SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
351 
asparagus— ITS CULTI3KE, &c. 
Editors Southern Cultivator— In olfering a few re- 
jTiarks in reply to your querist, as to the modus operandi 
of Asparagus Culture, it may be said, to preserve the 
vigor of this vegetable, it is necessary that the soil be 
deeply pulverized, say three feet. This may be accom- 
plished by the ordinary method of spade subsoiling, j 
Take out a trench three or four feet wide to the depth re- 
quired ; in the bottom of said trench place a layer of ma- 
nure; then, from your second, throw a layer of earth, 
and so on, till the second trench has required the proper 
depth, and trench after trench, till the desired quantity of 
<yround is completed. One two horse load of manure to 
every foursquare yards of surface will not be too much. 
Should the soil be of a retentive nature, a free application 
of sand is essential, and should be applied during the pro- 
cess of trenching. The sand is best taken from a brook 
or stream where it is washed from impurities, while, at the 
same time, it has the advantage of being more sharp than 
pit saad and, consequently, better suited to the object in 
view, viz: to render the soil porous. 
Although the Asparagus plant be strictly a perennial, 
I believe rootlets to have but a periodical existance. After 
a lapse of years (,he number of which 1 am unable to 
sayj the older rootlets perish, giving place to those of 
more recent birth, those successional rootlets issuing di- 
rectly from the neck, or collar of the plant. Hence, the 
reason for an early decline in heavy, impeivious soils. 
All vegetable physiologists agree, that the stem and 
branches of plants are in perfect uniformity with the ca- 
pacity of the roots, that capacity being increased or 
diminished, according to the circumstances wherein they 
are placed. Seeing, therefore, that a number of rootlets 
annually proceed fromjthe collar of this plant, we must try 
to preserve the permeability of the soil, in order that they 
may freely penetrate to a proper depth. The ground 
should be prepared early in fall and allowed to settle till 
spring, which is the best time to transplant— just when 
the embryo buds begin to move. The planting may be 
performed by having the ground neatly leveled; stretch a 
line 18 inches from the margin ; dig a trench along the 
line 14 inches deep ; with one hand hold the plant by col- 
lar, allowing the roots to hang free, and just deep enough 
that the crown of the plant be 4 inches beneath the sur- 
face level, with the other hand draw in a little earth (en- 
ough to keep the plant in its place), and proceed to the 
end of the row, when the whole may be filled in and 
made level, as before. 
The plants may be 18 inches in and between the rows 
Three such rows will make a convenient. bed; if more be 
required, leave four feat after every third row, which will 
serve as paths to walk on while gathering cr cleaning the 
same. 
One year old plants are preferable to older ones, from the 
fact that they can be moved without injury to the roots, 
while, I observe, they always make the finest Asparagus. 
In November, when the beds are cleared of the stems, 
weeds, &c., the surface may be loosened by means of a 
spade-fork, the whole covered to the depth of 3 or 4 
inches with partly decomposed manure, allowing it to re- 
main till the return of the vegetating period, when the 
greater portion may be removed. 
My experience is, that by following this method you 
will cut first class Asparagus for many years— by cutting 
when one inch above the ground, you will have a palat- 
able article at least five inches in length. It may, how- 
ever, be desired to have a commodity of greater length — 
which, by the way, is always of inferior quality. A 
good way, then, to raise the monster is to plant in single 
rows 5 or 6 feet apart. When the growing season is 
about to commence the eurtb is taken from the spaces be- 
tween the rows and formed into ridges over the plants, 
much in the same manner as that of forming Celery 
ridges. When the cutting season is over the earth is 
carefully worked back to its original place— thus bringing 
the roots of the plants within the proper influence of sun 
and air so essential to the well-being of all vegetable life. 
Your most obedient, &c., 
J. Pender. 
Columbus, Ga , 1859. 
CONSERVATIVE vs. DESTRUCTIVE PEANTERS 
Editors Southern Cultivator — There are, at least, 
two permanent classes of planters in the South — the one 
conservative, the other destructive. These two classes are 
brought to view by the Savannah Republican, whose 
comments upon the fact that the Central (Ga.) Railroad 
had proposed to carry Guano and other fertilizers at a 
price just sufficient to defray the expense of fransporta- 
tion — you published in your July number. 
That paper says : — “It is a well ascertained fact that the 
older portions of Georgia, or rather those which have been 
settled longest ; for all, we presume, are of equal age, are 
more thrifty and productive to-day than they were twenty 
years ago.” 
Here is the mark of the conservative planter. He is 
following in the train of the destructive planter, and is 
building up what has been torn down. He is making the 
exhausted plains and the old red hills to groan under the 
golden harvest. He is staying the tide of emigration ; in- 
creasing the permanent wealth of the South; fostering her 
peculiar institutions, and causing the old home of his de- 
parted sires to bloom with its primeval beauty and fresh- 
ness. 
Such wise heads and noble hearts ; such conservative 
planters, never receive the grateful praise from a Southern 
public which their worthy enterprise deserves. They are 
annually adding more valuable slave territory to the 
cotton fields of the South— contradicting the notion that we 
are to have no more slave territory. Let all the planters 
south of Mason and Dixon’s line do battle under the 
conservative agricultural banner, and our institution is 
a settled fact. Dismiss at once and forever the destructive 
element in your agricultural creed, cease to weep for 
another South to ruin, and our “land of flowers” will soon 
be happy, prosperous arid renowned. 
Yours, &c , G. D. Harmon. 
Milliken's Bend, La., August, 1859. 
“A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER. > 
Editors Southern Cultivator — From the days of 
Adam and Eve to the present time, it has been the em- 
ployment of bards, poets, historians and writers of every 
class, to sing and proclaim the attractions, attributes and 
praises of the beautiful, more especially of the human fami- 
ly. Of this we do not complain— it is all right. But 
have the ugly no claims upon notoriety! We think they 
have ; more especially as there are so many more of them 
than of ihe beautiful; besides, we are sure you will agree 
with us that they should, occasionally, have the privilege 
of appearing in print as well as the more comely. With 
these opinions, we take the humble liberty of giving you 
a specimen from this part of the country. 
We have a man in our neighborhood who is so ugly, 
his wife will not permit hi.n to wipe his face on the towel 
when he washes it, so the only alternative he has is to 
wring it dry. As an especial favor, she sometimes per- 
mits him to use the door mat, but declares he mangles it 
up horribly on the corners and angles about his face. 
We would give you a specimen or two from the femi- 
nine gender, but have a premonitory tingling about our 
ears which admonishes us, just now, to keep dark. 
Yours, ♦ 
September, 1859. 
