==Cutting.==—­Asparagus as supplied by market growers is needlessly long in the stem.  The bundles have an imposing appearance, no doubt, but the useless length adds nothing to the comfort of those at table, and is a wasteful tax on the energy of the plant.  For home consumption it will generally suffice if the white portion is about four inches long, and this determines the depth at which the sticks should be cut.  Here it may be useful to remark that deeply buried roots do not thrive so well as those which are nearer the surface, nor do they produce such early crops.  The sticks are usually cut by thrusting down a stiff narrow-pointed knife, or specially made saw, close to each shoot; and it is necessary to do this with judgment, or adjacent shoots, which are not sufficiently advanced to reveal their presence by lifting the soil, may be damaged.  To avoid this risk of injury by the knife it is possible from some beds to obtain the sticks without the aid of any implement by a twist and pull combined, but the process needs a dexterous hand and is impracticable in tenacious soils.  The sticks of a handsome sample will be white four or five inches of their length; the tops close, plump, of a purplish-green colour, and the colour extending two or at most three inches down the stems.  Both size and degree of colouring are, however, so entirely questions of taste that no definite rule can be stated.  It is more to the purpose to say that, if liberally grown, the plant may be cut from in the third year; and that cutting should cease about the middle of June, or early in July, according to the district.  For the good of the plant the sooner cutting ceases the better, as the next year’s buds have to be formed in the roots by the aid of the top-growth of the current season.

==Weeding and Staking.==—­Two other points relating to the general management are worthy of attention.  Some crops get on fairly well when neglected and crowded with weeds.  Not so with Asparagus.  The plant appears to have been designed to enjoy life in solitude, being unfit for competition; and if weeds make way in an Asparagus bed, the cultivator will pay a heavy penalty for his neglect of duty.  The limitation of the beds to a width of three feet, therefore, is of consequence, because it facilitates weeding without putting a foot on them.  The other point arises out of the necessity of affording support to the frail plant in places where it may happen to be exposed to wind.  When Asparagus in high summer is rudely shaken, the stems snap off at the base, and the roots lose the service of the top-growth in maturing buds for the next season.  To prevent this injury is easy enough, but the precautions must be adopted in good time.  A free use of light, feathery stakes, such as are employed for the support of Peas, thrust in firmly all over the bed, will insure all needful support when gales are blowing.  In the absence of pea-sticks, stout stakes, placed at suitable distances and connected with lengths of thick tarred twine, will answer equally well.  In sheltered gardens the protection of the young growth with litter, and of the mature growth with stakes, need not be resorted to, but in exposed situations these precautions should not be neglected.