398 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



benefit of gardens and profit of gardeners all through the district. The 

 conditions of the competition are capable of considerable variation 

 according to local requirements. Mr. Canning writes as follows : 



" One acre of good land, with a cottage upon it and a market near, 

 could, I am convinced, give employment all the year round to one man, 

 and this would go a long way towards solving the unemployed problem. 



" But such men would have to be expert in the use of the spade, 

 which is without doubt the best implement ever invented for the cultiva- 

 tion of the soil. 



" By skilful handling of this implement the land might be made to 

 yield three good crops, viz. spring, summer, and autumn ; and if young 

 men could be induced to devote the same time and attention to the use of 

 the spade as is now given to games of football and other unremunerative 

 sports the same proficiency could be obtained with quite as much enjoy- 

 ment to themselves, and much more profit both to themselves and the 

 nation. 



" Why not select eleven men a side to form spade-teams, and to 

 engage in digging competitions ? Why not have land properly measured 

 and roped off into sections, invite the public, and charge gate money for 

 admission, to watch contests in which each man does his best to till his 

 section of soil in the shortest possible time and in the best possible 

 manner so as to leave the land in the best condition ? 



" Wherever Garden Cities or Allotments are in existence, or Agricultural 

 and Flower Shows flourish, training in the use of the spade could not be 

 out of place, and digging competitions might be organized. And surely 

 they would prove of great and lasting benefit to the health and physique 

 of our race, as well as favourable to the food supply of the nation. 



" Old as I am (and I shall soon reach my eightieth year) I would make 

 bold to enter one of these competitions myself, and would undertake at 

 least (if I could not win a prize) to dig or turn over my portion of 

 110 square yards with a ten-inch spade in one hour. One hundred and 

 ten yards for each man will come to 1210 yards for a team of eleven — 

 which is chains or a quarter of an acre. Thus four teams would dig 

 an acre in about an hour — either man against man, or team against team. 



" I could go further into details but am content in this letter to draw 

 attention to a really important but unaccountably neglected subject— that 

 is to say, spade culture as a physical exercise, and the encouragement of 

 training in the use of the spade, as a form of recreation and a source of 

 individual and national profit." 



Asparagus. 



The inquiries we receive annually about asparagus are so numerous 

 that it is evident that more interest is being taken in its culture than 

 formerly, or else that its culture is not understood so well as it should be. 

 The remark most frequently made is, " Our asparagus is nothing like so 

 fine or good as it used to be— What is the cause?" One of the most 

 common causes is cutting the shoots too late. All cutting should cease 

 at the latest by Midsummer Day ; but as vegetables are none too plentiful 

 at that time, and as the beds are still throwing up some excellent shoots, 

 cutting goes on for ten days or a fortnight longer. And this being 



