AN ASPARAGUS KNIFE, 75 



A young bed should be cut from with restraint. A few of the earliest 

 sboots should be allowed to run up untouched, to encourage root 

 action. Hard cutting, it must be remembered, has a tendency to 

 cripple the rootstocks. No cutting should be practised after the 

 middle of June. 



There should be no eagerness to clear oflf the top growth ^ in 

 autumn. To tear it out before it is thoroughly ripe means injuring 

 the latent buds in the soil. If an objection is raised that leaving the 

 shoots to mature means self seeding and a bed full of young growths, 

 I reply by pointing to the old beds of half a century or more's 

 standing, which often flourish under just such conditions. 



It is a regular practice to mulch Asparagus beds in autumn. 

 Often good follows, but sometimes, I think, harm. Rank manure 

 fresh out of the yard is too wet. If manure is used it should be dry 

 and well decayed, so that it can be crumbled up and mixed with 

 burnt refuse, thus forming an ideal top-dressing. Near the sea 

 quantities of seaweed are often heaped on to the beds. Such beds 

 are, however, usually well drained ; moreover, the salt in the weed is 

 beneficial. 



The spring dressing of salt, which it is orthodox to supply, some- 



FIG. 46.-AN ASPARAGUS KNIFE. 



times does good and sometimes harm. It does good in light, well- 

 drained soil; it does harm, often if not always, in stifi*, wet land. 

 Generally speaking, where salt is beneficial, one-fourth the quantity 

 of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia is more so. 



It should be remembered that an Asparagus bed in full bearing 

 is putting a considerable strain on the resources of the soil, therefore 

 weeds should not be tolerated. Moreover, a little liquid manure 

 may be applied occasionally, either from natural sources or made 

 by dissolving ^ oz. each of superphosphate and nitrate of soda in 1 

 gallon of water. A fortnightly soaking with this works wonders. 



The forcing of Asparagus is not a troublesome business, but it is 

 hardly one for the person who has to cut his cloth up carefully, as 

 the forced roots have to be thrown away after the crop is done. Eoots 

 to be forced may be lifted in November, packed close together on a 

 6-inch coating of light, rich soil over a hotbed, covered with soil, and 

 watered. 



Most seedsmen offer about four varieties of Asparagus, namely, 

 Connover's Colossal, Early Battersea, Early Purple Argenteuil, and 

 Early White Argenteuil. The first is one of the best. The Asparagus 

 usually thought best in British gardens is that about as thick as 

 one's finger, with a green tip a couple of inches long or so, cut a 

 matter of 3 inches below the surface, the lower part being white 

 and hard. 



