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.