54 ASPARAGUS 



cultivation, unless the entire bed be raised by adding 

 soil to the whole surface. 



While it is true that the deeper the crowns are 

 planted the later they will start in the spring, this is 

 of account only during the first few years. Besides, 

 the factor of earliness is not of nearly as much impor- 

 tance now as it was before northern markets were 

 so bountifully supplied with the southern grown crops 

 several months before the opening of the northern 

 season. Shallow-planted asparagus sprouts earlier, 

 but soon exhausts itself, sending up spindling, tough 

 shoots, while the deeper-planted crowns produce large 

 and succulent sprouts throughout the season. When 

 green asparagus is desired, and there is no danger of 

 the beetles eating the sprouts before they are fit for 

 use, a depth of two or three inches is sufficient, but 

 for white or blanched asparagus a depth of from eight 

 to ten inches is necessary. 



MANNER OF PLANTING 



As in other details of asparagus culture, the 

 methods of planting have undergone very material 

 changes. The formerly usual practice of digging 

 deep trenches was not well founded — in the light of 

 our present experience and knowledge — and could be 

 useful only for drainage. How little regard was paid 

 to the nature and requirements of the plant may read- 

 ily be perceived by reading the following directions for 

 making an asparagus bed, but little over half a century 

 ago, in Bridgeman's " Young Gardeners' Assistant " : 



" The ground for the asparagus bed should have a 

 large supply of well-rotted dung, three or four inches 



