ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



13 



growths, which are tied erect to a stake ; they do not overtop 

 the Asparagus in any way, but on the other hand the strong 

 plants of that show well above the Vines. It is not planted in 

 distinct close lines among the Vines, but widely and irregu- 

 larly. They simply put one plant in each open spot, and 

 give it every chance of forming a capital specimen, and this 

 it generally does. When the stems get large and a little top- 

 heavy in early summer, a string is put round all, so as to hold 

 them slightly together (the careful cultivator uses a stake), 

 and the mutual support thus given prevents the plant from 

 being hurt by wind in its prime. We all know how apt it is to 

 be twisted off at the collar by strong winds, especially in wet 

 weather, when the drops on every tiny leaf make the foliage 

 heavy. The growing of Asparagus among the Vines is a very 

 usual mode, and a vast space is thus covered with it about 

 here. But it is grown in other and more special ways, not one 

 of these being like our way of growing it/which is decidedly 

 much inferior to the French method. 



Perhaps the simplest method, and the most worthy of 

 adoption, is to grow it in shallow trenches. I have seen 

 extensive plantings that looked much as a Celery ground does 



soon after being planted, the young Asparagus plants being 

 in a shallow trench, and a little ridge of soil being thrown up 

 between the lines of Asparagus. These trenches are generally 

 about 4 feet apart. Here, for instance, is a young plantation 

 planted in March. In England, the Asparagus would be left 

 to the free action of the breeze, but the French cultivators 

 never leave a young plant of Asparagus to the wind's mercy 

 while they can procure a bit of a stake about a yard long. 

 But when staking these young plants they do not insert the 

 support close at the bottom, as we are too apt to do in other 

 instances, but at a little distance off, so as to avoid the 

 possibility of injuring a fibre ; each stake leans over its plant 

 at an angle of 45 p , and when the plant is big enough to 

 touch it or be caught by the wind, they tie it to the stake. 

 The ground in which this system is pursued being entirely 

 devoted to Asparagus, the stools are placed very much closer 



Common French mode of forming an Asparagus plantation. 



