PLANTING AND MANURING 19 



The best asparagus cannot be secured unless ample 

 room be allowed for development, and there should 

 never be any difficulty in the matter of space in walking 

 freely between the plants at any time, without the intro- 

 duction of alleys. 



So now for the planting. 



Planting and Manuring 



For planting, none do so well as one-year-old plants ; 

 and when people ask me at what age I would recom- 

 mend plants to be, I know that they have all to learn. 

 The principal reason why one-year-old plants are best, 

 is that the roots do not get broken so much at this age 

 as when older, and if carefully taken up (and in this 

 matter one cannot be too particular) few rootlets need 

 be left in the soil. Well-cultivated two-year-old plants 

 grown in rich soil would be really very difficult to get 

 up without injury. When I hear of three-year-old 

 plants being bought, I know that (with the exception 

 of those prepared for forcing) they have been badly 

 cared for — for a well-grown plant of that age taken up 

 by me to-day, shown in the drawing, weighed, after the 

 earth had been washed away, two pounds, and some of 

 the roots were left broken off in the ground. I would 

 rather plant the one-year plant than this older one, 

 large as it is, however carefully taken up. 



Taking up the Plants. — It requires two people to take 

 up the plants — a man and boy. If the latter be a good 

 one he will do better than a man, for his work is care- 

 fully to take each plant as the man digs it up with a 

 fork — not a spade, to separate the plants if necessary, 

 and carefully to put them in a wheelbarrow, or, if they 

 have to be taken far, in large flat hampers called ' 6 flats." 

 These can be put in carts, and so taken to the planta- 

 tions. No more should be taken up than can be planted 



