chives; also parsley, and a collection of herbs, without which no garden is complete.
The herbs are placed here because they require a soil especially prepared for them, by the addition of either fine sand or sifted coal ashes, to make it mellow and dry.
ASPARAGUS.
Asparagus, one of the best and earliest of spring vegetables, would be in universal use, but for the prevalent though erroneous idea that it is difficult to grow. Being a gross feeder, the soil can scarcely be too rich. Although the process of deep trenching is now being discarded, yet, to attain the best result it is necessary that a large quantity of rotted manure be worked into the bed, to a depth of at least 18 inches. Instead of losing two years’ time by raising plants from seed, send and get strong two-year old plants early in spring. Set these in the prepared bed, 18 inches apart each way, and about six inches deep. Give frequent and thorough cultivation, and as soon as the tops are ripe in fall, cut off and burn them, to prevent the nuisance of seedling asparagus about the garden. Next spring, and for at least fifteen years after, the bed should give a full crop, and should have a heavy dressing of manure put on each fall, which should be spaded in before the shoots appear in spring, together with a sprinkling of three pints of salt per square rod.
To facilitate gathering, make the bed of such a width as that the centre can be reached from both
