18 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
in the Fall cover a portion of them with six 
or eight inches of black peat earth or warm 
litter, and he will hasten their growth in 
Spring a week earlier than those unpro¬ 
tected. 
As to the best sorts of rhubarb, we must 
say that, as a general rule, the best are 
those best cultivated. The Giants and Mam¬ 
moths owe a debt to the manure heap for 
some of their fair proportions. There is, 
however, a choice and these are among the 
best: 
Tobolsk: Scarlet stalks, small, but very 
early. 
Myatt's Victoria; Large, red stalks, with 
a rich, fruit-like flavor, and early. 
Giant: Large, grown stalks ; later than 
die preceding; a great favorite in England. 
Mammoth: A seedling from Giant, stalks 
sometimes four feet long ; highly esteemed 
about Philadelphia, where it originated. 
Downing's Colossal: A large and very ex¬ 
cellent variety; stalks often the size of a 
man’s wrist. 
Myatt's Linnaeus: The least acid of all, 
and that not an unimportant matter, consid¬ 
ering the present price of sugar. 
Cahoon's Seedling: One of the newest 
varieties, and on some accounts the best. 
In conclusion, it may be proper to add 
that the leaf of the rhubarb contains oxalid 
acid, and is therefore poisonous. The root 
is an active purgative. The Icaf-stalh only 
should be eaten. 
ASPARAGUS. 
Its History, Varieties, Method of Making 
Beds and Planting, After Treatment, Du¬ 
ration of Teds, Mode of Cutting and Cook¬ 
ing, Sfc. 
No product of the vegetable garden is 
more highly relished than this, when a taste 
is acquired for it, and none is more health¬ 
ful. Yet not one farmer's garden in ten, and 
in many parts of the country not one in a 
hundred, contains a single shoot of it. If 
grown at all, it is but a single stool to furn¬ 
ish wisps for the flies to light upon in the 
summer parlor. Asparagus as a vegetable 
upon the farmer’s table is still an exotic very 
rarely found. As a wholesome dish, coming 
early in the season, when vegetables are 
much needed, we think it very desirable that 
it should have a place in every garden in vil¬ 
lage and country. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Asparagus Officinalis is a perennial plant, 
a native of the shores of Britain, where it 
occurs sparingly, and of the steppes in the 
east of Europe. It is also found in this coun- 
iry in an uncultivated state, and is probably 
a native of America. We have seen it grow¬ 
ing wild upon the shores of Shelter Island, 
andmpon the Connecticut shore, on the op¬ 
posite side of Long Island Sound. It grows 
in abundance upon Mason’s Island, near the 
mouth of the Mystic River, and is some¬ 
times gathered in the spring for greens. It 
is, however, in its native state a small poor 
vegetable, hardly worth cooking. Its name 
is derived from the Greek, and signifies a 
young shoot before it expands. It is in this 
state when it is cut for the table. Its growth 
is very rapid. Well established plants, af¬ 
ter the weather has become warm, will throw 
up shoots six or eight inches high in two 
days. 
VARIETIES. 
There are two varieties, the red topped 
and the green topped, according to the books, 
though we have never met with but one. 
The young shoots assume quite a variety of 
colors when they make their appearance, 
depending somewhat upon the quality of the 
soil they are grown in. There are several 
sub varieties named from the places where 
they are cultivated. But these are simply 
the result of skill and manure. A deep rich 
soil, with abundant fertilizers, produces a 
large kind. Without these the stalks are 
small. 
PLANTS FOR BEDDING. 
It is a great saving of time to purchase 
from the nursery one year old plants for this 
purpose. But if this is not convenient, pro¬ 
cure young seedling plants from an old bed, 
or sow the seed. The seed is produced in a 
brilliant red berry, which is three celled, 
and the cells are two seeded. The seeds 
are black, and very tenacious of life. They 
will live through the winter, and come up 
wherever they are left, as readily as a bur¬ 
dock, or a thistle. Myriads of young plants 
are found starting from an old bed every 
season, unless special pains are taken to re¬ 
move the old tops in the fall. 
