nd 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.

BALM.

This is a medicinal plant, very useful, and easily raised. A strong
infusion of the leaves, drank freely for some time by a nervous,
hypochondriacal person, is, perhaps, better than any other medicine. It
is also good in flatulency and fevers.

Its _propagation_ is by slips or roots. It is perennial, affording a
supply for many years. Gather just as the blossoms are appearing, and
dry quickly in a slow oven, or in the shade. Press and do up in white
papers, and keep in a tight, dry drawer, until needed for use.

BARBERRY.

[Illustration: Barberries.]

A prickly shrub, from five to ten feet high, growing wild in this
country and in Europe, on poor, hard soils, or in moist situations, by
walls, stones, or fences.

Its _propagation_ is by seeds, suckers, or offshoots.

This shrub is used for jellies, tarts, pickles, &c. Preserves made of
equal parts of barberry and sweet apples, or outer-part of fine
water-melons, are very superior. It is also one of the best shrubs for
hedge.

The bark has much of the tannin principle, and with the wood, is used
for coloring yellow. Shrub, blossoms, and fruit, are quite ornamental,
forming a beautiful hedge, but rather inclined to spread. Will do well
on any land and in any situ