24 



ASPARAGUS. 



an alley of three feet [more or less]. In a dry sprmg Of 

 summer, water the roots from time to time, till the plants 

 are established." — Ahercromhie, It is of very great im- 

 portance to take up the roots carefully, and expose them to 

 the air as little as possible before planting. 



If you v*^ould raise asparagiis directly from seed, 

 without transplanting, you may sow two or three seeds in 

 the places designated above for setting the plants, and cover 

 them with an inch of good soil. When the plants are up, 

 they should be thinned to one in a place. Armstrong says, 

 ''the crowns of the roots must be placed upright, and the 

 patteSy [or fingers,] as they are sometimes called, spread 

 and directed downwards ; for on their taking (to the food 

 provided for them) the prosperity of the plantation will 

 principally depend." 



The follovving are the directions for the culture of this 

 root, given in the Catalogue of Seeds^ &c. for sale by 

 John B. Russell, Boston ; and, perhaps, are as much to 

 the purpose as those which are more prolix, minute and 

 circumstantial : 



" Sown in April and May, in the same manner as onions, 

 in rows, eighteen inches apart. Let it stand one or two 

 years — transplant into trenches four feet wide, dug, if the 

 soil will admit, fifteen inches deep — fill up six inches with 

 rotten manure — place the roots fourteen inches apart." 



In a Treatise on Gardening ^ by J. Armstrong, of Dutch- 

 ess, published in Memoirs of the Neio York Board of 

 Agriculture^ vol. ii., it is said, " If we can postpone the 

 use of the plant for a year or two, sowing is to be prefer- 

 red, because the crop it gives, (other things being equal,) 

 though later in coming, is m^ore abundant, of better quality, 

 and of longer duration ; but, if our supply must be prompt, 

 planting is best, for, by this mode, we, no doubt^ soonest 

 obtain the fruit." 



The same writer directs to plant roots of three years old, 

 instead of those of one or two years old, according to 

 the usual practice ; and says, " roots of three years will 

 not only give fruit sooner than those of one, or two years, 

 but, their fibres being harder, and roots more numerous, are 

 better able to sustain the violence inseparable from trans- 

 plantation, and the other accidents, (such as heating and 



