Asparagus 



437 



' The plants should grow two full years before shoots 

 are cut. Sometimes a few stalks may be taken the sec- 

 ond year, but it is usually better to wait until the third 

 year and to allow the plants to become thoroughly estab- 

 lished. It is also easy to injure the bed by cutting it for 

 too long a period each season. Whilst the crop is being 

 harvested, however, every stalk should be removed, even 

 though it is too small and poor for eating: the bed 

 should be ^^cut clean. Only in rare cases should the 

 bed be cut after the 4th of July, and it is usually better 

 to stop before this time. Thereafter the tops are allowed 

 to grow as they will. It should be remembered that the 

 energy of the crown and roots is supplied from the foli- 

 age that developed in the previous summer. Without a 

 heavy growth of top, one cannot expect a good growth 

 of roots and a heavy crop the following year. The tops 

 should be mown late in fall. Some persons allow these 

 tops to lie on the ground as a winter protection. If, 

 however, the plants produce many berries, there will be 

 so many seedling plants as to make trouble; in that case, 

 it is better to burn the tops. It is also well to remove and 

 burn them in order to allow a thorough tillage to be given 

 in the fall. The bed should then be given a dressing as 

 already advised, both for the purpose of affording winter 

 protection and to supply plant -food. In the spring the 

 dressing may be cultivated under, or if it is too coarse 

 for that purpose, the rougher parts may be forked off. 

 After a thorough spring cultivation, it is well to again 

 cover the bed with litter or manure in order to afford 

 some nourishment, but particularly to conserve the moist- 

 ure and to afford material for covering the tender shoots 



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