154 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ October, 
a grand lot of rubbish, from some buildings 
that were in process of demolition. This was 
knocked over, and the large stuff wheeled 
away as metal for roads, the woody stuff went 
towards the chimneys, and the mixture of 
plaster, mortar, sand, and small broken brick 
remained as the raw material for the manufac¬ 
ture of Asparagus. 
This stuff being laid in convenient ridges, 
the top spit of grass turf was taken off on a 
space of 66 ft. long by 14 ft. wide, leaving an 
ample margin for two 4-ft. beds and a 2-ft. 
alley between. But the margin was none too 
much, as you will see. Then we brought to 
the spot all the old leaf-soil, and clearings of 
melon pits, and scrapings of turf from odd 
corners—a sort of indefinite infinity of all 
kinds of rubbish, but every bit containing 
something suitable to feed a plant. All these 
things—the top turf, the calcareous rubbish, 
the leaves, and the sweepings—were thrown 
together methodically, and the mixture made 
a great raised bed, looking very grey and stony, 
except where chips of live turf stood out, to 
make a few dots of greenness. 
This being accomplished in the month of 
March, the new bed was at once planted with 
Ashleaf Potatos ; while, on the other side, in 
the sheltered garden, the Asparagus to follow 
the Potatos was making a beginning of its 
noble career. The Potatos were a grand crop. 
When September arrived and the “ taturs ’’ 
were gone, the new big bed was well stirred 
over, and some fat dung was laid in the trenches 
as the work went on. All being made tidy, 
the ground was pegged out to form two beds 
of 4 ft. each, with a 2-ft. alley between ; and 
then we made shallow furrows for the plants. 
These were taken carefully, so as to leave the 
seed-bed well occupied, to furnish plants for the 
next year without need for another sowing. In 
planting, we put single plants in their places, 
and slightly covered them with the finest of 
the stuff near at hand ; and when this was done, 
the earth from the alleys and outsides and ends 
was strewn over and amongst them, all lumps 
and stones being thrown out, and the bed was 
then raked over and the rows carefully trodden, 
to firm the plants in their places. 
As regards distances, we began with a line 
down the centre of each bed, and plants at 18 
inches’ distance. From this, each way was a 
line 15 inches distant, and plants 18 inches 
apart. Thus, the two outside rows were 9 
inches distant from the alleys, and the plants 
throughout were 18 inches by 15 inches 
apart, every one carefully singled in the pro¬ 
cess. They were green when planted, and 
so continued for a month, when they were done 
brown and were cut down, and the work of the 
season came to an end in the laying-on of a 
thick top-coat of fat dung, that had been saved 
for the purpose under cover. 
Early in the subsequent spring the ground 
was very carefully pricked over between the 
rows, and very thin sowings of Radishes and 
Lettuces were made ; these were removed from 
time to time, either as weeds or as crop. Where 
a lettuce stood near an Asparagus crown, he 
had to take flight, along with a groundsel or a 
chickweed; but enough remained to pay the 
rent, and came to perfection, and did no harm. 
We did not cut a stick the second year, but we 
cut fairly the third year, and greatly the fourth ; 
and, except for the circumstances that bring 
mundane things within finite measures, we 
might have gone on cutting our sticks for ever. 
For three years we continued to lift plants 
from the original seed-bed to furnish the new 
bearing beds that were made each spring, and 
having borne a crop of Potatos, were planted 
with Asparagus in September. The manage¬ 
ment never varied, except that, as we found 
the growth very strong, we gave the plants a 
distance of 2 ft. in the rows, still keeping to 
the 15-in. measure between them. A dressing 
of fat dung was put on the top, after cutting 
down in autumn, and we soon learned to give 
another dressing in spring, which was peculiarly 
beneficial, and must have a paragraph to itself. 
It is not the rule to protect Asparagus. Now, 
our lower garden at Hermitage was blessed in 
spring with a strong supply of pure air from 
the hyperborean regions. When a frosty wind 
swept over the marshy meadows and slid 
through the rising grass like a flash of lightning 
with a razor-edge, I used to notice that many 
a fine stick just rising would be cut off, and 
many that followed were flinty in their hard¬ 
ness, owing to the check to growth from the 
sudden onslaught of the east wind. And so I 
had a great sweep-up made of all kinds of light 
rubbish. Rough grass was cut from neglected 
corners of the shrubbery, leaves and sweepings 
