278 



Culture of Asparagus. 



great vigour for the first two or three years, till the plants are 

 beyond the reach of injury from weeds. 



Acorns are very apt to be eaten by mice ; immerse them in 

 vegetable tar, and dry them with powdered lime, in the same 

 way as wheat is pickled before sowing. Draw a drill along 

 the centre of each ridglet, and 

 deposit them thinly, at the rate, 

 say, of four good acorns to a yard. 

 After the work is completed,; 

 set traps for mice (one of the< 

 best is an empty flower-pot,; 

 buried in the soil, with the bot- 

 tom on a level with the surface, 

 Jig. 73. Cond.), and appoint a person to watch the crows. 

 Mr. Allen states, that after twenty-five years' experience and 

 observation as a gardener, he considers the above plan as the 

 best he knows for raising oak timber. 



London, March, 1826. 



Art. X. Oft the Culture of Asparagus. By J. O. S. P. 



Sir, 



There are few, if any, places in the United Kingdom where 

 asparagus is grown equal to that in the neighbourhood of 

 London ; but if the method now to be described be strictly 

 followed, I have no doubt the result will be as good asparagus 

 as is or can be grown. 



Make choice of a piece of ground which lies dry and 

 slopes, so that the rain may run quickly off the paths ; the 



lighter the soil is the better. 



Dig into the around in the 



autumn a large quantity of good dung, and point it over in 

 the following spring for the purpose of loosening the ground, 

 and mixing the dung with it ; then make holes with a broad- 

 pointed dibble about an inch deep, at proper distances where 

 plants ought to be put, in each hole drop three seeds, and 

 cover the holes with light mould, such as that from old 

 cucumber beds : the covering should be rather above the rest 

 of the ground. The beds should be made four feet w r ide, 

 and the paths two feet. Cover the beds with rotten dung, and 

 let it remain on all the summer, which will keep the beds 

 moist, and nourish the young plants. As soon as the stalks 

 are decayed rake off the dung, and put on three or four 

 inches of rotten leaves, such as have been used for forcing 

 melons, pines, &c. The leaves will be much improved by 

 having been exposed for some months, and turned over two 



