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diff --git a/31643.txt b/31643.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e751ef2 --- /dev/null +++ b/31643.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4413 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Asparagus, its culture for home use and for +market:, by F. M. Hexamer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Asparagus, its culture for home use and for market: + a practical treatise on the planting, cultivation, + harvesting, marketing, and preserving of asparagus, with + notes on its history + +Author: F. M. Hexamer + +Release Date: March 14, 2010 [EBook #31643] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPARAGUS, ITS CULTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Tom Roch, Matt Whittaker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images produced by Core Historical +Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) + + + + + + +*********************************************************************** +* Transcriber's Note: Obvious typos were fixed and use of hyphens was * +* normalized throughout, but all other spelling and punctuation was * +* retained as it appeared in the original text. * +*********************************************************************** + + + + +ASPARAGUS + +ITS CULTURE FOR HOME USE AND FOR MARKET + +A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE PLANTING, CULTIVATION, HARVESTING, +MARKETING, AND PRESERVING OF ASPARAGUS, WITH NOTES ON ITS HISTORY AND +BOTANY + + +BY + +F. M. HEXAMER + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +NEW YORK +ORANGE JUDD COMPANY +1914 + + + + +_Printed in U. S. A._ + + +[Illustration: BEGINNING OF THE ASPARAGUS INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA] + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + PREFACE vi + I. Historical Sketch 1 + II. Botany 4 + III. Cultural Varieties 17 + IV. Seed Growing 26 + V. The Raising of Plants 30 + VI. Selection of Plants 38 + VII. The Soil and Its Preparation 43 +VIII. Planting 49 + IX. Cultivation 61 + X. Fertilizers and Fertilizing 72 + XI. Harvesting and Marketing 83 + XII. Forcing 100 +XIII. Preserving Asparagus 112 + XIV. Injurious Insects 126 + XV. Fungus Diseases 137 + XVI. Asparagus Culture in Different Localities 145 + INDEX 167 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Beginning of the Asparagus Industry in California + _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + +Asparagus Plumosus Nanus 5 +Asparagus Sprengeri 7 +Asparagus Laricinus 9 +Asparagus Racemosus, var. Tetragonus 11 +Asparagus Sarmentosus 12 +Crown, Roots, Buds, Spear 14 +Stem, Leaves, Flowers, Berries 14 +Flowers 15 +Palmetto Asparagus 21 +Pot-Grown Plant 37 +Horizontal Development of Roots 51 +Trenches Ready for Planting 57 +Hudson's Trencher 58 +Root in Proper Position for Covering 59 +Cross-section of Trenches After Planting 60 +Asparagus Field Ridged in Early Spring 67 +Leveling the Ridges After Cutting Season 69 +Fertilized Asparagus Plot 75 +Unfertilized Asparagus Plot 77 +Basket of Asparagus 85 +Cutting and Picking Up Asparagus 86 +Horse Carrier for Ten Boxes 87 +Asparagus Knives 89 +End and Side View of White Asparagus Bunches 90 +Conover's Asparagus Buncher 91 +Watt's Asparagus Buncher 92 +Rack and Knives Used in New England 93 +At the Bunching Table 94 +Box of Giant Asparagus 97 +Southern Asparagus Crate 98 +Tunnel for Forcing Steam Through the Soil 107 +A Long Island Asparagus Cannery 113 +Sterilizing Tank 115 +Sterilizing Room 117 +Interior View of a California Asparagus Cannery 119 +Perspective View of a California Asparagus Cannery 121 +Cannery in Asparagus Fields 123 +Common Asparagus Beetle 127 +Asparagus Attacked by Beetles 129 +Spotted Ladybird 131 +Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle 134 +Asparagus Stems Affected with Rust 138 +Portion of Rusted Asparagus Stems 139 +Asparagus Field on Bouldin Island 161 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The cultivation of asparagus for home use as well as for market is so +rapidly increasing, and reliable information pertaining to it is so +frequently asked for, that a book on this subject is evidently needed. +While all works on vegetable culture treat more or less extensively on +its cultivation, so far there has been no book exclusively devoted to +asparagus published in America. Asparagus is one of the earliest, most +delicious, and surest products of the garden. Its position among other +vegetables is unique, and when once planted it lasts a lifetime; it may +be prepared for use in great variety, and may be canned or dried so as +to be available at any time of the year; and yet in the great majority +of farm gardens it is almost unknown. The principal reason for this +neglect is based upon the erroneous idea that asparagus culture requires +unusual skill, expense, and hard work. While this was true, in a +measure, under old-time rules, modern methods have so simplified every +detail connected with the cultivation of asparagus as to make it not +necessarily more expensive and laborious than that of any other garden +crop. To describe and make clear these improved methods, to demonstrate +how easily and inexpensively an asparagus bed may be had in every +garden, and how much pleasure, health, and profit may be derived from +the crop have been the principal inducements to writing this book. + +In a popular treatise on