Januaky 27. 
thp: cottage gardener. 
325 
times three in a sheath, and sometimes only one. The 
latter peculiarity induced Dr. Torrey, and even Captain 
Fremont, to name it P. monopliylla, or the One-leaved 
Pine, which, had that circumstance been constant, would 
have been very appropriate. The seeds are large and 
eatable, so pleasant and wholesome that they form a 
large portion of food of the Indians who reside where it 
grows. The cones are produced plentifully, and there¬ 
fore it would be a desirable addition to our fruit-bearing 
trees in this country. The Indians call it the Nut Pine, 
and these (the nuts) ai’e said to be of a pleasant almond¬ 
like flavour. As yet it is rather scarce, but will, no 
doubt, soon be abundant, as it is hardy enough to pro¬ 
duce its delicious nuts in this country. It is a low- 
growing tree, averaging about twenty feet high. 
PiNus Halepensis (Aleppo Pine).—As this is a native 
of Syria, it is not quite hardy in the northern parts of 
the island, but bears our winters well in the southern 
counties. It is, perhaps, the most elegant of all Pines, 
and wherever it will exist should be cultivated. It is 
even worthy of a jilace in a conservatory. It grows 
rapidly, and is a somewhat low-spreading tree. 
Pinos inops (Poor or New Jersey Pine).—Often mis¬ 
taken for P. niitis, but its leaves ai'e shorter, and it is 
not so handsome in habit. T. Appleby. 
(To he continued^) 
MAKING ASPARAGUS BEDS. 
There are, doubtless, many gardens where the im¬ 
portant work connected with the raising of permanent 
crops will have been retarded by the unusual wet season 
we have had; and, in some instances, we fear the press 
of other duties in the spring months will prevent many 
things being done which were contemplated early in 
autumn; this, of course, relates only to such jobs as can, 
without any great sacrifice, be put off until another 
year. But there are some operations which can be as 
well done in spring as autumn, and amongst that num¬ 
ber is the formation of Asparagus beds. 
In many gardens, situated in districts uncongenial 
to healthy, vigorous vegetables, the production of this 
one in good condition is anything but an easy matter, 
delighting as it does in the deep, rich, alluvial soils 
found in the valleys flanking many of our rivers, 
and similar jilaces where the accumulated richness 
of the adjoining heights had, through countless ages, 
poured their treasures into the flat below, has cer¬ 
tainly given the locality a character and combination 
which we in vain may look for in any mechanically- 
contrived soil, which we, by mixing opposite sub¬ 
stances, may substitute for it. But it becomes the 
thinking cultivator to consider what can be done to 
render them as productive as possible; and we all know 
how much has been done under such adverse circum¬ 
stances, that we may yet hope to see the difficulties 
attending the growth of really good Asparagus overcome, 
when our knowledge of the laws relating to soils and 
their component parts shall enable us to present each 
individual with its own particular mixture. Now this 
part of our craft has certainly not been very successful 
yet in the culture of Asparagus, as I have seen beds that 
had been trenched a yard deep, and brushwood, stones, 
and other drainage, buried in the bottom by waggon 
loads, and all to no purpose. The Asparagus certainly 
did not perish wholesale, but it did so piecemeal, after 
producing for a very few years some few heads of very 
indifferent Asparagus. That there was something radi¬ 
cally wrong in the matter, was evident to every one; 
but that it was not owing to the want of manure and 
other enriching substances accorded to the beds with a 
liberal hand; but somehow, the mere adding of cart¬ 
load after cart-load of good useful dung, both fresh and 
decomposed, is still unable to afford this vegetable that 
description of food it is by nature adapted to assimilate, 
and consequently valuable matter is needlessly thrown 
away. Now, though it may appear feasible that a plant, 
like the Asparagus, producing such a quantity of fresh 
roots every year, and sending them to seek food every 
year to the same place their predecessors did the year 
before, must necessarily, sooner or later, exhaust that 
spot of those ingredients most suited to its growth; but 
somehow, the requirements of the plant is such, tliat 
merely adding large quantities of manure on the top of 
the beds every autumn, for the rains to wash the juices 
down to the roots, is not the way to afford the latter the 
food most in accordance with its wants. Much of it is 
necessarily washed below the action of the roots, if the 
soil be at all of that porous kind the Asparagus delights 
in ; if it be not, the result will be equally unsuccessful; 
because a heavy, tenacious soil, that is retentive of 
water, will never produce this vegetable in good condi¬ 
tion. Now, though we do not deny but that dung so 
placed on old asparagus beds, and its juices, by the rains 
of winter, allowed to filter through the stratum of soil 
forming the beds, may do some good, yet we cannot 
regard it as the most profitable way of supplying food to 
the plant, because the latter does not require it at the time 
it is offered; consequently, it is easy to infer that much 
of it must necessarily be lost. As the action of the roots 
of the plant and that of its top arc reciprocal, it follows, 
that when food is administered, it ought to be at such 
times as these important agents of the plant’s welfare 
may benefit themselves to the full extent of the quantity 
given, which, of course, every one knows is in summer; 
therefore, to those who wish to excel in the production 
of this vegetable, we say, supply it liberally with liquid- 
manure during the summer mouths, and now and then 
add a little salt to it; by this means the roots will 
receive all the benefit of the substance applied at the 
time they require it most; but, as the present and 
forthcoming season is the one suited to the formation of 
new beds, a few words on the subject will, perhaps, 
not be out of place. 
In those gardens where the soil consists of only a 
thin stratum resting on an impervious clay, or hungry 
sand or gravel, where vegetation is simply made to 
flourish by excessive applications of dung, &c., on such 
soils some extensive operation must take place if good 
Asparagus be required, because the depth of good staple 
soil it requires demands that as one of the primary con¬ 
ditions to insure success; but the treatment of ground 
resting on retentive clay must be diflerent from tliat on 
porous matter; the latter, parting quickly with super¬ 
abundant moisture, must be removed to make way for a 
stifier substance. The practice is this: a plot of ground 
having been fixed on for the intended beds, first remove 
all the surface-soil that is good, then the inferior portion, 
to such a depth as will allow a cavity of not less than 
two feet good, or, if two-and-a-half, so much the better. 
The bottom of this excavation we expect to bo sand or 
gravel, porous to an undue degree. Now, on this thirsty 
substance, I would place clay, or retentive loam, to the 
depth of throe inches, which would arrest the descent of the 
moisture, while, at the same time, the demands for water 
below would suck sulRcient from it to prevent its ever 
becoming soddened by too much moisture. The materials 
for the bed may then be put in at once, taking care to 
have a sufficient quantity of a stiffish kind of soil in the 
compost, because the imported portion will eventually 
assume the character of that to which it is annexed; 
it is better, therefore, to supply it with those ingi-edients 
which are most slow in effecting that change, while a 
sufficiency of dung and other things ought likewise to 
be supplied, so as to entice a vigorous growth to the 
plants when first planted there. In the compost used, 
it would be better for all the ingredients to be mixed 
