108 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Mar 



tion that enjoys the full sun. If the ground do not naturally 

 possess these qualities, it must be brought as neai* to that state 

 as possible, by artificial means. 



Asparagus is often found to prosper in sti'ong land, but it is 

 apt to go off in winter. In light sandy, or light loamy soils, 

 if well supplied ^vith manure, it succeeds much better, and is 

 not liable to perish in winter. Sea-weed, where it can be 

 procured, is an excellent manure for asparagus. The ground 

 should, if it be intended to have fine crops, and that the beds 

 should last for a number of years, be not less than two or 

 two and a half feet deep, burying plenty of dung at the bottom, 

 as no more can be applied to any depth afterwards. Aspara- 

 gus, when found in its natural state, is in poor sandy spots 

 by the sea-side, and is of such a diminutive size, that few 

 cultivators, without some botanical knowledge, would imagine 

 it to be the same plant, which they grow to such a size by force 

 of dung and cultivation. The sweetness, size, and tenderness 

 of the shoots, which are the only part used, depend entirely on 

 the rapidity of their growth, and this is to be effected only by 

 the richness of the soil. The commercial gardeners in the 

 vicinity of London consider damp gTound so injurious to aspa- 

 ragus, that they elevate their asparagus-beds considerably 

 above the surface-level of the ground, and the same practice is 

 also common in the environs of Paris. In the Memoirs of the 

 Caledonian Horticultural Society, the following is given by 

 Dr. Macculloch, as the method practised in France, and adopted 

 in some parts of Scotland: "A pit, the size of the intended 

 plantation, is dug five feet in depth, and the mould which is 

 taken from it must be sifted, taking care to reject all stones, 

 even as small in size as a filbert-nut. The best parts of the 

 mould must then be laid aside, for making up the beds. The 

 materials of the bed are then to be laid in the following pro- 

 portions and order : six inches of common dunghill manure, 

 eight inches of turf, six inches of dung as before, six inches of 

 sifled earth, eight inches of turf, six inches of very rotten dung, 

 eight inches of the best earth. The last layer of earth must 

 then be well mixed with the last of dung. The compartment 

 must now be divided into beds five feet wide, by paths con- 

 structed of turf, two feet in breadth and one foot in thickness. 



