==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 prized by many for its full flavour and tenderness, is for the most part grown near at hand, in deep alluvial soils enriched with abundance of manure.  Nature gives us the key to every secret that concerns our happiness, and on the cultivation of Asparagus she is liberal in her teaching.  The plant is found growing wild on the sandy coasts of the British Islands—­a proof that it loves sand and salt.

==Preparation of Ground.==—­The routine cultivation must begin with a thorough preparation of the ground.  Efficient drainage is imperative, for stagnant water in the subsoil is fatal to the plant.  But a rich loam does not need the extravagant manuring that has been recommended and practised.  Deep digging and, where the subsoil is good, trenching may be recommended, but an average manuring will suffice, because Asparagus can be effectually aided by annual top-dressings, and proper surface culture is of great importance in the subsequent stages.  It is necessary to choose an open spot for the plantation.  Preparation of the ground should commence in the autumn and be continued through the winter, a heavy dressing of half-rotten stable manure being put on in the first instance, and trenched in two feet deep.  In the course of a month the whole piece should be trenched back.  If labour is at command a third trenching may be done with advantage, and the surface may be left ridged up until the time arrives to level it for seeding.  It will be obvious that this routine is of a somewhat costly character, but we are supposing the plantation is to remain for many years, making an abundant return for the first investment.  Still we are bound to say that a capital supply for a moderate table may be obtained by preparing a piece of good ground in an open situation in a quite ordinary manner with one deep digging in winter, adding at the time some six inches or so of fat stable manure, and leaving it thus until the time arrives for sowing the seed.  Then it will be well to level down and point in, half a spade deep, a thin coat of decayed manure to make a nice kindly seed-bed.

Where soil known to be unsuitable, such as a damp clay or pasty loam, has to be prepared for Asparagus, it will be found an economical practice to remove the top spit, which we will suppose to be turf or old cultivated soil, and on the space so cleared make up a bed of the best possible materials at command.  Towards this mixture there is the top spit just referred to.  Add any available lime rubbish from destroyed buildings, sand, peat, leaf-mould, surface soil raked from the rear of the shrubberies, &c., and the result should be a good compost obtained at an almost nominal cost.