e loam and an open
situation. We have grown immense crops on a strong deep clay, but it is
not a clay plant, because it soon suffers from any excess of moisture.
To prepare the ground well for this crop is a matter of importance, for
it roots freely and makes an immense top-growth, reaching, when very
vigorous, a height of ten or twelve feet. Trench and manure in autumn,
and leave the land rough for the winter. Plant in February or March,
using whole or cut sets with about three eyes to each, and put them in
trenches six inches deep and three feet apart, the sets being one foot
apart in the trenches. When the plants appear, hoe the ground between,
draw a little fine earth to the stems, and leave the rest to Nature.
Take up a portion of the crop in November and store in sand and dig the
remainder when wanted, as recommended in the case of Parsnips. The
tubers must be dug with a fork by opening trenches and cleaning out
every scrap of the roots, for whatever remains will grow and become
troublesome in the following season.

==ASPARAGUS==

==Asparagus officinalis==

Asparagus is a liliaceous plant of perennial duration, and it demands
more generous treatment than the majority of Kitchen Garden crops. Under
favourable conditions it improves with age to such an extent as to
justify the best possible cultivation. Plantations that have stood and
prospered for twenty or even thirty years are not uncommon, but a fair
average term is ten years, after which it is generally advisable to
break up a bed, the precaution being first taken to secure a succession
bed on fresh soil well prepared for the purpose. Plantations are made
either by sowing seeds or from transplanted roots; and although roots
are extremely sensitive when moved, success can, as a rule, be insured
by special care and prompt action, assuming that the proper time of year
is chosen for the operation. The advantage of using roots is the saving
of time, and in most gardens this is an important consideration.
Fortunately roots may be planted almost as safely when two or three
years old as at one year.

==Soil.==--Asparagus will grow in any soil that is well cultivated; a deep
rich sandy loam being especially suitable. Calcareous soil is by no
means unfavourable to Asparagus; still, a sand rich in humus is not the
less to be desired, as the finest samples of European growth are the
produce of the districts around Paris and Brussels. The London
Asparagus, which is p