new proprietor
has more progressive ideas than the former one had.

Let the old bed stay, and set out a new one according to rational
methods. Some years ago the writer came into possession of an asparagus
bed which was known to be forty years old, and may have been much older.
It was a solid mass of roots without any distinguishable rows. The
spears produced were so small and tough that the first impulse was to
dig up the roots. But as this proved to be a more formidable task than
was anticipated, another plan was pursued. In autumn the bed was thickly
covered with fine yard manure. The following spring the bed was marked
out into strips of two feet in width. When the sprouts appeared those in
every alternate strip were cut clean off during the entire summer, and
the others allowed to grow. In the autumn of the year another heavy
application of manure was given to the entire bed. The following year
but few shoots appeared in the strips which had been cut all through the
summer. These were treated the same as before, and in the third year not
a sprout appeared in the alleys. The stalks left for use improved
greatly during the first year and the third year were of good
serviceable size and quality, so that even after the new bed, which had
been planted at the time this experiment was commenced, came into
bearing, the old one was retained for several years longer. Probably if
the vacant strips had been made three or four feet wide the result would
have been still better. This experience suggests the idea that the
easiest and least expensive way of exterminating an old asparagus bed is
to persistently mow down all the shoots for a season or two.

X

FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING

Asparagus is a gross feeder. There is hardly another plant in
cultivation upon the vitality of which so great a demand is made. The
cutting of all its sprouts, or shoots, as soon as they appear above the
ground, for several weeks, is an abnormal and enormous tax upon the
plant, which is thus forced to extra exertion in order to reproduce
itself and perpetuate its kind. Therefore, it should have the most
tender care, and an abundance of nourishing and readily available food.
The earliness, tenderness, size, and commercial value of the product
depends principally on the rapidity of its growth, and, as this is
materially promoted by the richness of the soil, it is evident that the
plants should receive all the food they can assimilate duri