38 ABPAEAGtrS. 



plants are weak, it is better to let them remain in the 

 seed-bed anotlier seascm. Plants older than two 

 years should not be set out ; it is more than probable 

 they will fail to give satisfactory results. 



Those who want only a few hundred plants, to 

 make a family bed, will iind it cheaper to buy them 

 from some responsible person than to attempt to raise 

 them from the seed. One pound of good fresh seed 

 will sow a bed 20 x 100 feet, and give from twelve to 

 fifteen thousand plants. 



PEEPAEING THE GEOUND. 



Asparagus will siicceed best on a deep, sandy 

 loam, that is rich and mellow. There should be no 

 short-sighted economy practised in preparing the 

 ground for an Asparagus-bed. All the outlay for 

 labor and manure, judiciously laid out in making the 

 bed, will be returned to the owner, with a high rate 

 of interest, within the next ten years. 



If the ground selected is naturally wet, or likely 

 to become so, then by all means have it thoroughly 

 underdrained. Asparagus can only be grown to the 

 highest point of profit on soil that is free from stag- 

 nant water, thoroughly pulverized to a depth of at 

 least twenty to twenty-two inches, and then heavily 

 manured. There will be more satisfaction from 

 planting only a quarter of an acre on this thorough 

 scale, than in planting an acre nnder indifferent 

 preparation and poor manuring. The groimd should 

 be thorouglily ploughed and sub-soiled both ways, 

 and then jilenty of well-rotted yard-manure ploughed 

 under. Tlie more manTu-e that is api)lied, the more 



