110 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[Mar, 



before you open another, placing the plants upright ten or 

 twelve inches distant in the row ; or the gi'ound may be di'illed 

 for the roots to the depth of four or five inches with the garden 

 hoe. This is the most expeditious method, and answers equally 

 well. 



These plants must not be placed flat in the bottom of the 

 trench, but nearly upright against the back of it, so that the 

 cro^vn of the plants may stand upright, and two or three inches 

 below the surface of the gi'ound : let them be all placed an 

 equal depth, spreading their roots somewhat regularly against 

 the back of the trench, at the same time drawing a little earth 

 up against them with the hand as you place them, in order to 

 fix the plants in their due position, till the row be planted : when 

 one row is planted, immediately with a rake draw the earth 

 into the drill over the plants, and open another drill or trench 

 as before directed ; and so on till the whole be planted. When 

 they are all planted, let the surface of the beds be raked 

 smooth, and clear them from stones. 



At the corner of every bed, let a firm stake be driven into 

 the ground, to serve as a mark for the alleys, and one also at 

 the end of each row. 



In planting asparagus, it is customary with those gardeners, 

 who are obliged to make the most of every spot of ground, 

 to sow a thin crop of onions the first year on the new aspa- 

 ragus-beds : this should be performed before the beds are 

 raked, sowing the seeds, and raking them in ; by this means 

 a crop of onions may also be obtained without hurting the 

 asparagus, provided the onions be not suflfered to grow just 

 about the plants ; but, if circumstances will admit, it will be 

 much better net to exhaust the beds with any crops at all. 



The asparagus being planted, the next care is, when the 

 plants come up, which will be about the latter end of the suc- 

 ceeding month, or the beginning of May, to keep them clean 

 fi'om weeds ; which must be well attended to during the sum- 

 mer. It will be three years from the time of planting before the 

 asparagus plants produce buds large enough to cut for use, in 

 any general gathering ; though sometimes in good ground, and 

 a remarkably prosperous growth in the plants, which are the 

 production of young shoots, a few of the largest may be 

 cut the second year after planting: it will be doing greater 



