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Show ASPARAGUS. S Growing the Plants. B Asparagus plants can the easily H grown from the seed' in one or two M years time. If you arc in no hurry jH this is the best plan, but of course if OK you wish to get a bed started in a H short time, it is better to buy the gH plants of some seedsman or nursery- H man, as you can thus save a yc'ar or w two in time. Plant the seed very nfi early in the spring, the earlier the t9 better, in rows a foot apart. As the JB seed is slow to sprout it is a good V plan to mix in a few radish seed, as "B they will come up xarly and make m the row and you can tend and keep ,9 the weeds down while you are waiting H for the asparagus to come up. J The little asparagus plants are very I small at first and you should look fl carefully in wtceding or you will pull them up. As soon as the asparagus' ' J shows, take out the radishes or thcy.jfr. ,vW l4 11 r .. .. f5 111 will crowd it out. M Keep well tended and free from 1 weeds, in fact tend just like you would a bed of onions from seed. The plants grow all summer and can be dug in the fall and stored in the cellar cel-lar or left in the ground till spring. Early in the spring take up the J plants and set them where they arc E wanted, first putting the bed in the ' best of condition. Spade it up very I deep and work it up fine. It is a good 1 plan to work in a lot of well-rotted a manure to make the soil loose and 1 rich. A tolerably moist place is good, 1 but that is not important. Better choose the place that will be most convenient and fix the ground to suit. You can't make it too rich. Mark out the rows from two to four feet apart and set the plants two f or three to the foot in row. Set about four inches deep just about like you would raspoejry plants. Cover all over with dirt. The plants are easy to live and if theyjirc covered with dirt they arc almost, sure to come well. ' v Keep well tended the first season like you would potatoes. Hoe or cultivate cul-tivate just as suits you best. In the fall cover all over with manure deep enough so that weeds cannot come up through it. If any weeds show through in the spring put onjmore B manure. Keep this up every season B and you will have no more trouble B with the bed. The asparagus will B come up 'through any amount of man- B urc. You can begin cutting the scc- B oiul season and from then on the bed B will get better every year for a long B time and is a permanent affair. The H Fruit Grower. |