This is a universal favorite in the vegetable garden. By the application
of sand and compost, the soil should be kept loose, to allow the sprouts
to spring easily from the crowns. Propagation is best effected by seed,
transplanting after one year's growth. Older roots divided and
transplanted are of some value, but not equal to young roots, nor will
they last as long.
_Preparation of the soil_ for an asparagus-bed is most important to
success. Dig a trench on one edge of the plat designed for the bed, and
the length of it, eighteen inches wide and two feet deep. Put in the
bottom one foot of good barn-yard manure, and tread down. Then spade
eighteen inches more, by the side of and as deep as the other, throwing
the soil upon the manure in the trench. Fill with manure and proceed as
before, and so until the whole plat has been trenched; then wheel the
earth from the first ditch to the other side and fill into the last
trench, thus making all level. If there is danger that water will stand
in the bottom, drain by a blind ditch. If this is objected to as too
expensive, let it be remembered that such a bed, with a little annual
top-dressing, will be good for twenty years, which is the age at which
asparagus-plants begin to deteriorate; then a new bed should be ready to
take its place.
_Planting._--Mark the plat into beds five feet wide, leaving paths two
feet wide between them. In each bed put four rows lengthwise, which will
be just fifteen inches apart, and set plants fifteen inches apart in the
row. Dig a trench six inches wide and six inches deep for each row; put
an inch of rich mould in the bottom; set the plants on the mould, with
the roots spread naturally, with the ends pointing a little downward. Be
very particular about the position of the roots. Fill the trench, and
round it up a little with well-mixed soil and fine manure. The bed is
then perfect, and will improve for many years.
_After-Culture._--In the fall, after the frost has killed the stalks,
cut them down and burn them on the bed. Cover the bed with fine rotted
manure, to the depth of two inches, and one half-bushel salt to each
square rod. As soon as frost is out in spring, with a fork work the
top-dressing into the soil to the depth of four inches, and stir the
soil to the depth of eight inches between the rows, using care not to
touch the crowns of the roots with the fork.
_Cutting_ should never be performed until the third year. Set out the
plants when one year old, let them grow one year in the bed, and the
next year they will be fit to cut. Cut all the shoots at a suitable age,
up to the last days of June. The shoots should be regularly cut just
below the surface, when they are four or six inches high. If you are
tempted to cut after the 25th of June, leave two or three thrifty shoots
to each root, to grow up for seed, or you will weaken the plants, and
they will die in winter. This is the reason why so many vacancies are
seen in many asparagus beds. This plant may be forced in hotbeds, so as
to yield an abundance of good shoots long before they will start in the
open air, affording an early luxury to those who can afford it.
This vegetable is equal or superior to green peas, and by taking all the
pains recommended above, in the beginning, an abundance can be raised
for twenty years, on the same bed, at a very trifling cost. Early
radishes and other vegetables can be raised, between the rows, without
any harm to the asparagus.