August 26, 1887. ] 
journal of horticulture and cottage gardener. 
155 
come later leave both. This is the treatment advised for the seedling 3 
in the first year to get plants with strong single crowns for planting. 
The shoots should be staked to prevent damage from wind. Either we 
must pursue the course above indicated or make selection of the seed- 
ings at the time of planting, and in that case place the seed 3 inches 
asunder in the drills, and let all grow so as to give necessary plants for 
choice, but much finer plants are had by thinning to 6 inches. 
System of Growing.—I give preference to the ridge. It keeps the 
•crowns from rotting, gives the plants the benefit of all or most the 
ameliorated and enriched soil, and allows of cruder and richer material 
being employed for feeding than plants in beds or on the level. 
Purpose and Methods of Growing. —Asparagus is grown to eat 
—everybody knows that, but we have to consider in what way it is to 
be grown so as to please. There is the epicure—the heads must be large, 
fat, and luscious. Superlative produce is the result of superlative 
vigour of plant, and to get that the plant must have space—rows 4J feet 
;apart, and 3 feet distance in the rows, so as to admit of high-feeding 
and concentration of the vital forces on few parts from the commence¬ 
ment. Then we have the lovers of good heads—quality combined with 
quantity. High quality without much if any waste of space is had 
with the rows 4 feet apart, and the plants 2 feet asunder in the rows. 
Ordinary consumers like good heads and plenty of them. To meet 
those there must be no questionable use of ground and means—the most 
possible both in quality and quantity must be had, or there will be a 
balance on the wrong side of the ledger. Bows 3 feet apart and the 
plants 18 inches asunder give a quantity of high quality produce. There 
is yet another individual to be considered—viz., the grower that wants 
the most oif the ground in the least possible time, and to pay. This is 
the most difficult person to satisfy. To get a paying price the heads 
must command the market, and the quantity must be proportionate. If 
a bundle from the plants 4 feet 6 inches by 3 feet bring double the price 
of a bundle from that at 3 feet by 18 inches, the latter may prove the 
more remunerative on account of the greater proportionate quantity. 
After making trial of plants at 18 inches and 12 inches asunder in 3 feet 
rows, I am bound to admit that the lesser distance is most desirable from 
its giving one-third more grass in the first three years of cutting, after 
which the greater distance plants come to the front and maintain the 
ascendancy, both as regards the quality and quantity. We have yet 
another want to cater for—viz., the grower who must grow two blades 
where other cultivators grow but one of grass: and this may be the 
gardener with limited space, or the man that holds land upon an insecure 
tenancy. These will cling to quantity until the end of the world, 
alleging necessity as the ground of their adherence. The rows for such 
may be 18 inches, and the plants 12 inches asunder, leaving out every 
fourth row. Such will grow fair Asparagus, and the plan is mentioned 
as it is a proper way of obtaining roots for forcing quite as much as 
to please dingers to obsolete practice, which encourages nothing but 
excluding such produce from the market or a self-inflicted capitulation 
-of home produce against foreign. 
Sowing where the Plants are to Remain. —The ground being 
in good tilth draw the drills on the ridges an inch deep during the first 
week in April, and place the seed in patches at the distance they are 
wanted in the row, taking half the distance the plants are to be apart 
for the first, and then the full distance, one seed at the exact distance, 
and one on each side exactly an inch from it. Cover with fine soil. 
Early in June make choice of the best plant, and remove the others, 
merely drawing the soil aside and cutting off the top of the crown. 
Keep free of weeds, and thin the growths as previously advised for 
raising plants for transplanting. By midsummer or before the dog days 
sprinkle the ground about each plant with an ounce each of nitrate of 
soda and sulphate of ammonia for a space of about 18 inches all around, 
or apply that mixture over the whole ground at the rate of 2 ozs. per 
square yard. Mulch at once with a couple of inches thickness of any 
littery stuff at command, as spent hotbeds, old Mushroom bed refuse, 
stable litter, or farmyard manure. There is virtue in malt dust, in leaf 
soil, cocoa refuse, and even grass mowings. If the latter are used 
sprinkle with a. little salt. At the beginning of the dog days soak with 
the contents of the cesspool poured on the mulching about the plants, 
and repeat up to the beginning of September every week, ten days, or 
fortnight, according to the weather. In autumn point over the whole 
of the ground, but not so as to ^injure .the roots, and place a little soil 
over the crowns so as to cover them about i 2 inches deep, disposing a 
similar thickness of partially decayed manure over each, about a forkful 
to each plant, and extending outwards a little so as to form a sort of 
cap. This is to be removed in March, leaving the soil only. The cul¬ 
ture after the first year is the same as for planted out Asparagus.— 
O. Abbey. 
(To be continued.) 
HOLLYHOCKS. 
These are certainly coming to the front again, and I hope that the 
committees of the August shows throughout the kingdom will recognise 
them for the future. Prizes for three and six spikes for amateurs, and 
six and twelve blooms for gardeners, would bring out many exhibits. 
