ASPARAGITS. 41 



plant is set at each intersection, care being taken that 

 each root of the plant is drawn out horizontally to its 

 full length. At this distance apart there will be about 

 five thousand five hundred plants to an acre, and two 

 hundred plants will be abundant to supply a family 

 of six persons. When set out in the Spring, the 

 crowns of the plants should not be covered more than 

 three inches. This light covering at first, or until 

 the plants have started to grow, is the safest plan to 

 follow. When the young shoots are three or four 

 inches above the surface, run a cultivator between 

 the rows ; the loose earth will fall towards the plants, 

 adding a few more inches of covering above the 

 crowns, so that, by the end of the first Summer, the 

 surface will be quite level. 



When the Asparagus is planted in the Fall, the 

 plants will have to be covered full depth at once ; if 

 not, they will be in some danger from the snow and 

 water settling over the crowns, and then freezing. 



In garden-culture the second covering may be 

 drawn over the roots by the hand-hoe any time dur- 

 ing the Summer. A cultivator should be kept going 

 between the rows often enough to prevent the growth 

 of weeds in the bed. This will be found the cheap- 

 est method of culture. When planted in the Fall, 

 the rows should have a light mulch of barn-yard 

 manure put on in Xorember and in the Spring fol- 

 lowing ; this mulch, with an additional quantity of 

 manure, either barn-yard, fish, guano, bone-dust, or 

 superphospate, should be turned under early in 

 April, or as soon as the ground is dry enough to be 

 worked. 



