The planting should never be performed when the ground is wet; and it is much better to wait for a dry time, even if the plants should shoot a few inches, than to work the ground as has been described for planting, when it is in a wet state. This of course applies with more force to heavy damp soils. Boards should be laid across the ground, so that treading on the soil while the operation of planting is going on be avoided.

As the operation is proceeded with, strong stakes should be driven into the ground along the rows, and rails of wood nailed along them in the shape of a fence, about 3 1/2- feet high; the first rail at 18 inches from the ground, and the other at the top of the stakes. These are intended for the Asparagus to be tied to, to prevent its being broken by the wind. Few plants are so easily injured by wind as Asparagus. When the top gets about a couple of feet high and begins to expand its foliage, winds lay hold of it and break it off from the ground, and the consequence is the ruination of the stools for another year. Every precaution should therefore be taken to guard against this evil. I have sometimes, when rails and posts were scarce, staked the rows with dwarf Pea stakes, which, though unsightly, answer very well.

The summer treatment consists of keeping the ground free from weeds, and taking care that the plants do not receive a check from drought. It is a good plan, when the summer proves dry, to give a good soaking with manure or guano water, and then cover the surface with litter. I have sometimes used short grass, which, excepting that it breeds weeds, answers very well.

When quite ripe in autumn the tops should be cut off close to the ground, the rough part of the mulching material and all weeds removed, and two inches of good rich manure spread over the whole surface of the ground, covering the line of plants especially well. Nothing more is then necessary till spring, when the manure used as a dressing in autumn is drawn away from the rows with a rake into the space between, when it is gently pricked into the soil with a fork, not going too'deep to injure the roots. Before this forking-in process is performed, the soil is drawn back carefully from the crowns and a dressing of fresh well-spent manure put in its place, and over it the soil is returned. This should not be to a greater depth than about three inches, manure and soil together. This winter and spring treatment applies as much to after years as to the first after planting. The plan sometimes practised, of throwing out the soil from the alleys on to the surface of the beds in autumn, serves no purpose, except that of letting the frost act upon the roots at the sides of the bed.

Two or three inches is covering sufficient for all purposes, and as this is a vegetable that is not easily overdone with manure, the best covering is good rich manure.

If all does well, the second year's growth is a strong one, and every shoot should be allowed to grow. No good comes of cutting it the second year, and even the third the cutting should be moderate, and not continued later than the end of May. Sea-weed forms an excellent manure for Asparagus in after years, and, where it can be procured, may be liberally applied as a covering for winter, and also as a mulching in summer. This, of course, can only be practised on the sea-board, but common salt is an excellent substitute, and sprinklings of it can be occasionally applied. And where the soil is really porous and suitable for this vegetable, liberal doses of the draining of dung-heaps, guano, and such stimulants, may be applied regularly in summer with much benefit.

The French system of putting a heavy covering of earth or manure over the crowns in spring, with the view of blanching the stalks, cannot be too severely condemned; and that which appears in the markets of London thick and white with a green tip - the only eatable portion - is as tough and worthless as a piece of sash-line. The blanching by this process only renders all the blanched portion unfit for using. It is only when it is nice and green from exposure to light and air that it is eatable at all, for no human being can masticate the white parts of it. When about 6 to 7 inches above ground it is in good order for the table. In cutting it, some leave a few of the growths from the very commencement; but I would recommend to cut all that comes up fit for table while the season lasts. It is injurious to continue cutting later than the end of the first week in June - it weakens the crowns, and in time ruins them.

Asparagus is one of the few vegetables that forces with great ease, but from the expense of cultivating it and getting it in a good state for forcing, it will always remain a high-priced vegetable in winter and early spring, when it is much prized by all who can procure it. In some gardens there are beds constructed with hot-water pipes for bottom and top heat, and with movable glass coverings; the same beds can be forced for years in succession. The general way of forcing is to carefully lift 4 or 5-year-old healthy crowns, and to pack them closely into mild hotbeds of leaves and dung in olden times, but now more frequently into hot-water pits. It being one of the easiest and simplest of plants to force, any one who can make a hotbed of leaves or manure that will afford a gentle bottom-heat, needs no more in the way of appliances to have forced Asparagus. The roots are packed close together, with some fine light rich soil below and about them, and covering them about an inch. Neither top nor bottom heat must be violent, or the heads will be weak; 55° of a night temperature is enough. Light and air are essential to get nice green colour, and as natural a flavour as is possible. In spring the lights should be drawn entirely off and air let in all night.

When forcing is regularly carried on, it is of course necessary to plant as much every year as is required for forcing to keep up a succession in a good bearing and forcing condition; otherwise, a planting of Asparagus on a congenial soil lasts for years.