AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Iforfmilteal I^printeni 
BEEP PLANTING OP ASPARAGUS. 
To tlie Editors of the American Agriculturist: 
Although several articles on the culture of 
asparagus have appeared in the American 
Agriculturist since I have become a sub¬ 
scriber, yet I see nothing said about the theo¬ 
ry of deep planting. Our asparagus-growers 
in this quarter are decidedly in favor of set¬ 
ting young plants for permanent beds very 
deep in the drills or trenches. They first 
prepare the ground well by deep plowing 
and high manuring ; then trench twenty 
inches to two feet deep, put a liberal quanti¬ 
ty of horse-manure in the bottom continu¬ 
ously, and after slightly covering with earth, 
set the plants some fifteen to eighteen inches 
below the surface of the field; as they 
grow up the trench is gradually filled in 
until it becomes level with the surface. 
Several fine beds treated in this manner, 
in this vicinity, have produced admirably. 
They have, however, had the advantage of 
a very deep light soil, approaching nearly to 
that quality termed sandy. About ten years 
since, I planted half an acre on a piece of 
ground of light soil, although not sandy, and 
which had a porous subsoil, inclining to 
gravel. The mould being not very deep, I 
determined to plant the asparagus nearer 
the surface, and afterward top-dress heavily 
with suitable soil, in addition to the usual 
annual manuring. The bed has produced a 
pretty fair crop for field-culture, yielding at 
the rate of two hundred and twenty-five dol¬ 
lars per acre ; yet it does not equal the yield 
of some of the fields where deep planting 
has been pursued. 
Now, I have not been able to determine 
in my mind whether the difference is in the 
soil, or in the method ; and as I purpose 
planting a field on a dry soil, with an under 
stratum composed of sand, gravel and stones 
quite near to the surface, and to top-dress 
heavily with light mould and manure until a 
sufficient depth of soil is thus accumulated, 
instead of setting the plants deep in the soil 
after trenching, a little practical information 
through your paper would be very accepta¬ 
ble. Perhaps some of your correspondents 
may give us some light'on this subject. 
RICHARD M. CONKLIN. 
Cold Spring Harbor, Dec. 4,1854. 
ASPARAGUS. 
In meeting the wants of our correspond¬ 
ent, it will be necessary to go a little into 
detail, in our remarks upon this earliest and 
best of the vegetable products of the garden. 
If people only knew how to cultivate aspar¬ 
agus in its perfection, they would welcome 
the month of May for this delicacy, almost 
as warmly as for its flowers ; and, judging 
from the tall spikes that make their appear¬ 
ance at that date in our own garden, thev 
might save themselves the trouble of rear¬ 
ing May-poles, and hang out their flowery 
festoons and garlands upon poles of their 
own growing. 
We have no experience in deep planting, 
because we think we have a more excellent 
way. The deep planting which is resorted 
to by some of the English gardeners, and 
which, we presume, was introduced by them 
into this country, is unphilosophical, and is 
condemned by the best authorities on gar¬ 
dening. The Gardener’s Chronicle, one of 
the best English journals devoted to this art, 
says, in an article upon this vegetable: 
‘‘ The asparagus being brought to the requi¬ 
site stale of vigor, the next question is, how 
to secure the necessary degree of succu¬ 
lence, which it never has beyond two or 
three inches in an English market, and not 
often anywhere else. That succulence will 
depend upon temperature as much as upon 
other causes. The warmer the asparagus 
bed is kept while the plants are rising, the 
more brittle they will be, provided the tem¬ 
perature of the soil does not rise above 75° 
at the most. Now, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, every thing is done to keep it cold ; 
buried twelve or thirteen inches below the 
surface, the influence of the sun is slowly 
felt, and very imperfectly into the bargain. 
It is only when the roots are lightly covered 
by some rapidly conducting material, that 
the sun can exercise his proper influence, 
unassisted by artificial contrivances. Hence 
one of the greatest faults the asparagus- 
grower can commit, is to bury his plants 
deep. Only observe Mr. Kendall's practice : 
his plants are just covered with soil resting 
upon a deep bed of the most nutritious mat¬ 
ter. The earliest rays of the sun are felt in 
such a case, and as soon as the dormant 
energy of the plant is roused, it continues to 
be exercised without a day’s interruption.’’ 
Unquestionably the deep-planted beds that 
succeed well, owe their success to the depth 
and richness of the soil rather than to the 
deep-planting of the roots. Within three 
inches of the surface they would produce 
earlier and more succulent shoots, and with 
proper surface-treatment, not a less amount 
of cuttings in the course of a season. 
