108 VEGETABLE GAKDENING. 



Asparagus. 



Botanical Name : Asparagus qffidnalis. 

 Natural Order : LiliacecB. 



This plant is a native of Europe, and has been in 

 cultivation since very early times. 



Culture. Asparagus prefers a medium, loamy soil, 

 heavily manured. Mark off the bed to be sown or 

 planted 4 feet 6 inches wide, with an 18-inch alley 

 along one or both sides. Trench the bed 2 or 3 feet 

 deep in early winter, working into the upper 2 feet 

 liberal quantities of farmyard manure. Throw 3 

 inches of soil from the alleys on to the bed, and rake 

 or fork into the surface soil basic slag or bone meal, 

 then allow to settle until spring. In March give a 

 dressing of potash, and dust with lime, or apply, if 

 available, powdered lime rubble or old plaster. Early 

 in April rake very fine on the surface, removing the 

 stones, and draw shallow drills for the seeds. Sow 

 three rows in the bed, 18 inches apart and 9 inches 

 from each side. Sow thinly and cover in, leaving 

 the surface quite level. When the plants are well 

 up thin them out to 7 inches apart in the first in- 

 stance, and hoe frequently between the rows during 

 the summer, watering copiously in dry weather. 

 Clear off the withered stems in autumn, and apply a 

 mulch of decayed manure. The following spring 

 rake off the rough portion of the manure, and apply 

 a dressing of salt at the rate of 2 Ibs. to 30 square 

 yards. In April every alternate plant must be re- 

 moved, and may be used to fill up blanks previously 

 marked with sticks, or for the formation of another 