so widely distributed a vegetable as asparagus, +the cultivation of which had been brought to a high state of development +many centuries before the Christian era, there is little opportunity for +originality. All that the author has endeavored in this little volume +has been to collect, arrange, classify, and systematize all obtainable +facts, compare them with his own many years' experience in asparagus +culture, and present his inferences in a plain and popular manner. Free +use has been made of all available literature, especially helpful among +which has been the Farmers' Bulletin No. 61 of the United States +Department of Agriculture, by R. B. Handy; also bulletins of the +Missouri, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, +Massachusetts, and South Carolina and other experiment stations; the +files of _American Agriculturist; Gardener's Chronicle_, from which +descriptions of several ornamental species by William Watson were +condensed; Thome's "Flora von Deutschland;" "Eintraegliche +Spargelzucht," von Franz Goeschke; "Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," von +Dr. Ed. Brinckmeier; "Parks and Gardens of Paris," by William Robinson; +"Asparagus Culture," by James Barnes and William Robinson; "Les Plantes +Potageres," by Vilmorin-Andrieux; the works of Peter Henderson, Thomas +Bridgeman, J. C. Loudon, and others. + +The author desires to express his grateful acknowledgments to Mr. +Herbert Myrick, editor-in-chief of _American Agriculturist_ and allied +publications, for critically reading the whole manuscript; to Prof. W. +G. Johnson, Charles V. Mapes, C. L. Allen, A. D. McNair, Superintendent +Southern Pines Experimental Farm; Prof. W. F. Massey, Robert W. Nix, +Robert Hickmott, Charles W. Prescott, Joel Borton, and all others who by +their help, suggestions, and advice have aided him in the preparation of +this work. + +F. M. HEXAMER. + +_New York, 1901._ + + + + +ASPARAGUS + + + + +I + +HISTORICAL SKETCH + + +The word "asparagus" is said to be of Persian origin. In middle Latin it +appears as _sparagus_; Italian, _sparajio_; old French, _esperaje_; old +English, _sperage_, _sparage_, _sperach_. The middle Latin form, +_sparagus_, was in English changed into _sparagrass_, _sparrow-grass_, +and sometimes simply _grass_, terms which were until recently in good +literary use. In modern French it is _asperge_; German, _spargel_; +Dutch, _aspergie_; Spanish, _esperrago_. + +The original habitat of the edible asparagus is not positively known, as +it is now found naturalized throughout Europe, as well as in nearly all +parts of the civilized world. How long the plant was used as a vegetable +or as a medicine is likewise uncertain, but that it was known and highly +prized by the Romans at least two centuries before the Christian era is +historically recorded. According to Pliny, the Romans were already aware +of the difference in quality, that grown near Ravenna being considered +best, and was so large that three spears weighed one pound. The elder +Cato has treated the subject with still greater care. He advises the +sowing of the seed of asparagus in the beds of vine-dressers' reeds, +which are cultivated in Italy for the support of the vines, and that +they should be burned in the spring of the third year, as the ashes +would act as a manure to the future crop. He also recommends that the +plants be renewed after eight or nine years. + +The usual method of preparing asparagus pursued by the Roman cooks was +to select the finest sprouts and to dry them. When wanted for the table +they were put in hot water and cooked a few minutes. To this practice is +owing one of Emperor Augustus's favorite sayings: "_Citius quam asparagi +coquentur_" (Do it quicker than you can cook asparagus). + +While the indigenous asparagus has been used from time immemorial as a +medicine by Gauls, Germans, and Britons, its cultivation and use as a +vegetable was only made known to the people by the invading Roman +armies. But in the early part of the sixteenth century it was mentioned +among the cultivated garden vegetables, and Leonard Meager, in his +"English Gardener," published in 1683, informs us that in his time the +London market was well supplied with "forced" asparagus. + +The medicinal virtues formerly attributed to asparagus comprise a wide +range. The roots, sprouts, and seeds were used as medicine. The fresh +roots are diuretic, perhaps owing to the immediate crystalizable +principle, "asparagine," which is said to be sedative in the dose of a +few grains. A syrup made of the young shoots and an extract of the roots +has been recommended as a sedative in heart affections, and the _species +diuretica_--a mixture of asparagus, celery, parsley, holly, and sweet +fennel--was a favorite preparation for use in dropsy and gravel. Among +the Greeks and Romans it was one of the oldest and most valued +medicines, and to which most absurd virtues were attributed. It was +believed that if a person anointed himself with a liniment made of +asparagus and oil the bees would not approach or sting him. It was also +believed that if the root be put on a tooth which aches violently it +causes it to come out without pain. The therapeutic virtues of asparagus +seem to have been held in almost as high esteem by the ancients as those +of ginseng are esteemed by the Chinese to this day. + + + + +II + +BOTANY + + +The genus Asparagus belongs to the Lily Family. It