If the young seedlings are used, take them 
up in May, when they are an inch or two 
high, and put them in any rich garden loam 
in drills fifteen inches apart, and one foot 
apart in the drill. Select the strongest and 
most perfect plants for this purpose. If well 
set, not one in a hundred will fail. If seed 
is sown prepare the bed as for other vege¬ 
tables, and put the hills at the same distance 
apart. Sow early, as soon as spring opens. 
The young plants are very small when they 
first come up, looking like so many pins 
sticking in the dirt. As soon as in sight, the 
whole surface of the bed should be stirred 
with a push hoe,to cut up the springing weeds 
and give the asparagus a start. The young 
plants should be hoed once a week through 
the season. This course will make strong 
vigorous plants, with roots shooting out from 
the crown like the spokes from the hub of a 
wheel. The roots will be from ten to twenty 
inches in length, according to the richness 
of the soil. In the fall they are ready for 
THE BED, 
which is the main thing in the cultivation of 
this plant. It will grow, indeed, in almost 
any good soil, but it can only be had in per¬ 
fection from a deep, rich bed. We would 
choose for it a hill side, sloping to the south 
or southeast,—next to this the south side of a 
wall, and lastly an open spot, free from shade 
above or roots beneath. The plant wants 
all the soil, and all the sunshine it can com¬ 
mand. 
Eight square rods, or a plot three 
rods square, will furnish even a large family 
a full supply of this vegetable. For so large 
a plot as this, we would lay the bed out eight 
rods long, and one rod wide; if con¬ 
venient, remove all the surface soil, 
and put it upon one side, to be used 
again. If the subsoil is a yellow loam, six 
inches in depth of it may also be saved. If 
it is clay or gravel, we would take it all out 
to the depth of three feet. The plant is- a 
gross feeder, and wants three things, drain¬ 
age, room to grow, and rich congenial food. 
These may be secured, of course, by a va 
riety of methods to suit the convenience of 
the cultivator. For drainage, we would use 
six or eight inches of oyster shells upon the 
bottom, and care must be taken that wa¬ 
ter shall never stand in the bottom of the 
bed. If the soil is clayey, an outlet must be 
dug at the lowest corner. If shells are not 
to be had, small stones, two or three inches 
through, will answer. Upon these put a lay¬ 
er of bones, one or two inches in thickness, 
and more if they can be easily and cheaply 
procured. Our own experiments with bones 
have led us to attach a high value to them 
as a fertilizer for this plant. If in the vicin¬ 
ity of the shore, where sea mud and sand 
can be procured, we would make a compost 
for the remainder of the bed, composed 
of one half sea mud, one fourth stable ma¬ 
nure, and the remainder of surface soil. If 
remote from the shore, we would use peat 
or muck instead of the sea mud. The whole 
should be well mixed and thrown in upon 
the bones. 
SETTING THE PLANTS. 
The old method was to put them in long 
narrow beds, but this is not important. 
Stretch your line a foot from the edge of the 
bed, and with the shovel or spade remove 
about two inches of the surface on both sides 
of the line. Then take a plant and spread 
out all the roots carefully like the spokes of 
a wheel. Return the soil, leaving the crowns 
about two inches beneath the surface. Put 
the plants two feet apart along the line until 
the whole drill is finished. Stretch the line 
again at the distance of two feet, and set the 
plants as before. Eight drills will finish the 
bed, and the whole number of plants required 
will be 528. The plants are sometimes set 
18 inches apart in the drill, but the shoots 
will not be so large. If we wanted shoots 
of extra size we should make the bed deep¬ 
er, and put the plants three feet apart. We 
prefer to set the plants in the spring, when 
the shoots first make their appearance above 
ground The roots should not be suffered 
to dry. 
AFTER TREATMENT. 
For the first two years after setting the 
bed. nothing will be required but the stirring 
of the surface soil, and a bushel or two of 
salt thrown over in the fall. No cutting 
should be made until the third spring. The 
fall before this, as soon as the ground is 
frozen hard enough to bear the cart, manure 
should be spread over the whole surface 
three or four inches deep. We would not 
put the manure on until the ground is frozen, 
because it is very important that the soil 
should be kept as light and spongy as possible. 
The manure serves as a mulch during win¬ 
ter, and in the spring may be carefully fork¬ 
ed in. It is injurious to disturb the roots. 
WHITE ASPARAGUS. 
If this is wanted, you have only to cover 
