182 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



ASPARAGUS. 



No family in the country, that has a square rod 

 of land to spare, should do without a bed of as- 

 paragus. 



1. Because it is wholesome as food. 



2. Because it is profitable. 



3. Because it is easily and cheaply produced. 



A bed once Avell prepared and tended, will last 

 for many years, — we do not know how many, — 

 perhaps twenty years. 



If one has an old bed, it would be advisable to 

 preserve seed and sow it, to start a new one. If 

 not, it would be cheaper to purchase the roots 

 than to wait for plants from the seed. 



The seeds may be sown as soon as the ground 

 will permit in the spring, or just before the frosts 

 set in, in the fall. Cover the ground with muck 

 or litter, and then with branches to keep it from 

 blowing off. Take off the litter in the spring and 

 the plants will soon appear. 



In planting the roots, set the plants 10 or 12 

 inches apart, in straight lines, and the rows 15 or 

 20 inches apart. Put the crown of the roots 3 

 or 4 inches below the surface, then level the bed 

 with the rake. 



The bed should be spaded 15 or 20 inches deep, 

 and manure plentifully mingled with the earth. 

 If it were thoroughly trenched, two feet deep, it 

 would pay well. 



The plants should not be cut at all the first 

 year, and but sparingly the second. The third 

 will produce a bountiful crop. In cutting, let the 

 knife pass down under the ground nearly to the 

 crown of the root. 



Every autumn the bed should be cleaned of the 

 dead stems and the ground covered with manure 

 an inch or two deep. In the spring, this should 

 be carefully forked in and well mingled with the 

 soil, and the bed kept entirely clear of weeds. 



How to Cook Asparagus. Boil it in salt and 

 water. When young it will cook sufficiently in 

 15 or 20 minuies. Toast white bread and dip it 

 into the water the asparagus was boiled in. Lay 

 the toast into the dish, and the aspai'agus on top 

 of it, adding a little butter to each as you proceed. 



Such a aish, with some trifling accompaniments, 

 will make an excellent dinner, three or four times 

 a week. 



THE KIVER APPLE. 

 Among the fruits that seem to us to be pecu- 

 liarly, and in this case Avonderfully adapted to the 

 wants of man, is the River apple. In the first 

 place it is a good looking apple, being above me- 

 dium size and frequently growing quite large, 

 when the' tree stands in rich ground. Its shape 

 is flattish, not flat, nor really oblong, yellow, much 

 j«d in stripes; tender and juicy; pleasant, slight- 

 ly acid. It is a fine cooking and eating apple. 



The books say it is a good grower but poor bear- 

 er. Such is not the case with those to which our 

 attention has been called, as the trees bear boun- 

 tifully. The tree is a handsome one when prop- 

 erly trained. 



The peculiar and valuable quality of this apple, 

 however, is its property of gradually ripening 

 through a period of twelve weeks. Our attention 

 was repeatedly called to several trees in the sum- 

 mer and autumn of 1861, — when there was al- 

 most a total failure of apples, — that were loaded 

 with rare fruit. While under the trees, and se- 

 lecting fine specimens, the owner stated that the 

 a])ples began to drop during the last days of July, 

 and were in good condition for cooking or for des- 

 sert. They continued to ripen and drop in this 

 manner until November, when the supply was ex- 

 hausted. Small baskets of this fruit were sent to 

 us by the liberal owner, and also to other neigh- 

 bors, and twenty-five dollars' worth sold by the 

 addition of a iew Poiters. Beside this, from these 

 few trees, a familj' of seven or eight persons was 

 constantly supplied with all they wanted for eat- 

 ing and cooking, — and as there were three or four 

 children, the quantity must have been liberal. 



It is a remarkable apple, and one that should 

 be on every farm — but, perhaps, not more than a 

 tree or two, or a few at most, unless near a mar- 

 ket that can be easily reached daily. 



For the New Bngland Scanner. 

 ■WOOL GROWING. 



The care of sheep, and the condition and quali- 

 ty of the food upon which they subsist, whether in 

 the barn or pasture, has a great influence upon the 

 quality of the wool, and its value for manufactur- 

 ing purposes. Sudden and unfavorable changes 

 in the pasture and food, whether the eff'ect is to 

 fatten the sheep or make them poorer, will afl"ect 

 the quality of the wool for good or for evil. There 

 are two immediate changes in the fibre at such 

 times. One is in making a joint where the new 

 growth commences, which often separates in card- 

 ing, on account of its brittleness, thereby shorten- 

 ing the wool, which is often very injurious to the 

 kind of goods in which the wool is being worked 

 and the other is in the change of the oily or fluid 

 substances, both within and without the tube of 

 the fibre, and which, to a certain extent, govern 

 the softness of the fibre and its adaptability to re- 

 ceive color. 



Wool taken from a sheep M-hich has died from 

 exposure to cold and change, or which has been 

 for a long time diseased, is always found very hard 

 to take a good color. This is in consequence of 

 the coagulated character of the oily substances in 

 the tu'ie of the wool, which become very hard to 

 remove under such circumstances, and will resist 

 the dye. 



Where changes take place in the pasture, which 

 are very striking, the joints before mentioned are 

 not only ]n-oduced as often as such changes are 

 made, but tbe substances pervading the interior of 

 the tube will be found to be different between each 

 joint thus made, and will require difl'erent solving 



