THE soil. AND ITS PREPARATION 47 



laid in the following proportions and order: Six inches 

 of common dunghill manure, eight inches of turf, six 

 inches of dung as before, six inches of sifted earth, 

 eight inches of turf, six inches of very rotten dung, 

 eight inches of the best of earth. The last layer of 

 earth must then be well mixed with the last of dung. 

 The compartment must now be divided into beds five 

 feet wide by paths constructed of turf two feet in 

 breadth and one foot in thickness." 



A bed prepared in this manner, and planted and 

 cultivated with as much painstaking care, will no doubt 

 produce asparagus of unsurpassed quality, and may 

 last forever. Yet the use of modern implements and a 

 better knowledge of the nature and requirements of the 

 plant have demonstrated that first-class asparagus can 

 be produced with far less expense and labor. While a 

 deep and loose soil produces earlier and better crops 

 than a heavy and shallow one, indiscriminate deepen- 

 ing of the soil by trenching or other means is not 

 ahva^^s desirable, even where the cost does not come 

 into consideration. When the subsoil is very light and 

 poor and deficient in humus, the placing of the better 

 surface soil below and the infertile lower strata above, 

 trenching would be a positive detriment. The same 

 would be the case where the subsoil consists of heavy 

 impervious clay. 



In the fall preceding planting the land should be 

 plowed deeply and left in the rough state during the 

 winter. Subsoiling has often been recommended, yet 

 pracftical growers but rarely make use of the subsoil 

 plow in the preparation of asparagus plantations, 

 although the value of subsoiling where the subsoil is 



