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root be brought into a proper state for producing 

 large shoots ? By giving every advantage to the 

 plant during the summer and autumn ; so that if 

 your beds this summer are covered with a tall and 

 strong vegetation, the abundance of solar light, &c., 

 will convey a proper supply of matter to the root for 

 next season, and you will cut fine Asparagus ; but, 

 on the other hand, if there appears only a stunted 

 and weak growth, your produce will be small. If 

 the principle just laid down is correct, the mode of 

 treatment must consist in judicious cutting, and the 

 application of proper manure. If from any cause 

 the shoots appear thin and spindling, do not cut 

 them at all, but let the bed have a rest during a 

 w^hole season. The next spring the advantage will 

 be manifest. Nothing would tend more to bring ex- 

 hausted beds round than this generous treatment, 

 and by the sacrifice of a few dishes now you will se- 

 cure an abundance next year. What is true of a 

 whole bed applies also to individual plants. Always 

 leave the weak shoots in the beds, on the presump- 

 tion that by cutting them they will become weaker, 

 but that they will make robust shoots by being al- 

 lowed to grow and bask in the air and the sun. 

 These remarks also lead to another practical conclu- 

 sion — to leave off cutting in time. Fine shoots must 

 not be looked at with a longing eye, as though it 

 were waste to let them run to branches and flowers. 



