BOOK I. ASPARAGUS. 645 



rapidity of the growth, and this is promoted by the richness of the soil. Damp ground, 

 or a wet sub-soil, are not fit for asparagus : indeed, the French consider wetness as so 

 prejudicial to this plant, that they raise their asparagus-beds about a foot above the alleys 

 in order to throw off the rain." (JVeiflf.) 



3865. Abercrombie says, " For planting asparagus, allot a plot of sound brownish loam, mixed with 

 sand, in an open compartment, full to the sun. Having trenched it thirty inches deep, or as near that 

 depth as the soil will allow, manure the bed with well reduced dung, six inches thick, or more, digging 

 in the dung regularly one spade deep. Then lay out the ground in regular beds four feet and a half wide, 

 with intervening alleys three feet wide. If the soil is naturally too light and poor, improve it with a little 

 vegetable mould, or pulverised alluvial compost, after the bottom has been dunged." 



3866. Judd (who laid before the Horticultural Society, in 1816, " a specimen of asparagus, pro- 

 nounced, by those who saw it, to be the finest they had ever seen,") says, " Prepare a piece of good land, 

 unencumbered with trees, and that lies well for the sun ; give it a good dressing of well reduced horse- 

 dung from six to ten inches thick, all regularly spread over the surface ; then proceed with the trenching 

 (if the soil will admit) two feet deep; after this first trenching, it should lie about a fortnight or three 

 weeks, and then be turned back again, and then again in the same space of time ; by this process, the dung 

 and mould become well incorporated ; it may then be laid in small ridges till the time of planting. This 

 work should all be performed in the best weather the winter will afford, that is, not while it rains, or 

 snow is lying on the ground, as it would tend to make the land heavy and sour : all this is to be particu- 

 larly attended to, as the preparation of the soil is of more consequence than all the management after, 

 wards. At the time of planting, I always spread over the ground another thin coat of very rotten dung, 

 and point it in half a spade deep, making my beds three feet wide only, with two feet of alleys ; so that three 

 rows of grass, one foot apart, are all I plant on each bed : I find this to be the best method, as by this plan 

 there is not the least trouble in gathering, whereas you are obliged to set afoot on one of the wide beds, 

 before you can get at all the grass, to the great injury of the bed and the buds under the surface." 



3867. Dr. Macculloch gives the following mode of preparing an asparagus bed, as practised in France ; 

 and which, it is stated, has been adopted by a gentleman in Peebleshire with success. " A pit, the size of 

 the intended plantation, is dug five feet in depth, and the mould which is taken from it, must be sifted, 

 taking care to reject all stones, even as low in size as a filberd-nut : the best parts of the mould must then 

 be laid aside for making up the beds. The materials of the bed are then to be laid in the following proper- 

 tions and order : six inches of common dunghill-manure, eight inches of turf, six inches of dung as before, 

 six inches of sifted earth, eight inches of turf, six. inches of very rotten dung, eight inches of the best earth. 

 The last layer of earth must then be well mixed with the last of dung. The compartment must now be 

 divided into beds five feet wide, by paths constructed of turf, two feet in breadth, and one foot in thick- 

 ness." (Calcd. Hort. Mem. vol. ii.) 



3868. Dr. Forbes describes the Vienna mode of making an asparagus-bed to last 25 years. It is deeply 

 trenched, and in the bottom is placed a layer of bone, horn, chips of wood, or branches of trees a foot 

 thick. Over this is placed good mould, cow-dung, and river mud, &c. (Hort. Trans, v. 335.) 



3869. Removal and planting. Take up the plants carefully with a fork, to avoid 

 cutting the roots, exposing them to the air as short a time as possible ; and at the time of 

 planting, place them among a little sand in a basket covered with a mat, 



3870. Nicol says, " It is of very great importance for the ensuring of success in the planting of aspara- 

 gus, to lift the roots carefully, and to expose them to the air as short time as possible. No plant feels a 

 hurt in the root more keenly than asparagus ; the fibrils are very brittle, and if broken, do not readily 

 shoot again." (/&z/. 47.) 



3871. Smith has proved experimentally, that though the common season for planting is March and April, 

 yet, that it may also be successfully performed in June, without any extraordinary care. Judd, already 

 mentioned, transplants when he observes the plants beginning to grow, which, he says, is " the best time 

 for the plants to succeed. If moved earlier, they perhaps have to lie torpid for two or three weeks, which 

 causes many of them to die, or if not, they shoot up very weak." In France (according to Dr. Macculloch), 

 they plant even as late as July, cutting off such young shoots as the plants have made before the operation. 

 (Caled. Hort. Mem. vol. i.) 



3872. The distance at which asparagus is commonly planted is nine inches in the row, and one foot be- 

 tween the rows ; in general, between every fourth row so planted, a double distance is left for an alley. 

 Many asparagus-farmers, however, consider it better to plant in single rows at two feet and a half or three 

 feet distance, than to adopt the bed form. The crowns of the plants are generally covered two inches with 

 soil. 



3873. Method of planting. " Stretch a line lengthwise the bed, nine inches from the 

 edge, and with a spade, cut out a small trench about six inches deep, perpendicular next 

 to the line, turning the earth displaced along by the other side the trench ; and, having 

 the plants ready, set a row along the trench, nine inches apart, with the crown of the roots 

 two inches below the surface, drawing some earth just to fa them as placed. Having 

 planted one row, directly cover them in fully with the earth of the trench, raking it back 

 regularly an equal depth over the crown of the plants. Proceed then to open another 

 trench a foot from the first ; plant it as above ; and in the same manner plant four rows 

 in each bed. Then lightly raking the beds lengthwise, draw off any stones and hard 

 clods, and dress the surface neat and even. Then let the edges be lined out in exact order, 

 allowing three feet for each alley. But sometimes in planting large compartments of aspara- 

 gus, a first trench having been made, and the roots planted as above, then a second trench 

 is opened, of which the earth is turned into the first over the plants. So proceed in 

 planting the whole ; making allowance between every four rows for an alley of three feet. 

 In a dry spring or summer, water the roots from time to time, till the plants are esta- 

 blished." (Abercrombie.} 



3874. Judd strains the line, and cuts down a trench, sloping in the usual way for planting box, and 

 making choice of all the finest plants, puts them in one foot apart, and one inch and a half below the sur- 

 face. This done, he lets the alleys and beds lie level till autumn, and then digs out the alleys deep enough 

 to get from four to six inches of mould all over the bed ; over this he lays a good coat of rotten dung, and 

 fills in the alleys with long dung. 



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