Buist says asparagus is a native of Great 
Britain, where it is found on banks of sandy 
soil contiguous to the sea, growing luxuri¬ 
antly under the salt breezes. Bridgeman 
says it is found growing wild in Russia and 
Poland, where it is eaten by the cattle the 
same as grass. In none of the authorities 
that we have consulted, do we find the fact 
recognized, that it is also a native of this 
country. We have so often found it grow¬ 
ing along our shores, with all the character¬ 
istics of a wild plant, that we have no doubt 
that it is as much one of our own native ma¬ 
rine plants, as the eel grass and the rock 
weed that grow in the adjacent waters. It 
is found abundantly upon the shores of Ma¬ 
son’s Island, at the mouth of the Mystic 
river, Connecticut, where it is sometimes 
gathered by the inhabitants for greens. We 
have seen it growing on the shores of Quan- 
ituc, in the same neighborhood, and also on 
Shelter Island, New-York, New-Jersey, and 
elsewhere. 
In order to properly prepare a piece of 
ground for the cultivation of this plant, it is 
important to understand its native habits, 
and the food necessary for its health. When 
these are understood, we may apply any 
mode of stimulating its growth within our 
reach, and bring it to its desired perfection. 
Nature places it, we see, in its wild state, 
among sea-sand, mixed with the soft, spongy 
decay of marine plants, the most yielding of 
all earthy substances, never becoming dry, 
never remaining loaded with stagnant water, 
but at every tide receiving a supply of the 
saline particles that constitute an essential 
part of the food of the plant. Under such 
circumstances, the roots meet with no ob¬ 
struction to their full development. 
An analysis of the ash of the plant, by 
Levy, shows the following constituents : 
Potash.20.48 
Soda. 2.89 
L >me. 13.15 
Magnesia. 3.24 
Peroxide of iron. 4.22 
Silicia. 9.99 
Sulphuric acid. 5.72 
Phosphoric acid.10.03 
Carbonic acid.25.71 
Chlorine. 3.21 
Loss. 1.35 
100.00 
The native habits of the plant, and its inor¬ 
ganic constituents should be our guide in pre¬ 
paring the ground for its cultivation. We 
have prepared two beds upon our present 
premises, the one upon upland, and the other 
upon reclaimed salt-marsh. That upon the 
upland is about a rod square, and was pre¬ 
pared by removing the surface-soil to the 
depth ofabout two feet, pushing in stones, 
oyster-shells, and bones at the bottom, a 
heavy coating of manure over these, and 
then the surface-soil replaced. Wegivethis, 
every winter, about a bushel of coarse refuse 
salt, and a heavy dressing of manure, either 
from the pig-stye, or the privy. This has 
produced admirably, and we thought it the 
perfection of an asparagus bed, until we made 
a second. The lower part of our garden, a 
strip some four hundred feet long by a rod 
in width, was originally a marsh with a salt¬ 
water ditch for the boundary line. This we 
began to reclaim, some three years since, 
and appropriated about one third to asparagus. 
The marsh was removed to the depth of 
three and in some places four feet, and 
stones and blasted rocks from the upland 
rolled into the vacuum and then the marsh 
mud put on top of them ; raising the surface 
of the land about two feet above its former 
height. After this had been heavily ma¬ 
nured, we set out our plants in drills, about 
two feet apart and eighteen inches in the 
drill, covering them with two or three inches 
of the soil. The new made land receives 
the wash of the adjacent hill-side, which fur¬ 
nishes it with all the'sand it needs. Though 
it is situated, where its roots have access to 
salt-water every side, we give it a heavy 
coating oi salt every winter, and manure the 
surface liberally from] the pig-stye. We 
have oncejgiven it a dressing of oyster-shell 
lime, which [the analysis shows to be an 
important constituent in its composition. 
To furnish the potash we burnt a portion of 
the coarse sods, andj[peat from the marsh, 
and strewed ^the ashes upon the surface. 
The result has beeiUsurprising to all behold¬ 
ers, The light [porous black soil feels the 
first genial sunshine of spring, and the plants 
start about a week earlier than those upon 
the adjacent upland. We think we have 
something equal to Coney-Island, and have 
no occasion to envy the epicures who go down 
thither to regale themselves upon this deli¬ 
cacy. 
Of course all have not the same facilities 
