24 
THE FLOKIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[Feervahy, 
blanching material (decayed dung mixed with, 
light soil and free from stones), •which I have 
drawn up to the plants just previous to their 
showing above ground, and again in about 
ten days, from 3 to 4 inches being added on 
each occasion. All my plants were one year 
old from seed at the time of planting. 
There is a tendency in the Early Argenteuil 
variety to produce a second or autumn growth. 
Thus in 1881, not only would it have been 
possible to have had asparagus in September, 
before the summer growth was cut away and 
the beds received their winter dressing, but 
again on the 21st of December I cut some 
good heads, attributable, doubtless, partly to 
the season ; but I have noticed the second 
growth in a less degree in previous years. In 
1882 asparagus showed at the Experimental 
Garden as early as the 15th of March, and on 
the 6th of April cutting commenced in earnest, 
and continued only to the end of May. As 
many as seven or eight large heads at a time 
have been taken from plants put out singly. 
A winter dressing of decayed dung is annu¬ 
ally applied, and last year early in spring a 
moderate application of salt and nitrate of 
soda was given, tried on different plants; but 
as the latter is considerably more expensive, I 
shall in future use salt, there being apparently 
no corresponding advantage in the use of the 
nitrate. The soil, which is a sandy loam 
resting on a subsoil of sand or gravel, received 
at planting time no other treatment beyond 
being well and deeply manured as for any 
ordinary crop ; but, of course, this treatment 
would not apply to ground of a heavy character 
or with a wet subsoil. After cutting ceases 
the plants are well secured to stout stakes, as 
the growth made is very strong and rapid, 
mostly from 6 feet to 8 feet in height, and un¬ 
less prompt attention be given to the support 
of the plants they will be materially injured by 
the winds. 
The ground between the plants on the single 
system may be utilised for early cauliflowers 
or some other crop for the first two years. In 
France these hillocks of asparagus are grown 
amongst vines and haricot beans, but then 
greater space still is allowed between the 
plants. After the second year the shade from 
the asparagus, when it makes its full summer 
growth, is too great for most crops, but I 
think seed onions might be profitably grown 
the third season, as they would not interfere 
largely with the root growth of the asparagus, 
which eventually will take full possession of 
the intervening spaces to a great depth. 
The flavour and quality of the Early 
Argenteuil variety is all that can be desired, 
but I have an impression that the flavour of 
asparagus generally depends more upon its 
growth and after treatment than upon the 
variety; flavour must, however, always be a 
matter of opinion, and so must the question 
of green or white asparagus. Personally, I 
much prefer the well-blanched deeply-cut 
growth, of which, if made rapidly in warm 
weather, every particle will not only be eatable, 
but much superior to the ordinary green 
asparagus usually seen in local markets. The 
plants, too, are not drawn upon so much as 
when a considerable underground growth is 
allowed to be wasted, and from observation I 
feel sure that if the heads be allowed to get 
much above ground before being gathered the 
productive powers of the plant for the season 
will be materially lessened. The blanched 
growth of asparagus requires considerably 
more cooking than the time usually accorded 
to this vegetable, and for want of this much 
of the white growth otherwise highly flavoured, 
is wasted. —Thomas Laxton, in Journal of 
Horticulture. 
BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 
I HE following hints relating to this useful 
and popular esculent, from the Gar- 
offp dener (1882, 111), are here reproduced, 
as being at this season very opportune. 
“To be certain of success the seed must be 
sown early, and the plants well established as 
early in the season as possible. We sow seed 
thinly on a slight hotbed at the end of Feb¬ 
ruary or early in March, taking care to keep 
the seedlings as sturdy as possible. When well 
hardened off by exposure to all but very severe 
frosts, the plants are freely thinned out, the 
thinnings being pricked out about 4 inches 
apart in light soil, in a somewhat sheltered 
position, say near a south-west wall. Those 
left on the seed-bed were planted last season 
during the first week in May, those pricked 
out being transplanted, with good balls of soil 
attached, about three weeks later. 
