34 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



to spread its roots, which will by this means run no danger o£ 

 becoming entangled with those of the plants in the neighbour- 

 ing trenches. They will thus become finer, more succulent, 

 and will last longer. Most authors recommend the use of long 

 trenches dug to the depth of at least a yard, and filled up 

 with all kinds of manure and composts. Experience ha& 

 shown for a long time past that no method could be much 

 worse than the one just described. Besides being expensive, 

 the yield of Asparagus is late, sparse, and weak ; in fact, it 

 is the primitive method of growing Asparagus. 



Distance between the Plants. — When we plant in an 

 open plot the stools should be at least 3 ft. 3 in. from each 

 other, but if two rows of plants are grown side by side they 

 should be 2 ft. 8 in. from each other. For our own beds we 

 have adopted a uniform distance of 4 ft. between the lines, 

 the plants being 3 ft. 3 in. apart. By this means we have 

 more room for the earth taken out of the trenches, and the 

 mounds are more easily made and kept in order. This method, 

 therefore, is the cheapest in the end. Whatever may be the 

 distance, the weight of the crop is about the same if the plants 

 be kept properly apart, but crowded Asparagus beds produce 

 late and smaller crops of very inferior appearance and quality, 

 besides which they are much more quickly exhausted. They 

 require more manure, and their cultivation is much more diffi- 

 cult and costly. Such plantations are more liable to the 

 attacks of insects, and become unfit for good plants, seeing 

 that they degenerate towards the original stock much more 

 quickly. We have, therefore, everything to lose and nothing 

 to gain by not planting the stools at a sufficient distance 

 apart. 



Planting. — We plant Asparagus both in the spring and 

 autumn. The autumn plantings do not succeed in light 

 soils ; most of the young shoots die down during the winter, 

 and those which resist present but a wretched appearance. 

 In cold climates autumn planting meets with but little better 

 success, even in the case of dry soils ; this is due to the fact 



