440 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Planting. 
This should be done in the spring, and not, as some recom- 
mend, in the autumn. On one occasion I planted some good 
strong plants in November, and, to my surprise, quite ninety per 
cent, of them died, although they were planted under fairly good 
conditions. The Asparagus plant not being woody-fibred does 
not grow in the winter, and being so very succulent will not bear 
planting too soon. If possible choose dry open weather for 
planting, but do not let the plants be exposed to the sun or wind, 
or the fibres will be injured, and retarded growth will be the 
consequence. The plants should be dug up as they are required, 
about March or April, according to the season, as soon as they 
begin showing signs of pushing their buds ; on no account before 
this. Thus we may establish a rule — planting may commence 
as soon as fresh growth begins. Select the strongest of the 
plants, rejecting the weakly ones. By this means the plantation 
will be much more even than if all the plants are put in pro- 
miscuously. The smaller plants can be planted by themselves, 
and so the crop will be even all over. They should always 
be planted in shallow trenches, chopped out with a spade, 1 ft. 
() in. apart, and 4 in. deep ; the plants should then be evenly 
placed along the lines about 18 in. distant in each row, and 
if placed alternately it will leave them 9 in. apart on the bed. 
Six feet should be left between each two rows, and so on in 
succession. This is the old-fashioned way, the alley or space 
between being used the first year for some close-growing crop 
which will not overhang the Asparagus. 
But I think the better way is to grow Asparagus in single 
rows, planting it about 1 ft. apart in the rows, and 2 ft. 0 in. 
between each row ; there is not so much labour needed nor so 
much earth required to be moved. 
Some growers advise planting two- or three-year-old plants, 
but this is altogether wrong. If it is desired to establish a 
plantation for a number of years, plant none but one-year-old 
plants. V)\\i if you n-ill have Asparagus for the table the first 
year of },laiiting, three-year-old transplanted plants must be 
obtained. Of coarse this will be expensive; some good heads 
will no doubt Ix; obtained, but the bed will be very disappointing 
afterwards. I say, therefore, empliatically one-year-old plants 
