TILLAGE OF AN ESTABLISHED PLANTATION 



197 



three weeks, for excessive cutting from a plantation of this age 

 would seriously weaken the plants and might result in the perma- 

 nent injury of the plantation. 



Tillage of an Established Plantation. — The principal cultiva- 

 tion of an asparagus field the third year and each succeeding year 

 consists of a thorough chsking before growth starts in the spring 

 and another equally thorough disking at the close of the cutting 

 season. It is true that this latter disking cuts off many shoots 

 that might be saved to the plant if a more laborious method of 

 tillage were employed; but since no cultivation is given during 



Fig. 121. — A thrifty asparagus plantatimi as it appears in midsummer. 



the cutting season, the w^eeds are usually very abundant and well 

 established at this time, and no other method of treatment can 

 compare with the disking for rapidity and efficiency. As soon 

 as. the shoots start, after the disking, the cultivator is run between 

 the rows. Usually the plantation can be cultivated two to three 

 times before the tops become so large as to prevent further tillage. 

 Any stray weeds that appear in the rows during the first two or 

 three weeks after the disking are hoed out or pulled by hand. 

 Some growers sow cowpeas between the rows at the time of the 



