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ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



asunder, a plan under which a marked improvement on the 

 old bed system is observable in the size and quality of the 

 heads. It appears to me that the Argenteuil system which you 

 insist upon differs from this only in the greater distance 

 between both plants and rows. As I have not access to any 

 description of the Argenteuil system. I presume the manure is 

 applied annually by way of surface dressing, and is not pricked 

 in, but allowed to decay, so that eventually it will form a 

 superstratum of decayed manurial matter of a considerable 

 depth, through which the young heads appear in due season. 

 Hesults which are, however, perfectly easy to attain in some 

 localities cannot be obtained in others, with double the labour 

 and expense, owing principally to sub-soil and situation. 

 Bedleaf. John Cox. 



Tour proposals respecting the culture of Asparagus, of 



which I much approve, touch one of those cultural points in 

 which I feel myself very deficient, having never got out of the 

 rut of the old thick-set bed system, which gives quantity, but 

 not quality. The only suggestions I have to make to your 

 printed remarks are, that you might mention the depth of the 

 trenches, and also whether or not there is any variety more 

 suitable than another for this mode of culture. I happen to 

 have two rows of one year's seedlings of Connover's Colossal, 

 and those I have planted out in shallow trenches 3 ft. by 4 ft., 

 as you suggest. I have no experience of this variety, and 

 would rather it had been the Giant or Batter sea. Your offer 

 of prizes will do much good towards the improvement of 

 Asparagus culture — more so, perhaps, amongst private growers 

 than in market gardens around London and the Yale of 

 Evesham, where it is grown pretty well. 



Combe Abbey, near Coventry. W. Miller. 



Your plan of making the growth of Asparagus more 



popular is a very good one, and likely to answer the purpose 

 intended ; in truth, there is a great deal of ignorance displayed 



