APRIL. 
69 
what is—better, far better, and much more economical, to try to get the groun 
trenched deeply, and to bring it into a good condition for the crops by improv¬ 
ing its physical condition. I have often been astonished why a practice so 
advantageous in every respect, and the beneficial effects of which are almost 
universally understood, should be only so very partially adopted. It is one of 
those things we cannot account for. Self-interest is generally a great stimu¬ 
lant, but in this case it seems powerless, or why is it we see deep trenching so 
little practised ? If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well. If 
land is worth cultivating at all, it is worth cultivating it well, and the first great 
means of doing this, is to drain and thoroughly trench deeply. 
Stourton. M. Saul. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF ASPARAGUS. 
This being one of the most important vegetables, anything having a 
tendency to simplify its cultivation and promote rapid growth, will, I 
have no doubt, be found acceptable to many readers of the Florist and 
PoMOLOGIST. 
By the following mode of cultivating it, a great saving of time is gained, 
and beds of Asparagus that under the ordinary system of cultivation, would 
take three or four years in coming to maturity, can be had equally as good 
and strong in two years and a half. 
This is a very great consideration to many, who, like myself, have to pro¬ 
duce a constant supply from November to the end of July. 
Soon after the April Number of the Florist and Pomologist is dis¬ 
tributed to its numerous readers, it will be time to commence the first opera¬ 
tion—viz., sowing the seed. I need not waste your valuable space by 
describing any particular mode of doing this, I will only say that it should 
be sown in drills 8 inches apart, and sown thinly in the first or second week 
of April, 
After the seed is sown, the next important operation should take place 
about the second or third week in July, by this time many of the early crops 
will be cleared, and a good space of ground will thus become vacant. The 
quarter of ground intended for the Asparagus plantation, after having a thick 
coating of good manure spread over it, should be well trenched to the depth 
of 2 feet or more, if there is a good depth of soil, placing the manure in the 
trench between the second and third spit. After the ground has been trenched 
it should be marked out into five-feet beds, well thrown up above the general 
level of the ground; two deep drills should then be drawn on each bed 
2 feet 6 inches apart, these are then to be filled up, or nearly so, with small 
charcoal.* The soil that has been drawn out of the drills is then raked 
over on the charcoal ; two small ridges are thus formed, 2^ or 3 inches 
above the level of the bed. The intermediate spaces between the ridges 
should have a liberal sprinkling of half-inch bones sown over them, and an 
inch or so of well-decomposed manure or leaf-soil, spread evenly over the 
whole surface of the beds. More soil should then be taken out of the trenches 
between the beds, to fill up the spaces level between the ridges on which the 
young plants are to be planted, the beds would then be considerably above 
the level of the ground surrounding them, which is very essential to the well¬ 
being of Asparagus—this completes the formation of the beds. The next 
* The Asparagus is very impatient of too much moisture about the crown of the plant, the 
charcoal is, therefore, placed in the drill below the plant for two reasons 1st, to prevent water from 
lying about the crown ot the plant; 2ndlv, because the young rootlets delight in creeping through the 
small fissures formed in it by the action of the fire. 