comprises about one +hundred and fifty species, and these are spread through the temperate +and tropical regions of the Old World. One-half of these species are +indigenous to South Africa, and it is from this region that the most +ornamental of the greenhouse species have been obtained. + +All the species are perennial, with generally fleshy roots or tubers. +The stems are annual in some, perennial in others, most of them being +spiny, climbing shrubs, growing to a length of from five to twenty or +even fifty feet. The true leaves are usually changed into spines, which +are situated at the base of the branches and are often stout and woody. +The false leaves, termed cladodia, are the linear or hair-like organs +which are popularly called leaves; they are in reality modified +branches. These cladodia are nearly always arranged in clusters at +intervals along the branches, and the flowers generally spring from +their axils. They usually fall off the hardy species in winter, and they +are easily affected by unfavorable conditions in all the species. Most +of them flower and fruit freely under cultivation, so that seeds are +available for propagation. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2--ASPARAGUS PLUMOSUS NANUS] + + +ORNAMENTAL SPECIES + +_A. medeoloides_ (_Myrsiphyllum asparagoides_), popularly known as +Smilax.--For many years this has been, and is yet, one of the most +commonly grown and the most serviceable of the plants used by florists +as "green." It is readily grown from seed in the greenhouse. While a few +other species of asparagus have been close rivals, it is yet unexcelled +for many purposes of floral decorations. + +_A. plumosus_ (the plumy asparagus).--A very graceful climbing plant +which for finer decoration has largely taken the place of smilax, its +foliage being finer than that of the most delicate ferns, and will last +for weeks after being cut. The whole plant is of a bright, cheerful +green. Its branches spread horizontally, and branch again in such a +manner as to form a flat, frond-like arrangement, the leaves being very +numerous, in clusters of about a dozen, bright green, and one-half inch +long. A native of South Africa, where it climbs over bushes and branches +in moist situations. There are several named varieties of this, most of +which have originated in gardens. The most distinct are _A. tenuissimus_ +and _A. plumosus nanus_, the fern-like appearance of which is seen in +Fig. 2. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3--ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI] + +_A. Sprengeri._--This is one of the best and most attractive house +plants of recent introduction. It is of graceful form and habit when +grown as a pot plant, but it is equally well suited for planting in +hanging baskets. Its fronds are frequently four feet long, of a rich +shade of green, and very useful for cutting, retaining their freshness +for weeks after being cut. As a house plant it has exceeded +expectations, as it stands dry atmosphere better than the older kinds of +ornamental asparagus, and is not particular as to any special position. +It delights in a well-enriched soil, rather light in composition, with +plenty of drainage, and grows very rapidly. It is decidedly pretty when +in bloom, its little flowers being pure white on short racemes, and the +anthers are of a bright orange color. Fig. 3 gives a good idea of its +graceful habit. + +_A. falcatus._--One of the most striking twining plants for a large, +temperate house. At the Kew Gardens, in London, England, is an enormous +specimen of this species which is trained against the northern +staircase, where it has formed a perfect thicket two yards through and +twenty-five feet high, of long, rope-like, intertwining, spinous, +fawn-colored stems, some of them fully fifty feet long, and clothed with +wiry, woody branches, bearing whorls of leaves from two to three inches +long and nearly one-fourth of an inch wide, falcate and bright green. +The young stems are thick and succulent and gray-green, mottled with +brown. For large conservatories, and particularly in moist, shady +corners, where ordinary climbers will not thrive, this is an ideal +plant. It is a native of the tropics of Asia and Africa, as well as the +Cape. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4--ASPARAGUS LARICINUS] + +_A. laricinus_ (Fig. 4).--This handsome species has been in the Kew +collection at least twenty years. It is grown in the succulent house, +where, from a vigorous root system, it sends up annual stout succulent +shoots, which grow to a length of about twelve feet, and when fully +developed are decidedly ornamental. The stems are perennial, terete, +dark brown, woody, one-half inch in diameter at the base, very spinous, +freely branched, and branches zigzag and gray, the leaves in clusters +one-fourth inch apart, hair-like, one and one-half inches long, bright +green, persistent. Flowers axillary, many in a cluster, small, +campanulate, white. Berries globose, dull red, one seeded, one-sixth of +an inch in diameter. Common in various parts of South Africa. It is an +excellent pillar plant. + +_A. racemosus._--This species is spread throughout the tropics of Africa +and Asia; the Cape form of it is represented at Kew under the name of +variety _tetragonus_, as shown in Fig. 5. This is a vigorous grower, +with woody stems nine feet long, prickly at the base, fawn colored, +freely branching above, each branch having at its base a sharp spine +three-quarters of an inch long. The leaves are of a gray-green hue, +four-angled, one-quarter of an inch long. Flowers in racemes two inches +long, whitish, very fragrant. Berry red, globose, pulpy, one-seeded. An +excellent climber for rafters, pillars, etc., growing vigorously under +ordinary treatment. Its root system is a dense mass of tubers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5--ASPARAGUS RACEMOSUS, VAR. TETRAGONUS] + +[Illustration: FIG. 6--ASPARAGUS SARMENTOSUS] + +_A. sarmentosus_ (Fig. 6).