CULTURE OF ASPARAGUS. 303 



All references made to quantities of seeds, number of plants, or 

 amount of profits, are by the acre. I simply do this as a matter of 

 convenience, taking the acre as a standard, although cultivators will 

 of course understand that in application any amount of land can be 

 used in the same proportion. 



ASPARAGUS. 



This is perhaps one of the most profitable vegetables that is culti- 

 vated. The reason for this is the fact that because it requires two 

 or three years before it gives a foil crop, cultivators are usually so 

 impa dent, or are compelled by necessity, that they will plant only 

 such crops as give them a return the first season. That being the 



A STOOL OF ASPARAGUS. 



case, comparatively few plant asparagus, and hence the supply is 

 rarely equal to the demand. It is a plant of the easiest culture, only 

 requiring, as nearly all vegetables do, a deep soil and liberal 

 manuring. The usual method has been to transplant the Asparagus 

 into beds five feet wide, with three rows planted in each bed, one in 

 the middle and one on each side, a foot distant, thus bringing the 

 rows one foot apart, with alleys two feet wide between the beds; the 

 plants being set in the rows nine inches apart. In planting, a line is 

 set, and an opening made a little slanting to the depth of six or eight 

 inches, according to the size of the plants. The plants are then laid 



