IIG ASIEEICAN HOME GABDEX. 



plants being set one foot apart in the rows. It is absolutely 

 necessary to give asparagus a wai'm, rich soil, and, if it is in- 

 tended to make a permanent bed for a private garden, it -would 

 be well to dig out the whole space, and underlay the bed with 

 six inches or more of well-rotted manm^e, or trench the ground 

 at least eighteen inches deep, mixing it thoroughly and plenti- 

 fully with such maum-e in the process, adding sand or road- 

 wash if the soil be hea"\-y. 



Let the bed be so prepared in the ftill, and in spring, having 

 dug it over, raked it smoothly, and with yom- marker laid it 

 out in one-foot squares, put in your plants exactly at the points 

 where the lines intersect, covering the crowns about three 

 inches deep. Keep it perfectly clear of weeds, and, if a drought 

 comes on, give attention to watering it. 



One year from the time of planting you may expect a light 

 cutting for the table ; but you had much better not cut any 

 the first year- after planting than risk the injmy to your suc- 

 ceeding crops by cutting too much. 



Top-dress your bed with well-rotted manure every fall, dig 

 the surface lightly over in the spring, and water it wdth the 

 old brine from your pork-barrel, or strew salt over the berl. 



Bj' this process you will have asparagus sufficiently gigan- 

 tic ; and, if you desire it white, cover yom- bed six or eight 

 inches deep with road-wash or beach sand, and cut the aspar- 

 agus at that depth with a long knife whenever it shows itself 

 an inch or less above this covering. 



In cultivating aspai'agus upon a large scale, let your land be 

 most thoroughly manm-ed ; set the plants fom- inches dee]5, in 

 rows three feet apart, and one foot Ijetween the plants in the 

 row ; keep it clean with the plow and corn-harrow, or cultivator, 

 manming it every fall if possible ; and, if you choose to plow 

 in the manure lightl_y across the rows, as if the eround were 

 uncropped, it -will liear the operation carefully performed with- 

 out injury to the next year's product, and with great advan- 

 tage in keeping it clean with little labor. 