--An elegant evergreen species from South +Africa, where it grows freely in moist situations, forming dense, brushy +stems with short prickles, and studded with white, starry, fragrant +flowers, which are followed with bright scarlet, pea-like berries; has +stems four feet high, freely branched and clothed with dark green flat +leaves three inches long. It is also grown in pots and baskets for +the Cape-house, and when in flower it is greatly admired. + +_A. Broussoneti._--A beautiful hardy perennial climber from the Canary +Islands, growing ten feet high; feathery foliage and scarlet berries. In +the autumn this is very ornamental. + +Among the most noteworthy of other ornamental species are: _A. +Aethiopicus_, _Africanus_, _Asiaticus_, _Cooperi_, _crispus_, +_declinatus_, _decumbens_, _lucidus_, _retrofractus_, _scandens_, +_tenuifolius_, _trichophyllus_, _umbellatus_, _verticillatus_, +_virgatus_, etc., etc. + + +EDIBLE SPECIES + +[Illustration: FIG. 7--ASPARAGUS CROWN, ROOTS, BUDS, AND SPEAR] + +[Illustration: FIG. 8--ASPARAGUS STEM, LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND BERRIES] + +_Asparagus officinalis._--While the young sprouts of a few other species +may be used as food, this is the only one which has found a permanent +place in cultivation. It is a branching, herbaceous plant, reaching a +hight of from three to seven feet; the filiform branchlets, three to +seven inches long, less than one-quarter inch thick, are mostly +clustered in the axils of minute scales. The rootstock, or "crown," is +perennial, and makes a new growth each year of from one to three inches, +extending horizontally, and generally in a straight line. It may +propagate from both ends, or from only one, but in either case the older +part of root stalk becomes unproductive and finally dies. Fig. 7 shows +the new portion of the rootstock crowned with buds for the production of +new shoots, while the older portion bears the scars and dead scales of +previous growths. From the sides and the lower part of the rootstock +numerous cylindrical, fleshy roots start and extend several feet +horizontally, but do not penetrate the soil deeply. In the course of +time the older roots become hollow and inactive without becoming +detached from the rootstock. The young root formation always takes place +a little above the old roots, which circumstance explains why the +asparagus plants gradually rise above the original level, thus +necessitating the annual hilling up or the covering of the crowns with +additional soil. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9] + +[Illustration: FIG. 10] + +[Illustration: FIG. 11] + +The asparagus flowers are mostly solitary at the nodes, of +greenish-yellow color, drooping or filiform, jointed peduncles; +perianth, six-parted, campanulate, as seen in Fig. 8. Anthers, introrse; +style, short; stigma, three-lobed; berry, red, spherical, three-celled; +cells, two-seeded. While the flowers are generally dioecious--staminate +and pistillate flowers being borne on different plants--there appear +also hermaphrodite flowers, having both pistils and fully developed +stamens in the same flower. Fig. 9 shows a pistillate, Fig. 10 a +staminate, and Fig. 11 a hermaphrodite or bisexual flower. + +In one case, at least, the author has also observed that a plant which +has been barren of seed at first changed into a seed-bearing plant the +following year. Similar changes in the sexuality of strawberries have +been observed under certain conditions. These facts may explain, in a +measure, the difficulty experienced in raising permanently sterile +asparagus plants. + +_Asparagus acutifolius._--A native of Southern Europe and Northern +Africa. It has a fleshy rootstock, hard, wiry, brown stems, five to +seven feet high, with rigid branches three to six inches long, thickly +closed, with tufts of gray-green, hair-like, rigid leaves, which in +exposed situations are almost spinous. Flowers yellow, a quarter of an +inch in diameter, fragrant. The young sprouts are tender, and, when +cooked, of a peculiar aromatic flavor. In their native home they are +used like the cultivated kind. + +_A. aphyllus._--Indigenous to Greece, where the young shoots are +commonly used as food, especially during Lent. + + + + +III + +CULTURAL VARIETIES + + +Although but one species of edible asparagus has found its way into +general cultivation, many varieties and strains are recognized. + +Up to within a comparatively recent period it was thought that there +existed only one distinct kind, or variety, of asparagus. As late as +1869 so keen an observer as Peter Henderson believed that "the asparagus +of our gardens is confined to only one variety, and the so-called giant +can be made gigantic or otherwise, just as we will it, and the purple +top variety will become a green top whenever