THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



349 



than the common kind ; but its increased size is 

 owing, I believe, entirely to cultivation. I can- 

 not see why asparagus should be a vegetable of 

 luxury ; it is one of the most wholesome, and 

 ought to be one of necessity. It has other good 

 qualities to recommend it. It is so easily culti- 

 vated, and when once established it requires only 

 to be kept clear of weeds; though no plant is 

 more susceptible of good treatment. It is also 

 one of the earliest and most delicious of spring 

 esculents, and lasting in season from the first of 

 May to the middle of June, after which time 

 none ought to be cut. In Paris it is much re- 

 sorted to by the sedentary operative classes, 

 when they are troubled with symptoms of gravel 

 or stone. It is needless to say that the young, 

 green stalk, when about six inches high, is in 

 the best condition to be cut. 



To Make the Bed. — Choose a deep, light, san- 

 dy, loamy soil, in the most sunny situation of 

 the garden, yet sheltered from cold north east 

 winds, if possible, and in a place where it can 

 remain, for if well done it will last good fifteen 

 or twenty years. It must not be shaded by any 

 large trees. When the spot of ground is fixed 

 on, draw on good rotten stable m.anure, at least 

 six inches to one foot thick, for remember this 

 is the only opportunity you Avill ever have to 

 manure the bottom part of the bed. When the 

 manure is spread, begin at one end by digging 

 out the soil the whole width of the bed, and for 

 four feet in length, and at least two feet or two 

 feet six inches deep ; when this is done, continue 

 the operation by digging down the soil and man- 

 ure to the same depth, turning and mixing them 

 into the space from which the first was thrown, 

 and so on the whole length of the bed. When 

 you have worked through to the other end of the 

 bed, there will necessarily be a hole left ; wheel 

 in the earth which was thrown out first at the 

 opposite end, and that will fill it up. When this 

 has lain a fortnight, if there be time, turn it all 

 again, well mixing it as before ; when this has 

 lain a week or ten days, it will be ready to plant. : 

 Rake the surface of the bed smooth and even, ' 

 then stretch a line across the bed six inches from 

 the edge ; then with a spade cut out a trench six 

 inches deep and nine inches wide; then lay in 

 the plants nine inches apart, spreading out the 

 roots horizontally the whole length of the trencli, 

 and cover them over two inches deep, as quickly 

 as possible. Plant the next row a foot from this, 

 and continue the operation until the whole bed 

 is planted. Beds five feet wide, with four rows 

 in the bed, will be found the most convenient, 

 with alleys two feet wide. When all are plant- 

 ed, rake the surface smooth, leaving the plants 

 about tAvo inches below the surface, and trim 

 down the edges neatly with the s:pade. Plants 

 of any age will do, although those of one or two 

 years old are the best. 



Asparagus is usually propagated by seed, but 

 those who want but a little will find it cheaper 

 to buy it of the nurserymen or gardeners whose 

 business it is to raise it. Good plants can be 



had for a dollar per hundred, or in quantities, 

 cheaper. Two beds five feet wide and thirty 

 feet long, will supply a family of five or six with 

 a good dish every day. There ought to be none 

 cut the first year, and but little the second, and 

 none at any time after the 20th of June. 



The best time for making the beds and plant- 

 ing, is October ; but if very fine weather, No- 

 vember will do, or even early spring, providing 

 the bed has been prepared in the fall. After all 

 is planted, if in the fall, just before severe wea- 

 ther is expected, cover the bed all over with long, 

 littery manure or leaves, eight or ten inches 

 thick. In spring, when all the bad weather is 

 gone, rake olf the covering and fork up the sur- 

 face of the bed lightly, being careful not to touch 

 the plants. Rake the surface of the bed smooth, 

 sow on a little salt and keep clear of weeds. 



Rochester, N. Y. J. Salter. 



THICK AND THIN SOWING OF WHEAT. 



This is a subject on which much has been 

 said and done, but that is still open for dis- 

 cussion and on which one could hardly ex- 

 pect ever to find an agreement in opinion, 

 so much depending upon soil and situation, 

 the state of cultivation in which it is found, 

 the season, late or early, and the manner of 

 depositing the seed, whether by drill, broad- 

 cast, or dibbling, or planting by hand by 

 single grains: the mode in which the seed 

 is covered; whether by heavy drag or liffht 

 harrows, and above all other considerations, 

 the state of the land with regard to its re- 

 quirement in the article of drainage, for if 

 the land be naturally wet, it is but fair to 

 expect, that " of thirty grains of wheat sovvn 

 in the fall, one only shall be found a plant 

 in the spring." And yet, after this diver- 

 sity of time, situation and circumstance, 

 men are found who would fix the proper 

 quantity of seed to be sown, and back their 

 theories by experience. We knew a great 

 and good man, a physician by piolession, 

 who spent the latter years of his life in 

 travelling about at his own expense, to su- 

 perintend in person the sowing of wheat, 

 in a way that should require but about as 

 many quarts of seed as is customary to sow 

 bushels, while the Scotch sow twice the 

 quantity of seed as do the English ; as much 

 as five bushels of oats per acre. When the 

 land is light, warm, dry and in a good state 

 of cultivation with a proper change of crop 

 and an early season, would it not be fair to 

 suppose that at least one half the seed usu- 

 ally sown might be saved, and with advan- 

 tage to the future crop 



On the subject of early sowing, which 



