THE 
GARDEN YARD 202 
If the land you have is hard and coarse, you 
should prepare it by planting it with some crop 
that needs a great deal of tillage, such as pota- 
toes, for two seasons before you plant asparagus. 
During this time you should apply all the manure 
the land will carry, because, as the bed will last 
for twenty years, in the Northern States, you will 
have no other opportunity to put the soil in 
proper condition. Don’t be afraid of making 
the soil too rich. Asparagus can take all you 
can give, and will repay your generosity. 
As you make your asparagus plantation 
practically for a lifetime, you must exercise 
care and judgment in choosing the site. In a 
family garden a long row, say 75 to 100 feet, if 
you have the space, at the rear of the garden, 
is a good place. This not only puts it out of the 
way of other crops, but it also gives you a good 
background in summer and fall, for the herbage 
of asparagus is ornamental. Asparagus used 
to be planted in beds, but under new methods 
of farming, this plan has been abandoned. 
Rows are more satisfactory. When grown as a 
field crop this allows of horse-tool tillage and 
gaves much labor. 
Asparagus roots are wanderers and reach out 
for food in every direction, even more hori- 
zontally than perpendicularly, which is why 