the composition of the soil +is not of the kind to develop the purple, and _vice versa_. All +practical gardeners know how different soils and climates change the +appearance of the same variety. Seeds of cabbage taken from the same bag +and sown at the same time, but planted out in soils of light sandy loam, +heavy clayey loam, and peat or leaf-mold, will show such marked +differences when at maturity as easily to be pronounced different sorts. +This, no doubt, is the reason why the multitude of varieties of all +vegetables, when planted side by side to test them, are so wonderfully +reduced in number." + +But after inspecting an acre of ordinary asparagus and an acre of +Abraham Van Siclen's Colossal--which was afterward introduced as +Conover's Colossal--at Jamaica, L. I., N. Y., Mr. Henderson wrote: "A +thorough inspection of the roots of each lot proved that they were of +the same age when planted. The soil was next examined, and found to be +as near the same as could be, yet these two beds of asparagus showed a +difference that no longer left me a shadow of a doubt of their being +entirely different varieties." + +In but few vegetables do the conditions of soil, locality, mode of +cultivation, and other circumstances affect the quality, size, and +appearance as much as in asparagus. It is therefore difficult to +distinguish fixed and permanent varieties from mere local strains and +forms secured by selection. + +Through natural and artificial selection, through use of seed of strong +shoots from superior roots, there has been improvement in the size and +yield of asparagus; from the peculiar adaptability of soil and climate, +and the effect of manure and high cultivation, there have appeared +certain variations in the product of different beds which have led to +the bestowing of a new name; but the effect of this care and these +favorable conditions is not sufficiently strong to produce distinct +varieties with fixed characteristics. Therefore, with correct and +rational treatment of the plant from the time of seeding through all the +stages of culture, satisfactory results may be reached with almost any +of the varieties on the market. + + +AMERICAN VARIETIES + +_Barr's Mammoth_ (Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth).--Originated with +Crawford Barr, a prominent market gardener of Pennsylvania. It is one of +the earliest varieties, is very productive, and grows to the largest +size. In Philadelphia it is much sought after, and brings the highest +prices. + +_Conover's Colossal_ (Van Siclen's Colossal).--Originated with Abraham +Van Siclen, of Long Island, N. Y., and was introduced by S. B. Conover, +a commision merchant of West Washington Market, New York City, some +thirty years ago. The superiority of this variety over all other kinds +known at that time made it soon supplant all other varieties, and it is +to this day better and more favorably known than any other sort. + +_Columbian Mammoth White._--This was introduced by D. M. Ferry & Co., in +1893. The immense shoots are clear white, and, in favorable weather, +remain so until three or four inches above the surface, without earthing +up or any other artificial blanching. The crown or bud of the young +stalk is considerably smaller than the part just below it, thus further +distinguishing the variety. All but a very few of the seedlings will +produce clear white shoots, and the green ones can be readily +distinguished and rejected when planting the permanent bed. + +_Donald's Elmira._--Originated by A. Donald, Elmira, N. Y., and was +first introduced by Johnson & Stokes, Philadelphia, Pa. This is +characterized by the delicate green color of its stems, different from +any other kind. Its stalks are very tender and succulent, while its size +is all that can be desired. + +_Eclipse_ (Dreer's Eclipse).--A light green mammoth strain of excellent +quality and attractive appearance. The stalks, not rarely, measure two +inches in diameter, and even when twelve to fifteen inches long are +perfectly tender and of a delicate light green color. + +_Hub._--Originated in New Hampshire several years ago, and was +introduced by Joseph Breck & Sons, Boston, Mass. Although not generally +catalogued, it is a distinct and valuable variety that has made a +decided record for itself in the tests of the Kansas Experiment Station, +where its yield, by weight, was greater than any other. + +_Mammoth._--This is a somewhat indefinite term, as almost any prominent +seedsman and grower who has a particularly good and large strain of +asparagus suffixes it to his own name. Among the best known of these are +Vick's Mammoth, Maule's Mammoth, Prescott's Mammoth, etc. + +_Moore's Cross-bred._--This originated with J. B. Moore, who for twenty +years was awarded the first prize on asparagus at the exhibitions of the +Massachusetts Horticultural Society, at one of which the weight of +twelve stalks was 4 pounds 6-1/4 ounces. It retains the head close until +the stalks are quite long, and is of uniform color, while for tenderness +and eating quality it is excelled by none. It is particularly +recommended for cultivation in New England. + +_Palmetto._--A variety of Southern origin, but suitable for the North +also. At the South it is somewhat earlier than Conover's Colossal, but +its great advantage is that it is almost destitute of, what dealers +call, culls, nearly all shoots being of a uniform and large size. The +bunch from which the engraving (Fig. 12) was made measured twenty-two +inches in circumference, and contained forty-eight stalks of nine +inches in length and remarkably uniform in size. It was taken on March +30th from a field of fifty acres, near Charleston, S. C. But the +greatest point in its favor is its comparative security from the attacks +of rust. