96 
Notes on Market-gar denimj and Vine-culture 
taken not to injure the roots with this stake, which is therefore 
driven into the ground some inches from the crown, so that 
the portion above the ground shall incline towards the plant. 
Nothing more is done the first year than to keep the trenches 
free from weeds, and the plant free from the asparagus beetle 
as far as possible, and to tie the young shoots to the stake as 
they grow up. If the weather should prove very hot, 2 or 3 
inches more earth is placed over the crown of the plant, but 
not otherwise. If the season is rainy, some earth will be 
washed down from the sides of the trench. In either case, in 
the month of November, the stems are cut at about a foot above 
the ground, the earth covering the crown and roots is removed 
carefully, leaving them nearly, but not quite, exposed to the 
air. This operation is performed with a sliojt-handled Dutch 
hoe, which is worked circularly all round the crown, the earth 
upon which is finally removed by the hand. In the spring, 
about March, the roots are again covered with earth, but to a 
slightly greater depth than was done in the previous year, the 
operations of which are otherwise repeated to the letter. The 
third year the crown is still more deeply covered with earth, 
and farmyard-manure is placed in the trenches in the intervals 
between the plants, but not over them. A few shoots may be 
carefully cut if they come up close together, but not otherwise. 
This cutting enables the plant to throw lateral shoots. Before 
cutting any shoots the earth is carefully removed from the sides 
of the crown, so that other shoots may not be injured by the 
operation. After this period the shoots may be systematically 
cut, but not too hardly this the first year of cutting ; the earth 
is gradually added to cover the growing shoots in order to blanch 
them. Some growers put manure every winter in the trenches 
along their whole length, but M. Godefroy-Lebeuf prefers to 
place the manure in the ridges, as he holds that manure in 
direct contact with the roots of asparagus produces deformed 
shoots. With proper treatment the roots of the plants will, in 
the course of a few years, cover the whole of the space between 
the original plants. In the meantime the ridges are cropped 
with potatoes, cauliflowers, and other garden plants ; but ulti- 
mately, as the crov/n rises gradually towards the surface, the 
ridges entirely disappear. 
It must not be inferred that asparagus is always grown so 
systematically even in France, for one frequently sees, even in 
the Argenteuil district, that asparagus has been planted in a 
shallow hole here and there, where a vine has failed, or where 
some other cause has produced a vacant spot. 
At Argenteuil the rent of land devoted to the growth of 
asparagus exceeds 11. per acre, whereas ordinary agricultural 
