32 POPULAR VEGETABLES 



in much later even than April, but more care is necessary 

 then and afterwards when the weather is hot or dry. 



The after management consists in feeding and 

 keeping clean. There should be no cutting of plants 

 from seed until the third year, and only a little 

 then. Much, however, depends upon the strength of 

 the plant. Few things are benefited more than Aspar- 

 agus by flooding the beds during growth with liquid 

 manure and other foods, and excellent Asparagus 

 foods may now be obtained, while salt and guano are 

 valuable, the latter being given in showery weather 

 from May to July, or salt and guano mixed are quite 

 as beneficial. Such foods as nitrates and sulphates 

 are also very stimulating. Salt should be given from 

 May to September, not in winter. Another point 

 about which much difference exists is the manuring 

 of the beds in autumn. So much depends upon the 

 soil, but the best cultivators dress with rotten manure 

 in February, covering this with -a few inches of top 

 soil from the alley. This promotes a longer season 

 of " grass " when cutting. Some growers think that 

 by manuring much earlier the manure gets pulverised 

 by the weather, but in light soils the extra covering 

 in shape of a mulch is helpful, as the roots do not 

 like drought at all. 



Many beds are ruined through allowing the seed 

 berries to fall in the autumn. The seed-bearing stems 

 should be cut before the berries fall, otherwise seedlings 

 spring up the following season and overcrowd the 

 parent plants. 