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12--BUNCH OF PALMETTO ASPARAGUS] + +_Purple Top_ and _Green Top_.--These were the only distinct sorts in +cultivation before the introduction of Conover's Colossal, but are now +almost unknown to the trade and cultivators. + + +EUROPEAN VARIETIES + +The named varieties of asparagus of European origin are very numerous, +as almost every locality in which asparagus is cultivated extensively +and successfully has given its name to a strain more or less distinct. +Generally these varieties differ only in a single characteristic, and +these differences, for the most part, are so little that they are lost +when grown under different climatic and soil conditions. The +best-informed authorities recognize three cultivated varieties, which +have distinct commercial characteristics and whose seeds reproduce them +in the seedlings. + +_German Giant._--This variety embraces most of the German and French +sorts--the Giant Dutch Purple, Ulm Giant, Giant Brunswick, Large Erfurt, +Early Darmstadt, and many others. + +_Argenteuil._--Of this three sub-varieties are recognized--the early, +intermediate, and late; and these are the kinds grown almost exclusively +in the vicinity of Paris, France, where its culture and improvement have +steadily developed for centuries. Under good culture the late Argenteuil +produces stalks from three to six inches in circumference, at eight +inches below the tips. + +_Yellow Burgundy._--The distinctive characteristic of this variety is +that the young shoots below the surface of the soil are light yellow +instead of white to tips, being greenish-yellow. It is also claimed to +be more rust-resisting than other European sorts. + + +VARIETY TESTS + +To determine the comparative effects of manuring on different varieties +of asparagus, and also their comparative earliness, Prof. S. C. Mason +and his assistant, W. L. Hall, of the Kansas Experiment Station, have +made some interesting and instructive experiments, the results of which +are given in Bulletin 70, as follows: + +"The seed of ten varieties of asparagus was planted. A good stand was +secured, and the young plants were cultivated during the summer in the +usual way. Early the following spring the entire patch was dug up and +the roots heeled in. The same ground was then prepared for a permanent +plantation, by plowing it deeply and marking it with furrows four feet +apart. These furrows were made as deep as possible, but after the loose +soil had run back into them they were on the bottom hardly six inches +below the level of the ground. In these furrows the roots of the +seedlings were planted (240 feet of row for each variety), making +altogether a patch of 35.25 square rods, or a little more than one-fifth +of an acre (.22 of an acre). The plants were set about a foot apart in +the row, and covered only an inch or two above the crown, leaving along +the rows depressions some two inches deep, which were gradually filled +up during the summer, by the many cultivations. During the winter the +stalks were cleared off, but nothing was done with the patch in the +spring more than to cut and note the earliest shoots, the first cutting +of which was made April 13th. The patch was cultivated during summer as +before, except that the size of the plants interfered somewhat--many of +the plants growing six feet high and correspondingly broad. During the +fall the north half of each variety was manured, at the rate of fifty +loads per acre, with strong barnyard manure, and in the spring the +effect was noted. + +"The following table gives results as shown by the records of ten +cuttings made the spring of 1897, from April 20th to May 19th, +inclusive; varieties averaged in order of yield: + +======================================================================== +VARIETIES | YIELDS IN POUNDS +240 feet of row in each, one-half manured +---------+-----------+------- +and one-half unmanured |_Manured_|_Unmanured_|_Total_ +------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+------- + 1 Hub | 31 | 27 | 58 + 2 Donald's Elmira | 29 | 29 | 58 + 3 Vick's New Mammoth | 26 | 20 | 47 + 4 Palmetto | 20 | 18 | 39 + 5 Moore's Cross-bred | 19 | 15 | 35 + 6 Conover's Colossal | 16 | 17 | 33 + 7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth | 17 | 16 | 33 + 8 Columbian Mammoth White | 18 | 13 | 32 + 9 Dreer's Eclipse | 16 | 14 | 30 +10 Giant Purple Top | 15 | 14 | 29 + +---------+-----------+------- + Totals | 207 | 183 | 394 +======================================================================== + +"Of the two heaviest yielding varieties, Hub and Donald's Elmira, the +last named is the earliest, though Hub is also quite early. As nearly as +can be judged from the notes, the ten varieties rank for earliness about +as follows, though all kinds yielded something at the first cutting: + +{10 Giant Purple Top. +{ 7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth. +{ 2 Donald's Elmira. + +{ 6 Conover's Colossal. +{ 3 Vick's New Mammoth. +{ 1 The Hub. +{ 9 Dreer's Eclipse. + + 4 Palmetto. + 