134 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



better to wait until the fourth year without cutting 

 much, as it would tend to weaken the plants. To com- 

 pensate for the loss of a year in time in thus growing 

 Asparagus from seed, such crops as Cabbage, Lettuce, 

 Onions, Beets, or Spinach all of which will be market- 

 able before the Asparagus will have grown high enough 

 to interfere with them can be sown or planted between 

 the rows of Asparagus the first year of its growth with 

 but little injury to it ; and as the ground for the Aspar- 

 agus has been heavily manured and well prepared, such 

 crops will, in a measure, make up for the year's loss in 

 time, provided there is a market near enough for their 

 sale. I had an old friend near Macon, Ga., who grew 

 an acre of Asparagus after this plan. His crop was sold 

 in the New York market and brought him an average of 

 $1,000 a year for six years after it came into bearing, to 

 my certain knowledge, my salesman having sold it for 

 him. He died some ten years ago, and I presume the 

 bed was neglected, or it might still be in full bearing. 

 There is no crop so certain of sale and so easily shipped 

 as Asparagus, from the fact that it has perhaps greater 

 value for its weight than any other vegetable, besides, it 

 is ready at a season when the temperature is low, so that 

 whether shipped from the extreme Southern States to 

 our large cities in the Middle States, or reshipped to 

 still further North, there is never danger from injury in 

 transit. The reason of its being profitable is obvious. 

 The cultivator has to wait three or four years for a crop. 

 The majority of gardeners either cannot or will not wait, 

 and hence it becomes profitable to the few who cultivate 

 it. The variety usually grown is the Colossal, but Mr. 

 John Nix, a well-known commission dealer of New York 

 City, and who is also one of the largest truckers in South 

 Carolina, claims that the new variety of Asparagus, 

 " The Palmetto," is one which excels all other varieties 

 grown at the South, in earliness, yield, quality and even- 



