Ghe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1591 
The  Home  Acre 
Fertility  for  Garden 
1  have  a  garden  patch  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  acre  in  extent,  which  has 
been  worked  for  seven  years.  Di  ving 
the  four  years  that  I  have  had  it,  I 
have  applied  cow  manure  mixed  with 
oak  leaves  during  the  Winter,  and  .his 
mixture  has  been  plowed  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  Spring.  The  various  garden  crops 
have  been  planted  successively  in  differ¬ 
ent  parts  of  the.  garden  for  rotation.  On 
account  of  the  high  cost  of  living,  I  am 
desirous  of  making  this  garden  produce 
its  utmost  next  Summer.  Will  you  sug¬ 
gest  a  scheme  of  fertilization  which  will 
produce  the  maximum  of  results?  I 
have  a  number  of  corncobs  which  can  be 
burned,  and  I  should  like  to  know  the 
best  way  of  applying  the  ashes  to  the 
ground,  as  there  are  not  enough  for 
broadcasting.  F.  M,  F. 
Iowa  City,  la. 
The  cow  manure  and  the  oak  leaves 
have  provided  considerable  nitrogen  and 
small  quantities  of  phosphorus  and  pot¬ 
ash.  The  manure  and  the  leaves  have 
probably  loft  the  ground  somewhat  sour. 
What  you  need  is  lime  to  Sweeten  the 
soil,  and  potash  and  phosphoric  acid. 
The  burned  corncobs  will  supply  the 
lime  and  the  other  minerals.  We  should 
got  all  the  corncobs  we  could  and  burn 
them  thoroughly,  saving  the  ashes  in  a 
dry  place.  In  addition  to  these  ashes  we 
would  buy  300  pounds  or  more  of  fine 
ground  bone.  Give  the  garden  another 
coat  of  manure,  plowed  under  in  the 
Spring.  Then  broadcast  the  ground  hone 
and  have  it  well  raked  in.  At  the  time  of 
planting  or  shortly  after  scatter  the  wood 
ashes  along  the  hill  or  drill,  and  work 
them  in  with  hoe  or  cultivator.  If  you 
had  enough  of  these  ashes  it  would  he 
better  to  broadcast  and  harrow  in,  but 
with  a  limited  supply  we  should  use  them 
in  the  hill  or  drill.  Do  not  use  these  ash¬ 
es  on  potatoes.  Such  crops  as  cabbage, 
root  crops,  sweet  corn,  melons,  and  most 
other  vegetables  will  respond  to  lime, 
and  the  bulk  of  the  ashes  should  go  on 
these  crops. 
Notes  from  a  Maryland  Garden 
AsrARAors. — G.  B.  F.  writes  interest¬ 
ingly  about  asparagus  (page  1537),  and 
in  the  main  I  agree  with  what  he  says 
if  one  is  going  to  set  roots.  But  I  have 
long  ago  quit  transplanting  asparagus,  as 
I  can  get  the  crop  more  quickly  and 
better  from  sowing  the  seed  right  where 
I  want  the  bed  to  remain  permanently. 
Seven  years  ago,  when  I  bought  my  pres¬ 
ent  garden,  I  was  uncertain  where  to 
locate  the  asparagus  bed,  and  sowed 
some  rows  of  seed  to  he  transplanted  the 
following  year  to  the  permanent  bed. 
This  was  done  the  following  Spring,  but 
in  lifting  the  roots  there  were  several 
plants  accidentally  left  at  one  end  of 
the  row.  Now,  after  seven  years’  growth, 
those  undisturbed  plants  are  still  ruak- 
iug  better  shoots  than  the  transplanted 
ones.  About  40  years  ago,  when  the 
Conover  Colossal  asparagus  was  'nt.ro- 
duced,  I  planted  10,000  roots  for  cut¬ 
ting,  and  the  same  Spring  I  sowed  a 
large  area  of  the  seed  for  nursery  pur¬ 
poses  and  sale.  These  were  sown  in  a 
very  fertile  soil,  and  heavily  manured, 
as  I  wanted  to  produce  the  finest  of  one- 
year  roots  for  sale.  The  following 
Spring  a  large  part  of  these  were  sold 
early  in  the  season,  hut  quite  a  lot  were 
left.  Some  time  after  my  foreman  came 
in  and  said,  “There  is  a  lot  of  asparagus 
in  that  nursery  plot  well  worth  cutting,” 
and  we  did  cut  and  sell  quite  a  lot,  while 
the  transplanted  roots  were  oily  making 
knitting-needle  shoots.  That  set  me  to 
thinking,  and  I  concluded  that  the  shock 
of  the  transplanting  threw  t  ie  growth 
back,  and  that  seed  sown  where  they 
were  to  remain  would  be  better. 
Bkeparing  the  Bed. — Following  up 
this  idea  I  prepared  a  bed,  macing 
trenches  15  inches  deep,  and  filling  tiem 
half  full  of  fine  old  rotten  manure.  A 
light  cover  of  soil  was  added,  aud  seed 
sown  thinly  in  a  row.  As  soon  as  the 
plants  were  a  few  inches  high  they  were 
thinned  to  two  feet  apart  in  the  four- 
foot  rows,  and  the  soil  gradually  worked 
to  them  till  level.  Side  dressings  of  ni¬ 
trate  of  soda  were  added  during  the  Sum¬ 
mer,  and  there  was  a  tremendous  growth. 
