Farm and Garden.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 46, 9 December 1871, Page 8

Farm and Garden.

CULTURE oF ASPARAGUS. Ilenrick Behrens, of Travemunde, near Lubec, writes as follows on the culture of asparagus in Germany : Living in a part of Germany where the cultnre of asparagus is very common, I hope the following remarks, though from a foreigner, will not be unwelcome. Asparagus which has obtained a green color by it being exposed to the air, will neither be grown or eaten here, air 1 , strange enough, exactly for tho same reasons which have been alleged by you for growing it above ground. However, we do not avail ourselves of artificial means, as supposed by you, such ,as tubes of earthenware or metal, and still our asparagus ; if well managed, is. white and eatable almost the whole length. The manner of growing it is as follows : —lt is never planted otherwise than in a deep, light, and sandy soil, which has been trenched to a depth of three feet, well drained and well manured. A thick layer of horse dung is put on the bottom of the trench and mixed with the soil. Strong loamy or clayey soil is decidedly disadvantageous to the growth of this vegetable. It will not thrive in it, does not become tender, and will become brown spotted, which the common people here call iron-mould. (Cipumala) especially if drainage has been neglected. We take plants of two or three years’ growth, according to their vigor, and usually plant them in furrows which are made at two feet distant, and from one and a fourth to one and a half feet deep. Tho distance between the plants i 3 likewise two feet. In these furrows, the plants are permitted to grow uncovered from the month of March or April, the usual and best time for planting, till the begining or middle of November; at all events before severe frost is coming on. The soil, which has been taken out of the furrows and heaped up at the sides, is then put in, and the bedsare completely leveled. The plants have had during the summer to establish themselves sufficiently. Next spring the young shoots will make their appearance above ground, and if everything has been duly attended to, if strong and healthy plants have been duly selected, and if, besides, water has been given during a dry season, not a sing'e one ought to fail. Some people begin to cut the strongest shoots in the third year, but a better result will be obtained by leaving them undisturbed until the fourth summer, only giving them every spring, in February or March, a good dressing of cowdung. Manure is the most essential requisite for growing fine and tender asparagus. The shoots are cut at sunriso and late in the evening, at a length of not more than nine inches, cutting them witli a long knife underground as soon as the top of the shoot is lifting the soil. Asparagus will always have the finest taste if eaten immediately after having been gathered, but ought never to be kept longer than one day, and should be covered meanwhile with light earth, sand, or some of her material of this description. There is a very bad practice in use with our market gardeners, to immerge the asparagus immediately after cutting in a tube with water, leaving it in the water till they bring it to market. By this practice the finer flavor is altogether lost, and the cooks should be warned against doing the same. Whenever manure is not a very expensive article the culture of asparagus pays well, since the Lightest and the most sandy land, where nothing else can be grown with advantage, can easily be adapted to its culture, and will yield a rent for a long series of years. Besides, the same land can be made use of for carrots and other vegetables, when the time of cutting is over. Living myself some hundred steps from the Baltic, and having rca'd different accounts of the famous asparagus culture at the sea coast near San Sebastian, in Spain. I have last year made the experiment to grow it in pure sea sand containing no humus or vegetable matter whatever. It only received a moderate supply of manure, and has not even been watered during the last hot summer; nevertheless, it is growing this year so well that I might have cut a tolerable quantity of shoots as big as a lady’s finger, if I would be foolish enough to do so. The price of asparagus with us, varies from four to seven or eight shillings, or English pence, per pound, the former being the general price from the moment the weather becomes warm. Many thousand pounds are sent by the steamers to Sweden and other foreign countries, tha Lubic asparagus is well renowed. Though I never had the advantage of seeing your fine country, and therefore cannot be a judge of your green asparagus, I have several times eaten green asparagus in Italy and France, but I dare confess merely for want of better. However there is no quarrelling as to matters of taste. As far as regards tenderness, I am at a loss to understand how asparagus can improve by being exposed to the drying, influence of air, wind, and sunshine. It may become morearomantic, though I doubt it, but it will certainly require a greater exertion in being masticated.

