The Canadian Horticulturist. 55 



ASPARAGUS.— I. 



ITS CULTURE FOR HOME USE AND FOR MARKET. 



SPARAGUS is a luxury with which every household should be well 

 supplied. It can be easily grown and delightfully prepared for the 

 table without special culinary endowments, and, while satisfying the 

 taste, accomplishes a valuable mission in the maintenance of good 

 health. The principal reason why it is not a feature of every farm 

 garden lies in the elaborate methods of growing it recommended by 

 agricultural experts. 



The mission of this monograph is to popularize the use of this excellent 

 vegetable, especially among those who have the land upon which to grow it. 



THE SEEDLING NURSERY. 



Although he who plants a few roots of asparagus need not be instructed in 

 the method of growing these plants, still it may be a matter of interest to*know 

 how it is done. The ground for a seedling plantation, if choice can be had, 

 should be a rich, well-drained, sandy loam. A pound of seed, costing sixty 

 cents, will be sufficient for several hundred feet of drill. The ground should be 

 in the best of tilth and the lines of drill made about a foot apart and one inch 

 deep. Impetus may be given to the germination of the seed by soaking in warm 

 water twenty-four hours previous to planting. The seeds are placed about an 

 inch beneath the surface and a few seeds of radish, cabbage, or some quickly 

 germinating plant sown in the same drill to indicate the line for early cultivation 

 in advance of the sprouting of the asparagus. 



Once well above the surface, the plants should be thinned to three inches 

 in the row and given good cultivation throughout the season with a scuffle-hoe 

 and rake. Plants grown under favorable conditions are ready at the end of one 

 year's growth to go into permanent garden rows. Well grown yearling roots 

 should have several strong buds and a well developed root system. From a 

 pound of good seed one should get four thousand merchantable plants. 



THE GARDEN PLANTATION. 



The best possible plan for a garden plantation of asparagus is to have it in 

 a single row , parallel with the other varieties of vegetables and at one side. If 

 the soil is fitted to grow a large crop of any other vegetable, it is good enough 

 for asparagus. No special preparation is required, but it should be remembered 

 that asparagus, although not a deep grower, is a gross feeder within the area upon 

 which it draws for its sustenance. It reaches further sidewise than in depth. 

 Its feeding time is not confined to the gathering season, but extends through the 

 growing year. Hence the application of fertilizers is always in order. 



