HOW TO RAISE COLOSSAL ASPARAGUS.
BY T. B., NEW YORK.
The following method of raising Colossal Asparagus was written in 1846, but is just as true and to the point to-day as then. We copy it for the benefit of our readers who wish to raise an extra fine article, and because his remarks upon cutting the shoots so fully corroborate the suggestions we ventured to give on this point at page 40. Our author says:
“About the first of November, or as soon as the frost has well blackened the Asparagus tops, I take a scythe and mow them close down to the surface of the bed, let it lie a day or two, then set fire to the heap of stalks, burn it to ashes and spread the ashes over the surface of the bed. I then go to my barn-yard, take a load of clean, fresh stable manure, and add thereto half a bushel of hen-dung, turning over and mixing the whole together throughout. I apply one such load to every twenty feet in length of my Asparagus beds, which are six feet wide. With a strong three-pronged spade or fork, I dig this dressing under. In the Spring, as early as possible, I turn the top of the bed over lightly once more, and cover the surface about a quarter of an inch thick with fine packing salt; it is not too much. As the Spring rains come down it gradually dissolves. Not a weed will appear during the whole season, but it would do your eyes good to see the strong, stout, tender stalks of the vegetable itself, pushing through the surface. I do not at all stretch a point when I say that they are often as large round as my hoe handle, and as tender and succulent as any I ever tasted. The same round of treatment is given to my bed every year.
“I have a word to say about cutting Asparagus and then I am done. Market gardeners, and I believe a good many other people, cut Asparagus as soon as the point of the shoot pushes an inch or two through the ground. They have then about two inches of what grows above ground and from four to six inches of what grows below. The latter looks white and tempting; I suppose people think that because the white part of celery is tender the white part of Asparagus must be too. But it is as tough as a stick, and this is the reason why people, when it is boiled, always are forced to eat only the tops, and leave the bottom of the shoots on their plates. My way is never to cut any of the shoots below the surface of the ground. Cut it as soon as it has grown to proper height, say five or six inches above ground. The whole is then green, but it is all tender, it will melt in your mouth.”
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