SORREL—THE BEST WAY TO KILL IT The following paper, which we clip from the Melbourne “ Leader,” was read by Mr Wm. Eeid at the last monthly meeting of the Ballarat Farmer 3’ Club : Sorrel is the greatest pest as a weed that we have to deal with. If my remarks on the sublet would only lead farmers to think, and put their thoughts into practice, I firmly believe we should not see, as it is row painful to witness, our crops struggling for bare life, and in the end allowing the enemy to float his scarlet banner of victory in every direction. The botanical name of sorrel is TuvrißXy a name given by the Latins to the root of a thorn. Eiimex acetosella is the plant of which I have to speak to-day. Botanists tell us where it abounds naturally is a certain indication of dry, poor, gravelly, irony soil. In my native place no weed was so much detested as the dock {Bum-ex Alpinus), and no other weed had so much care bestowed on its destruction, the roots often taken up to a depth of 12 to 20 inches, and carried off the land to be burnt. I well remember, thirty years ago, before the steam engine was used for threshing, during the winter seasons, the barnmen were rewarded with ale for carefully selecting the docks before threshing them, and the farmers were very careful about burning them in the proper place. That place, sir, was the oven, as they declared the seed would grow from the ashes. These few remarks bring me to my subject, viz., the way to destroy sorrel—--Ist. It must be burnt; 2nd, burn it in the right place ; 3rd, and burn well. I consider, as a rule, sorrel cannot be destroyed without making a fallow. Ist. To burn it I would recommend that a piece of land foul with sorrel should be ploughed up about sis inches deep, directly after harvest, and after getting well scorched on one side, run the heavy harrows a time or two over it. This is about all that most of us could do at that time, as our other land would have to be prepared for the grain crops. This would bring us to about the month of June or July, when I would plough as deep as possible. I may here state that I have found the tap roots of sorrel if ploughed to a depth of seven or eight inches will not come through to the surface, but die out. 2nd. About being burnt in the right place. By this I mean all stagnant water must be removed by draining, or your best efforts will be entirely frustrated, as I have by experience found it impossible to kill sorrel where the land is water logged. Ploughing land in this state is only making mortar to be baked like brass in summer, and until all this stagnant water has been removed, depend upon it, do what you may, you are trying to kill sorrel in the wrong place. I may be asked, why plough so early if the land is going to remain idle a whole year? I think the term idle is here misapplied, as I have never seen land at rest when it is overrun with all kinds of weeds, sending their hungry roots in every direction in search of food, and consequently leaving the land at the end of the year in a weaker state than over. Another reason for early ploughing of fallow land is that the seeds of all kinds have a chance of germinating, and tho greater number of them will be destroyed before winter. If we mean our land to rest, and recover its fertility, we must, as soon as we can get upon it continually keep bringing the roots of the sorrel to the surfaee, never allow it to become red, for if you plough late and even succeed in killing most of the old plants, you will find to yourdiß'ust.whenthesoason is too far advanced, and your next crop perhaps in, an abundant crop of seedlings for you to battle with for the next three years before you fallow again. This is no theory of mine, as any one may see by taking a drive through the country, the large number of acres of sorrel as red as scarlet, now being ploughed up when a great portion has seed already ripe enough to grow, and the old will plants still continue growing and seeding between the furrows until our land, which has been fallowed, so called, has b -come smothered with seed for a future crop. A friend of mine said to me some time since, when speaking of fallowing, that he would never plough until late in the spring, as by ploughing early ho would lose his feed. But what I would recommend is, to rest the land. Allow nothing to grow upon st, so that it may recover it former strength, and receive from that exhaustless storehouse, the atmosphere, that plant food she so abundantly pours forth wherever the land is kept in a proper state to receive it, 3rd. To burn it well, presuming the land has been ploughed early and harrowed. About February we expect some very hot weather, so that you* sorrel would have received a violent check. During the winter months the wet portions (if an) of your land should have been drained, so that by about tho middle of October we could make an earnest effort at its entire destruction. To accomplish this put on all your strength and plough it up. This being done, three horses would be required to work about 25 acres, and let them (weather permitting) be laid off especially for that work ; in four days they would run the scarifier through it; in two days more would harrow it ; then scarify in a different direction, and so contiune bring'ngall you possibly can to tl;©surface for the sun to burn it. And if you can get about 16 or 18 days in succession of fine hot weather, your team be kept busily going during that time, I will venture to say your paddock will be pretty free from sorrel. Should you find some plants still living, there are yet the threo best months during the year left to kill them. And where we go in to win, fairly if we cT?n, but under any circumstances to win, we shall yet be able to seize and opportunity to round up our ashes aud give them a final scorching. These are the principles I have laid down for the destruction of sorrel. To learn them simple and stop there, is to fail of the end for which they are designed. We must leave the principles, and go on to attain the great end of entire destruction. It may be asked will all this labor pay P Allow me to answer that by asking another question.

Will it pay anyone to have his land overrun with weeds; how long would he be able to bring forth a clean balance sheet; what is the value of one-fourth of tho farm being left unworked for a grass paddock, the roots of sorrel and other weeds giving the land, when the plough is put into it, the appearance of an old door-mat? Your cattle, as soon as driven by starvation, will begin to eat the sorrel, the result of which will be similar to a person turning a sheep infected with the scab among his flocks. I find that cattle eating either sorrel or hogweed when the seeds are ripe will foul the land wherever they are allowed to go. No sir, if we wish to keep our farms clean we must look well to the feed our cattle are on, a 3 it is a very easy matter to get weeds into our land, but a difficult task to get them out again. Having given you, Mr Chairman and gentleman, these few remarks upon sorrel and the means for its destruction, I trust we shall all use every effort to destroy this usurper, as I am sure you will aU agree with me that our interests and his are not identical.