5 Moore's Cross-bred. + 8 Columbian Mammoth White. + +"Those included within a brace have little or no difference of season. +The numbers mark their rank with regard to yield, 1 being the highest. +The ground occupied by this plantation is a rather low bottom-land, +being built up of a clay silt from the former overflow of two creeks, +mixed with vegetable mold. It is rather too compact for the best growth +of asparagus, as it contains very little sand." + + + + +IV + +SEED GROWING + + +The asparagus plant begins to produce seed when two years old. When +fully developed the stalks are from five to six feet in hight, with +numerous branches upon which are produced a profusion of bright scarlet +berries, containing from three to six seeds each. It is not advisable, +however, to harvest seed from plants less than four years old. + +To save the seed the stalks are cut close to the ground as soon as the +berries are ripe, which may be known by their changing color, from green +to scarlet, and softening somewhat. The entire stalks are then cut off, +tied in bundles, and hung up in a dry place safe from the attacks of +birds, some kinds of which are very fond of this seed. After the berries +are fully dried they are stripped off by hand, or thrashed upon a cloth +or floor, and separated from the chaff. They are then soaked in water +for a day or two to soften the skin and pulp of the berries, after which +they are rubbed between the hands, or mashed with a wooden pounder, to +break the outer shells. The separation of the pulp from the seed is +accomplished by washing. When placed in water the seeds will settle with +the pulp and the shells will readily pass away in pouring off the water. +To clean the seeds thoroughly the washing has to be repeated three or +four times. It is then spread on boards or trays to dry in the sun and +wind. After the first day it should be removed from the sun, but exposed +to the air in a dry loft, spread thin for ten days or more. When +thoroughly dried the seed is stored in linen or paper bags until needed. + +When cheapness of the seed is the main consideration such promiscuous +harvesting may be permissible, but when only the best is desired careful +selection and preparation becomes necessary. Even if the parent plants +are of choice types, not all the seeds from them are equally good. The +seed, for instance, which has been gathered from a stool which has +flowered side by side with an inferior kind, and at the same time, may +be worthless, because it has been fertilized badly. Then the last heads +generally yield nothing but doubtful seed which seldom reproduces the +proper type. The seeds which grow at the end of the shoots also, as well +as those produced by the upper and lower extremities of the stem, have +the same defect. + +In order to insure the production of the very best asparagus seed a +sufficient number of pistillate or seed-bearing plants, which produce +the strongest and best spears, should be selected and marked so that +they may be distinguished the following spring when the shoots appear. +These clumps should be close together and near some staminate or male +plants which have to be marked likewise, as without their presence +fertile seed can not be produced. The number of the male to the female +plants should be about one to four or five. The following spring all the +sprouts of the selected male plants are allowed to grow without cutting +any. On each hill of the female plants the two strongest and earliest +stalks are allowed to grow, cutting the later appearing spears with the +others for market or home use. Thus these early stalks of both male and +female plants bloom together before any other stalks, and the blooms on +the female plants will be fertilized with the pollen of the selected +male plants. This last is of prime importance, for on proper +fertilization depends the purity of the seed as well as the vigor of the +resultant plant. Not all seed of even a good plant properly fertilized +should be used for reproduction, as of the seeds gathered from any plant +some will be better than others. Only the largest, plumpest, and best +matured seeds should be used, for by saving these the most nearly +typical plants of the sort will be most certainly produced. The +selection of the best seed from typical plants is as essential to +success as are good soil, thorough cultivation, and heavy manuring. + +The best seeds are produced from the lower part of the stalk, hence it +is well to top the plant after the seed is well set, taking off about +ten inches, and to remove the berries from the upper branches, that all +the strength may go to the full development of the more desirable +berries. If, after this has been done, there is more than sufficient +seed for the purpose desired, a second discrimination can be made +between the seed of plants which produce numerous berries and those +which are shy bearers, the latter being desirable, as this indicates a +tendency in the plant to produce stalk rather than seed, and it is as a +stalk producer that asparagus is valuable. + +Harvesting, cleaning, and preserving the seed is, of course, to be done +carefully; the separation of the heavy and the light seeds can be +accomplished by means of water, while the larger can be selected from +the resultant mass by the use of a properly meshed sieve. + + + + +V + +THE RAISING OF PLANTS + + +Asparagus can be propagated by division