10 
JOHXSON, ROBBIES, & CO'S. 
the application of seaweed, or some other manure containing 
common salt. If the heads are not wanted for the table or for 
seed, they should be removed from the stem, as this would 
greatly promote the strength and durability of the plant. 
The seeds may be sown early in the spring— say at the time 
of the flowering of the peach, (see table on page 8.) in drills 
eighteen inches apart, and covered from an inch and a half to 
two inches deep. If properly cultivated, good plants may be 
• obtained the first season, which must be protected during the 
winter as above, and transplanted in the spring. They will 
produce a few heads the second year, only one of which should 
be allowed to grow on each stalk. The third and succeeding 
years they may be allowed to produce a regular crop. 
ASPARAGUS. 
Asparagus officinalis, Of Botanists. 
Asperge, French. 
Esparragos SPANiaif. 
Sparge!, German. 
The asparagus is a hardy perennial, of universal cultivation, 
and .every year is coming more and more into use. There 
are only two distinct varieties, the Purple-topped and the 
Green-topped. The former is most esteemed, and may be 
distinguished by the closeness of its heads, which is of a purple 
reddish-green color soon after it springs forth. The supposed 
variety, called the " Giant," on account of its size, owes ils 
excellence chiefly to superior cultivation. 
Propagation and Cultuhe. — This plant can only be 
propngated by seeds ; but when a new bed is formed, time 
may be saved by procuring strong one-year-old plants from 
some gardener, and plant them as soon as possible, without 
exposure to the air, in drills, one foot apart, and nine inches 
from plant to plant, in finely-prepared beds, four or five feet 
wide, with the crown of the rools two inches below the surface, 
drawing the earth over them to keep them in place. 
_ The best period for sowing is in early spring, say at the 
time of the flowering of the peach tree (see table on page S). 
The seed should be thinly sown in drills, from one and a half 
