56 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



For the reception of the plants, which should be strong yearlings, a trench or 

 furrow should be made wide enough to admit the plants and the roots in their 

 natural position, and of sufficient depth that the crowns of the plants, when in 

 position, shall be six inches beneath the level of the surface of the garden, and 

 three feet apart in the row. If two inches of earth are drawn over the plants 

 and well firmed about the roots, the remainder may be filled in gradually during 

 the season of cultivation. 



This row of plants will utilize the ground five feet on either side and in a few 

 years will have crowns a foot in diameter. 



This plant is made for a half century, and if there is a choice of location 

 with reference to the embellishment of the garden area, this matter should- be 

 given serious consideration at the outset. The row should be given clean culture. 

 A dressing of salt will kill the weeds and asparagus will stand a large amount of 

 it without apparent injury, but it is safer and better in every way to secure the 

 result by good cultivation rather than saline application. I have for years used 

 refuse salt from a hide packing establishment as a dressing for an asparagus bed, 

 and have noticed that the larger the amount of animal refuse in the salt the more 

 satisfactory the application, and am convinced, if the salt were reduced to a 

 minimum and the animal refuse raised to a maximum, the results would be the 

 most complete. Asparagus delights in a sunny location and will respond to food 

 which is all ready for plant absorption very promptly. The most complete 

 manure is barnyard dung containing very little coarse litter. The product from 

 out-door-closets which have been kept inodorous by the free use of clay, dust, 

 or coal ashes, as absorbents, makes a fine fertilizer for asparagus, and it is under 

 treatment with this material that the largest recorded shoots have been grown. 

 I'he asparagus row is a good place for throwing the wood ashes. 



The keenest satisfaction may be derived by the amateur gardener from the 

 growth of immense shoots of this garden esculent. They develop so rapidly in 

 the growing season that hope is not long deferred after the shoots begin to 

 thrust their heads through the surface. But at the outset one must wait for the 

 first crop until two years from the setting of the plants, when a short season of 

 picking may be made. — C. W. Garfield, before Michigan State Hort. Soc. 



Raspberries. — There has been no such change in the list of raspberries as 

 with strawberries. Nearly the same varieties stand at the head of the list as held 

 that position five years ago. Of the black caps the best that can be named are 

 Tyler, Ohio, Hilborn, and Gregg, given in the order of earliness. The Palmer is 

 much like the Tyler, perhaps being an improvement in vigor and productiveness. 

 The best of the red sorts are Marlboro, Shaffer, Reliance and Cuthbert. The 

 best for home use of the whole list is the Shaffer. A variety called the Musk- 

 ingum resembles the Shaffer and is superior to it for market purposes, being firmer; 

 but is no better for home use. Neither the Reliance nor Cuthbert succeed in 

 all localities, but, where they are at home, are very profitable. The Cuthbert is 

 the latest of the reds, and the Turner the earliest of those named. Thompson's 

 Early Pride, a variety not fully tested, is very early and quite promising. — Ohio 

 Experiment Station. 



