ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



3? 



winds, but it is much too often neglected, and the Asparagus 

 suffers accordingly. Where Asparagus is grown on a large 

 scale, this support is dispensed with, the stool being covered 

 up with fresh soil in the month of July. As it often happens 

 that late shoots issue from the stools, they also should be fixed 

 to a support as they come up. This operation is also unneces- 

 sary when the plant is grown on a large scale. If very dry 

 weather sets in, we may throw on the stools 3 in. or 4 in. of 

 soil taken from the mounds. The rain and the action of the 

 hoe cause the soil of the mounds to fall into the trenches, so 

 that the stools which were once covered with 4 in. of soil, at 

 the end of the season become covered to the depth shown by 

 the line c, fig. 5. In the month of November the surface of 

 the trench is brought down to the level of the line B, fig. 2, or 

 even below it, by throwing back the soil on to the mounds a£ 

 each side before manuring. 



Second Year.— In the month of March, after having dug 

 up the mounds, we throw a few inches of earth into the 

 trenches, raising the level to between the lines b and c, or 

 even up to c (fig. 5), but not higher. In performing this 

 operation we must be careful not to touch the young shoots, 

 which will have just been formed, for if we hurt the stool 

 the crop is endangered. During this year the same ordinary 

 operations of weeding, hoeing, &c, are performed as described 

 m the directions for the first year, keeping a sharp look-out 

 for the advent of the Crioceris. In the month of November 

 the trenches are dug up by taking up the soil as far as the 

 line B (fig. 5) if the stool has not become raised, but in such a 

 manner as to leave a good 2 in. on the roots. We then scatter 

 throughout the whole length of the trenches either well-rotted 

 manure, oil cake, or artificial manure in the proper propor- 

 tions, throwing back the soil on to the mounds, as in the first 

 year. The winter being over, the trenches are filled with 

 from in. to 2J in. of earth, so as to bring them to the 

 level of the line b (fig. 5), making the arched tops as high as 

 the line d, describing the curve shown by the dotted line. 