The  bed  was  covered  with  manure  in  the 
Fall,  and  the  next  Spring  dug  in.  At 
once  good  shoots  of  asparagus  began  to 
appear  fit  to  cut  in  one  year  from  the 
seed  sowing.  I  cut  very  little  that  sea- 
sou,  as  I  wanted  to  grow  mammoth 
roots.  That  bed  was  again  treated  with 
the  nitrate  of  soda  in  Summer,  and 
proved  to  he  a  wonderfully  productive 
bed.  When  one  can  get  cutting  a  year 
or  more  sooner  by  not  disturbing  the 
roots,  why  should  we  transplant  them  ? 
Not  only  can  we  get  the  shoots  sooner, 
hut  in  the  subsequent  years,  as  shown 
by  the  accidental  experiment  here,  the 
continued  growth  is  better  than  in  the 
transplanted  roots.  Good  asparagus  is 
a  matter  of  feeding  rather  than  variety. 
For  years  I  have  used  the  Palmetto  va¬ 
riety  as  it  seems  more  immune  to  dis¬ 
ease  than  some  others. 
Shallow  Setting. — G.  B.  F.  says  that 
“Some  few  growers  insist  that  only  male 
plants  should  be  sot.”  I  cannot  see  how 
this  can  he  done  in  setting  one-year 
plants  which  have  not  bloomed,  and 
transplanting  two-year  plants  is  not  ad¬ 
visable,  as  the  shock  is  far  greater  to  the 
plants.  In  large  plantations  the  use  of 
good  one-year  roots  may  be  advisable, 
hut  in  the  home  garden  I  would  never 
bother  with  the  greater  expense  of  roots, 
but  would  plant  the  seed  right  where  I 
wanted  the  bed.  One  part  of  the  ad¬ 
vice  of  G.  B.  F.  is  important.  That  is 
never  to  fill  in  all  the  earth  at  once. 
Many  years  ago  I  bought  a  quantity  of 
asparagus  roots  when  I  was  young  and 
inexperienced.  I  planted  them  deeply 
and  covered  them  at  once  full  depth,  and 
that  plantation  was  an  entire  failure, 
for  only  a  straggling  shoot  appeared  here 
and  there;  the  roots  seeming  to  have 
been  Completely  smothered.  I  feel  sure 
that  the  home  gardener  who  tries  the 
method  mentioned  of  growing  directly 
from  seed  will  never  spend  time  and 
money  in  transplanting,  for  it  is  per¬ 
fectly  natural  that  an  undisturbed  root 
will  grow  more  strongly  than  a  trans¬ 
planted  one.  w.  F.  MASSEY. 
Improving  a  Lawn 
My  lawn.  17  years  old,  on  sandy  soil, 
comes  up  well  in  the  Spring  and  early 
Summer,  not  much  clover,  but  after  that 
seems  to  run  out  in  spots,  gets  hnuvn 
very  early.  Treatment  is  to  roll  twice, 
cut  ns  often  as  needed  and  water  fre¬ 
quently  ;  I  think  perhaps  my  soil  is  sour : 
had  been  thinking  of  liming  this  Fall. 
Will  you  advise  me  what  you  think  is 
best  to  do?  C.  A.  c. 
Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Liming  is  commonly  resorted  to  to 
neutralize  the  acid  in  soil  that  is  too  sour 
to  produce  clover,  and  is  very  beneficial 
to  lawns  when  that  condition  is  present. 
Some  advocate  applying  it  in  late  Fall, 
others  claim  to  get  best  results  when  ap¬ 
plied  in  early  Spring.  The  writer  has 
used  it  as  a  lawn  dressing  both  seasons 
with  equally  good  results.  It  may  be 
applied  at  the  rate  of  500  to  1,000  lbs. 
to  the  acre,  air-slaked.  Never  apply  un- 
slalted  lime  to  the  lawn  as  the  heat  gen¬ 
erated  by  the  slaking  may  do  serious  in¬ 
jury  to  the  grass  roots.  The  bare  spots 
may  he  due  to  a  lack  of  sufficient  top  soil 
to  nourish  the  plants  properly.  It  is  sel¬ 
dom  that  a  lawu  is  graded  so  that  a.  uni¬ 
form  depth  of  top  soil  obtains  through¬ 
out,  unless  special  attention  and  care  is 
taken  with  the  object  of  uniformity  of 
depth.  No  lawn  can,  nor  will,  look 
equally  well  all  over,  if  the  top  soil  is 
eight  inches  deep  in  some  parts,  and  six, 
four  aud  two  inches  deep  in  others.  To 
have  a  good  lawn,  the  top  soil  should  be 
of  equal  depth  and  fertility  throughout. 
It  is  a  common  thing  to  see  a  lawn  so 
spotted  that  it  is  an  eyesore  rather  than 
a  thing  of  beauty,  and  in  almost  every 
instance  the  cause  can  be  traced  to  the 
inequality  of  the  depth  of  top  soil  or  fer¬ 
tility  or  both.  I  would  suggest  that  an 
examination  of  the  bare  spots  be  made 
for  soil  depth,  and  if  there  is  less  than 
five  or  six  inches,  that  enough  subsoil  he 
removed  to  admit  a  depth  of  top  soil  of 
at  least  five  inches  (more  would  he  bet¬ 
ter).  Another  point  that  should  not  be 
overlooked  in  the  making  of  a  lawn,  and 
that  is  the  quality  of  the  soil.  A  good 
lawu  cannot  be  grown  on  poor,  thii  soil 
any  more  than  a  good  crop  of  corn  or 
potatoes  can.  The  soil  must  be  fertile, 
sweet,  and  of  nearly  or  quite  equal  depth 
thruoghout.  Otherwise  it  is  seldom  satis¬ 
factory.  .  .  K. 
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