Asparagus

Mr. F. D. Curtís tells in a íTew York paper how he manages to raise good aaparagusata small cost. He says: "l'nneeessarily elabórate direcLions for making things after an expensive fashion often deter busy people from liaving tliem. This is especially true in the matter of asparagus. ïhe f uss of the fanciful amateur discourages farmers, and therefore very man y oí them go without this delicious 'early greens.' Our bed at Kirby Homestead ia a dozen years old and cost for the roots $1, and eaeh year it helps to make spi ing more welcome by its abundant yield. ïhe planta are set a foot apart in a spot of ground out of the way and dry and warm. It was made rich with manure, and every fall a load of horse manure is spread on the bed, and when a weed makes its appearance it is pulled out. The, manure in the fall protects the crowns of the plants from the cold and makes a mulcli for the plants to come up through, and at the same time is an annual fertilizer. Fifty cents each year wiil cover all of the expense our asparagus bed is to us, and it is good for a cutting every other day for a inonth or longer. The variety is Coover's Colossal, hardy and excellent, but it should not be set closely if mammotli sterns are expected ; two feet apart is near enough for big specimens, and sixteen incoes is better than a foot. The bed should not be cut the iirst year after setting. A bed can be raised from the seed whicli will be ready to cut the third year. The seed should be planted in hills sixteen inches apart, and the young plants kept clear from weeds and the ground kept mellow. We raised a bed once írom the seed, but had to dig it up, owing to changing the grounds; and this reminds me that a spot for an asparagus bed should always be selected which will not be likely to be disturbed, and the bed, with the care we giveours, will last through a great many generations. It is a nice legacy for one's children and grandchildren, I have known of beds in flourishingcondition a hundred years old - surely a pleasant reminder of the tlioughtfulness of ancestors."