VEGETABLES ASPARAGUS. 95 



square yard, strown on the surface ; the rains will dissolve 

 it and wash it down to the roots. Besides its beneficial 

 effects upon the plant, it is destructive to the wire worm, 

 and other insects that are often troublesome to the As- 

 paragus. 



We have found Asparagus beds very profitably benefit- 

 ed by the application of superphosphate of lime, as a 

 spring top-dressing, applied at the rate of 500 Ibs. per 

 acre, sown on the beds and hoed in. Experiments with 

 this, on alternate rows, showed a difference of nearly 1 foot 

 in hight of the stalk, in favor of the rows to which the 

 superphosphate had been applied, over those which had 

 none ; and a difference of nearly double the product when 

 the crop was cut in the succeeding spring. 



The fall treatment of the Asparagus beds varies with 

 the locality ; in cold regions, where, if left unprotected, 

 the frost would penetrate below the roots, a covering of 3 

 or 4 inches of rough manure or leaves is necessary. Al- 

 though an entirely hardy plant, it will start earlier, and 

 with greater vigor in spring, if the root has not been sub- 

 jected to severe freezing. In milder sections, no such 

 precaution is necessary ; all that need be done is to clear 

 off the stems as soon as they are withered in the fall, and 

 clean the beds preparatory to giving a dressing of 2 or 3 

 inches of manure, which had better not be applied until 

 spring. We believe the common practice of top-dressing 

 Asparagus beds in fall to be a very wasteful one, in dis- 

 tricts where it is not necessary to provide against severe 

 freezing, for, as the plant is then dormant, the juices of 

 the manure are either evaporated, or else washed down 

 by rains below the roots of the plant. I remember, many 