I take an especial interest in the Black Country Shows of the Bir¬ 
mingham and Wolverhampton district, where the surroundings would lead 
strangers to suppose a flower show wouldjbe almost impossible. A truly 
wonderful exhibition of plants, flowers, and fruits were brought together 
at. Bilston a few days since, and this place is in the midst of pit mounds, 
ironworks, and smoko. Two enormous tents and a good sized one also 
were crowded out with exhibits, including splendid stove and greenhouse 
plants from Mr. Mangold, Birmingham, superb Dahlias from Kidder¬ 
minster and other places, but the local people came out strongly in plants 
and flowers and especially vegetables. As I was desirous that Hollyhocks 
should be seen in good character in the district, I induced Mr. James 
Blundell, nurseryman, West Dulwich, to send down two dozen or so 
blooms of his varieties, and they most decidedly surprised not only the 
Black Country amateurs, but a great many outsiders, as the Hollyhock 
has been so little seen for many years. They were a fair lot of blooms, 
although there is something yet to be done to get them up to the standard 
of the old Lizzie, Glory of Waltham, and others of Paul’s, Chafer’s, 
and Bircham’s, and other raisers’ days, but we are in the right direction, 
and it gives me most pleasant reminders of the old Hollyhock days when 
I think of Mr. Blundell’s flowers.—W. D. 
NEW STRAWBERRY PLANTATIONS. 
August is a very good month in which to form new Strawberry 
plantations. If strong plants are used they will grow to a good size 
before winter and produce a considerable quantity of fruit next 
season. Many growers assert that it is a mistake to keep Straw¬ 
berry plants after they are three years old, but I have known many 
give highly profitable returns after that age, only there is little 
doubt that young healthy plants are more prolific than old ones, and 
all who possess Strawberry plants that are past their best should 
have no hesitation in rooting them up and introducing new ones. 
It is often said to be a mistake to take runners from unfruitful 
plants, as this is perpetuating an inferior type, but I never knew 
any well-grown Strawberry plant to be unfruitful, and it is simply 
bad cultivation that produces fruitless plants. No one need therefore 
be afraid to take young plants from their old ones to form young 
plantations, and this is a commendable way cf securing them. 
When beds are allowed to get into a bad state they are apt to give 
the impression that it is no use taking young plants from them, but 
I would just as soon have young plants from abed that had become 
unfruitful from inattention as from the most fertile plants. The 
successful fruiting of Strawberries does not depend on this, but on 
good culture, and without this no plants will prove really remunera¬ 
tive. 
The excessively dry weather in June and July interfered to a 
great extent with the fruiting of Strawberries in many cases, but it 
has not hindered the formation and development of runners or 
young plants, for these are as plentiful and strong as I ever saw 
them, and there will be no difficulty in securing many for planting 
this autumn. There are various ways of preparing young plants. 
I have rooted hundreds of them in small pots, kept them in these 
for a time, and then planted out, excellent plants being produced in 
this way, but much labour attached to their treatment. An easier 
way is to cut a number of pieces of turf into small squares of about 
3 inches in width and thickness, peg a runner on the top of each of 
these, allow it to root into the turf, and then it is ready for planting 
anywhere, as the roots are clustered in the turf and do not suffer 
from being moved. This is an excellent way of treating young 
Strawberry plants. Only the other day I began to layer some 
hundreds of them in this way, but soon found that the young 
plants were so freely rooted into the ordinary soil that it would be 
a mistake to disturb them by lifting them and trying to re-root 
them, so now lift them with tine balls of roots. 
These may either be placed into 6-inch pots for fruiting, or 
planted in the open as a new plantation, and if those who are 
dealing with them would look and see if their plants are so well 
rooted as ours are, they would find it a very easy matter to secure 
any quantity of young plants in fine order. But it is of the utmost 
importance that they be secured with good balls of soil to the roots, 
and if this cannot be done, and they are lifted without any soil at¬ 
tached, the plants will make little or no progress this autumn, 
and it will be the year after next before they are sufficiently strong 
to bear anything like a crop. Having brought the young plant 
arrangement so far, attention must be turned to preparing the 
ground for their reception. This is work that must not be shirked 
or scrambled over. A heavy deep soil is very much better for 
Strawberries at all times, especially in a hot dry summer, than a 
shallow' light material. Their success in the latter will only be 
partial and rather uncertain. Our new r Straw'berry plantation of 
1887 will be in the heaviest soil in the garden. The ground in 
question was trenched and manured in spring, manured and sown 
with Peas. These have been cleared off. The soil is deeply dug 
again with more manure added, and it is now ready for the plants, 
but they will not be put out until it rains, if it should do so before 
the end of August, and if not then they will be planted and liberally 
watered — if we have any water—until they take hold of the 
soil. 
It is not a good practice to plant Strawberries after Strawberries. 
Old beds are very apt to become w eedy. If these are dug and 
