The plants are generally raised with a narrow-pronged fork, to avoid cutting the roots; and when they are taken up, the roots are kept in a little earth, or covered with a mat, till replanted, being very apt to sustain injury from drying, or being too much exposed to the air. A trench about six inches deep being prepared, the roots are care fully laid in, a foot distant from each other, the buds or crowns being kept upright, and about two inches below the sui face. A foot between each ordinary trench is reckon ed sufficient ; but between every four rows a double dis tance is It. ft for an alley. Some plant in single rows, at tss o feet and a half, or perhaps three feet apai t ; and this is by many experienced asparagus farmers considered as better than the bed form.
It is a general rule, that, in dry weather, the new planted beds or rows should be carefully watered. With attention to this rule, asparagus may be transplanted at a later period of the season than March or April. From the Scots Hor ticultural Memoirs, (Vol. i. p. 71.) we learn that this opera 4 I tion has been very successfully performed at midsummer. The plants were at that time fourteen months old, and from twelve to fifteen inches high. Being removed with care, and well watered, none of them failed ; on the contrary, they gained considerably on those left in the seedbed. Next spring the remainder of the seedlings were planted out, but many of them failed, while the midsummer planta tion continued to grow vigorously, and far surpassed those that survived of the spring planting.
354. Another mode of propagating asparagus is follow ed by some cultivators. They sow the seeds in the spot where the roots are to remain, either by dibbling holes about half an inch deep, and at a foot distant, and dropping two seeds into each hole, for fear of one failing ; or making drills an inch deep, and three feet asunder, and sowing rather thickly, so as to insure a crop, and afterwards thinning out, at first to five or six inches, and ultimately to nine or ten. In this way, it is thought, stronger plants are produced.
It is a common practice to take a crop of onions along with the. drilled seedling asparagus ; and likewise to plant rows of cauliflower, or sow drills of carrot or turnip, between the lines of transplanted asparagus the first year.
Several hoeings are given in the course of the summer, generally three. In the end .of September, or beginning of October, the haulm decays, and is cut over ; alt the refuse is dug into the alleys, and the superfluous earth thus acquir ed is often spread over the beds to the depth of an inch or more, which is called landing up. Frequently small dung,
or perhaps seaweed, is spread on the beds, and this is ac counted the better practice ; the surface being previously stirred with a fork, so as to allow the juices of the manure washed down by the rains to be readily imbided.
In the spring dressing of the beds, the intervals are slightly delved over. For this purpose, the narrow prong ed fork, already mentioned, is generally employed, being much less apt to injure the roots. This dressing is given just before the buds begin to appear, and the raking re quires some delicacy of hand.
The same practice, both for the autumn and spring, is observed for the second year; it being only in the third year after planting out, or the fourth from the seed, that cutting for use is begun. In April, a few shoots may generally be cut; in May and June they come rapidly and copiously. In the first productive season, only the large buds or shoots are taken, the smaller being left to spring up and draw strength to the plants. In subsequent years all the shoots are gathered as they advance, till the end of June or begin ning of July. A common rule is, to cease to cut, or to let asparagus spin, (grow up,) when green peas come in. With due attention, an asparagus quarter may be kept in a productive state for ten years or more. In cutting the shoots for use, some of the earth is removed, in order to enable the gatherer to avoid the succeeding buds below. Some use a common gardener's knife, and others employ a narrow-pointed knife, with its blade notched like a saw. Shoots two inches under the ground, and three or four above, make the best dishes of asparagus. The crop, if judiciously cut, may last nearly three months ; from the middle of April to the middle of July. An asparagus quarter should not contain less than a pole of ground, as it often needs this quantity to furnish a good dish at one time. For a large family about sixteen roods are kept in a pro ductive state, which are calculated to furnish, on an aver age, between 200 and 300 shoots every day in the height of the season. Several of the market gardeners in the neighbourhood of London have many acres of aspara gus ground, as mentioned in a former part of this article, 38.