VEGETABLE PLANTS. 8 1 



etable plants will therefore find a good de- 

 mand among his customers for asparagus 

 plants, and as they are very easily grown they 

 may be sold at seemingly low prices, yet at a 

 fair profit. 



The requisites for an asparagus plant bed 

 are a light, rich, sandy loam, free from weeds. 

 This latter is an indispensable quality, for the 

 seeds are several weeks in germinating, and if 

 the ground is full of weed-seeds, they will spring 

 up and occupy the land so far in advance of the 

 asparagus, that it can never catch up. There- 

 fore, select a spot which is smooth and level, 

 which has been in potatoes, cabbage, or some 

 hoed crop the previous year, and kept free 

 from weeds. Plough, furrow, and rake it into 

 beds early in spring, as directed for cabbage 

 seeds. Sow the seeds with a drill, three or 

 four rows upon each bed, mixing with it a few 

 radish seeds. These will spring up at once, 

 and thus enable the ground to be hoed or cul- 

 tivated before the young asparagus plants have 

 made their appearance. All that is now neces- 

 sary is keeping the weeds from growing, and 

 thinning out the asparagus plants, if too thick, 

 to about three inches apart. If upon good 

 soil and well taken care of, these one-year-old 



