46 ASPARAGUS 



most extraordinary methods in order to bring the land 

 into the most fav^orable condition for asparagus. Ev^en 

 now in some European countries, where labor is cheap, 

 the entire ground is trenched to a depth of three or 

 four feet, turning in at the same time all the available 

 manure, seaweed, and other fertilizing material. 



A famous old-time asparagus bed in England was 

 made in this manner : ' ' The land was trenched three 

 feet deep in trenches three feet wide and cast up 

 into rough ridges, after a crop of summer peas. All 

 decaying vegetation in the rubbish 3-ards and corners 

 was at the same time well sorted and turned up. Earlj- 

 in autumn also were added some old mushroom, melon, 

 and cucumber bed material, a lot of manure from 

 piggeries, cow houses, and stables, a quantity of road- 

 grit and sand, a quantity of ditch and drain parings, 

 turfy loam and sods, quite three feet thick. These 

 were all turned over four times and well incorporated 

 together, between Michaelmas and Lady Day, as one 

 would a dungheap, the whole being left in large 

 ridges exposed to the frost. By April this compost 

 was in a kindly state; it was, therefore, laid down and 

 planted with good, clean one-year-old asparagus plants, 

 which certainly grew in a most extraordinary' way." 



Another elaborate way of making an asparagus bed, 

 formerly pra(5ticed in France, is described by Dr. 

 Maccullogh as follows : " A pit the size of the intended 

 plantation is dug four feet in depth, and the mold 

 taken from it must be sifted, taking care to reje(5l all 

 stones, even as low in size as a filbert nut. The best 

 part of the mold must then be laid aside before making 

 up the beds. The materials of the bed are then to be 



