Introduction 



xvii 



Make trenches three feet apart and from six- 

 teen to twenty inches deep and ten inches 

 wide. Place six to eight inches well rotted 

 manure in the trench and tramp it down ; 

 cover this with an equal amount of soil. Set 

 the crowns of asparagus plants one foot apart 

 in this soil, then fill in with soil to about six 

 inches from the surface. As the stalks appear 

 sprinkle nitrate of soda lightly over the sur- 

 face, and gradually add soil as the growth 

 increases until the trench is level with the 

 ground. In the autumn, cover the bed with 

 a good coating of manure. In the spring, 

 dig this in, apply nitrate of soda at the same 

 time, strewing it on the ground, a half trowel- 

 ful to each plant. 



Garden beds should have an ornamental 

 edging or border. The king of edges is, of 

 course, the box, but this plant is very difficult 

 to grow. What winter does not kill, drought 

 usually finishes. Moreover, it is costly. The 

 box in our garden is over a century old. It 

 is rapidly disappearing in spite of all the care 

 we have given it. 



We are replacing it with euonymus, which 



