ASPARAGUS. 



153 



continued to thrive ; but a sprinkling just sufficient to 

 make the soil look white, is enough. As soon as the plants 

 have turned yellow in the fall, cut them down close to the 

 ground, but be careful not to do this early, or they will 

 throw up new shoots and be much weakened. Eemove 

 the stalks and all weeds from the beds—cover the beds 

 with three or four inches of good stable manure, and let 

 them remain until time for the spring dressing. If you 

 have charcoal dust at command, a layer of an inch thick 

 over the manure will be found quite useful in preventing 

 the loss of ammonia. When the weather grows warm, the 

 latter part of February, with a three-tined asparagus or 

 manure fork, dig in the manure placed on the beds in the 

 fall, and loosen the earth four inches deep, taking care not 

 to wound the crowns of the plants. Give the beds a top- 

 dressing of salt as soon as growth commences, and water 

 freely in dry weather. Applications of liquid manure are 

 likewise very salutary. A good liquid manure for aspara- 

 gus is an ounce of guano and four ounces of salt to two 

 gallons of water. Gruano or night soil composted with 

 charcoal, so as to be entirely inodorous, is also beneficially 

 applied at any time. Another slight covering of charcoal 

 dust, after the spring dressing, will be of service, and 

 make the shoots earlier. Until the bed is two years old, 

 the alleys should be also deeply dug and well-manured, 

 as the plants will derive much nourishment from them. 

 After that period the roots will extend so widely that they 

 cannot be worked without injury. 



When the bed is one year old, it may, if it has been 

 well-treated, be sparingly gathered from. The plants, if 

 the season has been good, will be almost as well grown as 

 those a year older at the North. It should be cut before 

 the heads loose their compact form, when only four or five 

 inches above the ground. Remove the earth to the hot- 

 7* 



