By Mr. Peter Lindegaard. 511 



drawn from peg to peg for digging up the alleys, about six 

 inches deep, and the earth from them is thrown upon the 

 beds. The alleys must afterwards be again filled to the top 

 with old rotten dung, which will be fit to lay in the beds 

 again the succeeding autumn. This practice must be re- 

 peated every autumn, in order to heighten the bed, that the 

 shoots may have their proper length when they are to be 

 gathered. 



Asparagus being thus managed, and kept clean from weeds, 

 will be fit for gathering in the fourth season, but should be 

 sparingly cut in that year. Some gardeners begin gathering 

 in the third season, but this weakens the plants. Some of 

 our market gardeners cut their Asparagus twice a day, for 

 they are not so well esteemed when the tops or heads are 

 become green.* 



Every one who has visited Holland, and paid the least at- 

 tention to Horticulture, knows that the soil in the environs 

 of Haarlam, and the greatest part of North Holland, is pure 

 sand, but Asparagus succeeds there extremely well ; dung 

 is however not spared by the Dutch, who treat Asparagus in 

 the same manner as we do, and I have observed that their 

 Asparagus, as well as every other vegetable, is particularly 

 tender and palatable ; whether this excellence is derived from 



* Mr. Baumann has suggested cylindrical pots or pipes, eighteen inches high, 

 and one inch in diameter, to put over the shoots ; but I think these would be 

 turned over by high winds, and would, besides, in extensive plantations, be at- 

 tended with much trouble and expense. See Horticultural Transactions, Vol. v. 

 p. 334. The Dutch are likewise fond of white Asparagus, and they cut them 

 also early in the morning. I have even seen, in some places, those shoots which 

 appear in the middle of the day, earthed up to preserve them white till the next 

 morning. I have followed this mode with some of my best beds. 



