1 Szpr., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 38238 
Horticulture. 
ASPARAGUS. 
This delicious vegetable may be planted from the present month to October. 
Up to a very late period it was considered that to grow asparagus successfully 
it was necessary to dig a deep pit and fill it full of manure, sowing the seed on 
the surface. This idea is now completely exploded. Such a bed is not at all 
necessary. If the bed be well dug or trenched and well manured, this is all 
that is necessary. If seed be sown, it will take three years to bring an asparagus 
bed into full production. The best plan is therefore to purchase plants, by 
which means two cropless years are saved. The plants should be quite fresh, 
and should be planted immediately, as they lose much initial vigour by being 
allowed to become dry. 
Tue Pray. 
The plant is very hardy as far as regards frost and sun, but it cannot with- 
stand excessive moisture or stagnant soils. It prefers 
Sanpy Sor anp Perrect DRArNnace. 
Tt will also sueceed well in chalk or calcareous soils. Deep, alluvial, sandy, 
soils, devoid of water-deposits below, it thrives in perfectly, if they are well 
worked up and liberally manured. It must always be borne in mind that the 
crop is a permanent one, which once properly planted will last for ten or twelve 
years. Therefore never plant asparagus on a damp, tenacious, water-logged 
soil. 
: Formine Bens. 
Beds may be formed by hand or horse labour. With the latter the very 
deepest four-horse ploughing is necessary. None but the very best well-rotted 
manure should be used, and that very liberally. Let it be properly buried by 
placing it in the furrows with a fork. Before ploughing, however, it is well to 
spread a good quantity over the surface. The soil should lie closely together, 
therefore the land should be at once got into good order to be ready for the 
plants by September or October, and a month before planting. The plants 
should be grown in rows. The minimum distance between the rows should not 
be less than 3 feet. 
Sowrne SEEDS AND TRANSPLANTING. 
There is something to be said in favour of both plans of establishing an 
asparagus bed. One or two year old plants give the quickest results, and, as 
already stated, obviate a cropless season or two, not to speak of the avoidance 
of the expense of keeping the ground clean for two or three years. Against 
these advantages it must be said that plants grown from seed are more vigorous, 
robust, endurable, and best cropping. When plants are dug up and broken, 
they lose some of their vigour and are rarely replaced in the new bed in the 
same position which they previously occupied in the old, and this is of greater 
importance than is thought. They have lost their primitive grip of the soil, and 
their future connection with it is an artificial one, and not at all beneficial to 
their well-being. 
Time FOR Sowine. 
The best time to sow the seed or to transplant the crowns is between the 
middle of August and the first week in September, although planting may be 
continued until October. The frosts will then be no longer a source of danger 
to the tender plants. When raising from seed, it is as well to sow sufficient to 
ensure an even plant when thinning out. The customary depth to sow in seed 
beds is 1 inch, but under row culture, where there are not the same means of 
packing soil over the crowns, the seeds should be sown at not less than 2 inches 
