem, iv. 479.) 



Taking the Crop. — This is usually practised with- 

 out any judgment. The practice most frequently in 

 use in the country, is to leave from the first the weak 

 shoots, which some gardeners say encourage the 

 growth of other shoots without distressing the plant, 

 the shoot left being so weak. These shoots are to be 

 found in the strongest and best Asparagus beds, and 

 if cut, would not be considered worth dressing for a 

 gentleman's table. Another practice, and that more 

 frequently in use in the neighbourhood of London 

 and large towns, is to cut everything away that ap- 

 pears, stout and weak shoots, until a certain day, and 

 then leave off and never cut a stick afterwards. 

 {Gard. Chron. 1842, 302.) We have found that a 



