542 Trans a ctions of the A merican Institute. 



seven years. My crop this year will be between thirty-five and forty 

 acres, consisting of White Sprout, Buckeye, Early Rose and Shaker 

 Russet. I will finish planting to-morrow. There are thousands of 

 barrels of potatoes shipped from this place to Chicago, Pittsburgh. 

 Cleveland and Cincinnati, and the dealers in those places know all 

 about Kentucky potatoes. 



Cultivation of Asparagus. 



A number of letters from various parts of the country, making inqui- 

 ries in relation to this esculent, were referred to Mr. D. B. Bruen to 

 give his experience. 



Mr. D. B. Bruen. — The best soil in which to cultivate asparagus is 

 a heavy, sandy loan, without stone, located where it can have the 

 advantage of clear sunshine. The bed should be laid out systematically ; 

 oblong is most desirable, with cross beds sixteen to twenty feet long, 

 and as much length as will be necessary to produce the quantity 

 wanted ; the entire bed should be covered most liberally with well- 

 rotted manure, and dug up with a long-bladed spade, driven well 

 down ; the length of the blade is sufficiently deep ; then lay out the 

 first bed at right angles with its length, wide enough to take four 

 rows of roots ; trench four or five inches deep, seven or eight inches 

 from the edge of the bed, wide enough to spread the fibers of the 

 roots evenly their whole length from the crowns, and place the 

 crown of each root fourteen to sixteen inches from the crown of 

 its next root, each root to be placed carefully with the hands. When 

 the roots are placed the length ot the trench, cover it up and 

 place boards over it, so as not to disturb the earth in the covered 

 trench. Dig out the next trench as before, so that the crowns will be 

 the same distance from the crowns in the first trench as they are in 

 each trench, and so on until they are four rows in a bed, always 

 covering each trench with boards, so as not to tread the earth after the 

 trench is filled. Then make a path three feet wide, and commence 

 the next bed, and plant as before, giving three feet for a path between 

 the beds until completed. In procuring roots, do not under any cir- 

 cumstances get them from seed stores. One of the great failures of 

 new beds is from using roots that have lost their vitality. When 

 already dug up and exposed for sale they are put in lands in a mass, 

 and are about as likely to vegetate as a bunch of rope yarns tied in a 

 large knot in the middle for a crown. The roots should be freshly 

 dug ; two-year roots are preferable. Asparagus should not be cut 

 until the second year after planting. In the fall, after the stub- 



