as plants that were three years old when set out. Various authorities 
attribute the above to various causes: the more rapid degeneration 
of the older roots when exposed to the air, the fact that they may not 
have received the intensive cultivation that they require while waiting 
for their permanent quarters, and the injury the older roots may 
receive in transplanting due to their curious manner of growing a new 
crown on top of the old every year. 
One is urged to grow one's own plants from seed, because even the 
one-year-old plants suffer greatly by being exposed to the air for a 
short time; and how much greater must be the shock when they come 
from a long distance, or, far worse, when they are dug in the Autumn 
and kept in storage until Spring. The plants for the first bed I planted, 
though bought of a good seedsman, came to me covered with a fine 
mold, certainly one of the reasons why that bed was not satisfactory. 
Another reason for growing one's own plants is suggested by Handy. 
I quote: "it is extremely difficult for any one not an expert to dis- 
tinguish the difference between a strong, well-grown one-year-old 
plant and a small and stunted two-year-old plant, the leftover of 
last year's supply, left unmanured and imcultivated the second sea- 
son, that development might be retarded." My own reason for advo- 
cating growing one's own plants from seed is that the roots from the 
seed-bed retain their normal direction and position, which. is that of 
the ribs of an open umbrella; the roots you buy have necessarily been 
drawn together like a closed umbrella, and unless one is f amihar with 
their normal habit of growth, one is apt to plant them incorrectly. 
The spacing of the plants is a wide field for argtmient, there being 
a difference of some 4 feet between the authorities. The three Ger- 
mans advocate 4>^, 4, and 5 feet between the rows, and 3^^ and 
3 between the plants in the rows. Of the French authorities, Vilmorin 
advocates 5 feet between the rows, and 4 feet between the plants, and 
says, "If exhibition asparagus is desired the above spaces should be 
doubled." Leboeuf, the great French authority, says: "In my own 
bed I have adopted a uniform distance of 4 feet between the rows, and 
the plants 3>^ feet apart. Crowded asparagus produces late and 
small crops of inferior quality and appearance." In my uncle's field 
the rows were 6 feet apart, and the plants 4 feet apart, but he special- 
ized in very large sprouts, having the distinction of supplying one of 
the New York clubs with asparagus that ran six and seven spears to 
the can. "But," said he, "what's the use of raising the most wonder- 
ful asparagus in the world, and then having to read, way back in 
PUny, that his sprouts were an inch in diameter, and weighed three 
to the pound! I tell you a classic education is a mistake!" 
An EngHsh gardener with whom I have worked planted his 
asparagus 18 inches apart in three long rows, the three rows occupy- 
ing only 4 feet. In the spring he enclosed the whole bed with 12-inch 
19 