of the roots, but this method +gives so unsatisfactory results that it is rarely practiced. Raising the +plants from seed is therefore the only method worth considering. The +seed may be sown either in the fall or spring. But far more important +than the time for sowing is the quality of the seed. While asparagus +seed retains its vitality for two or more years, it is not safe to use +seed older than one year. Fresh seed may be recognized by its glossy +black color and uniform smooth surface, while old seed has a smutty gray +color and its surface is generally rough and wrinkled. Yet even with +this as a guide it is not easy to distinguish bad from good seed, and +still more difficult, if not impossible, is it to distinguish the seed +of different varieties. It is therefore advisable to procure seed only +from dealers of undoubted reliability and pay a fair price for it rather +than to accept poor seed as a gift. A uniformity of the individual +plants in the asparagus bed or field is a matter of prime importance; +only large, fully developed seeds should be used, screening out and +rejecting all small and inferior ones. + +In northern latitudes spring sowing is preferable to fall sowing. The +ground of the seed-bed should be well drained and fairly retentive of +moisture. As soon as the soil admits of working it should be well +pulverized and enriched with decomposed manure. On a small scale a +spading-fork is the best implement for preparing soil for nursery rows +of asparagus plants. + +Straight lines should be marked about fifteen inches apart and drills +made about an inch deep when the sowing is done very early in the +season, and one-half to one inch deeper when the sowing is done later. +In these drills the seed should be dropped two or three inches apart. +The covering may be made with a hoe, after which the soil should be well +pressed down with the foot. As the seed is slow to germinate--in from +four to six weeks, according to weather conditions--it is well to sow +with it a few radish seeds, which will soon appear and mark the lines of +the drills, so that cultivation may begin at once. Soaking the seed in +luke-warm water for twenty-four hours before sowing will hasten its +germination. + +The cultivation of the young plants consists in keeping the soil about +them light, and free from grass and weeds. Most of this work can be done +with a garden cultivator, or a hoe and rake or prong hoe, but some hand +weeding is generally necessary in addition. Strict attention to this +will save a year in time, for if the seed-bed has been neglected, it +will take two years to get the plants as large as they should be in one +year if they had been properly cared for. In consequence of this very +frequent neglect of proper cultivation of the seed-bed, it is a common +impression that the plants must be two years old before transplanting. +One pound of seed will produce about 10,000 plants, but as many of these +will have to be thinned out and poor ones rejected, it is not safe to +count upon more than one-half of this number of good plants. The number +of plants required for an acre varies according to the manner of +planting. If planted in rows three feet apart and two feet in the rows, +it will require 7,260 plants per acre; if planted three by four, 3,630 +per acre. + + +SOWING THE SEED WHERE THE PLANTS ARE TO REMAIN + +Growing asparagus without transplanting is gradually finding many +advocates among those who raise only the green article. It is not only a +cheaper but in some respects a better method than the raising of the +plants in a special seed-bed, from which they are transplanted after a +year or two. "The plan is very simple," wrote Peter Henderson in +_American Agriculturist_, "and can be followed by any one having even a +slight knowledge of farming or gardening work. In the fall prepare the +land by manuring, deep plowing, and harrowing, making it as level and +smooth as possible for the reception of the seed. Strike out lines three +feet apart and about two to three inches deep, in which sow the seed by +hand or seed-drill, as is most convenient, using from five to seven +pounds of seed to each acre. After sowing, and before covering, tread +down the seed in the rows with the feet evenly; then draw the back of +the rake lengthwise over the rows, after which roll the whole surface. + +"As soon as the land is dry and fit to work in the spring, the young +plants of asparagus will start through the ground, sufficient to define +the rows. At once begin to cultivate with hand or horse cultivator, and +stir the ground so as to destroy the embryo weeds, breaking the soil in +the rows between the plants with the fingers or hand weeder for the same +purpose. This must be repeated at intervals of two or three weeks during +the summer, as the success of this plan is entirely dependent on keeping +down the weeds, which, if allowed to grow, would soon smother the +asparagus plants, that, for the first season of their growth, are weaker +than most weeds. In two or three months after starting, the asparagus +will have attained ten or twelve inches in hight, and it must now be +thinned out, so that the plants stand nine inches apart in the rows. By +fall they will be from two to three feet in hight and, if the directions +for culture have been faithfully followed, strong and vigorous. + +"When the stems die down (but not before) cut them off close to the +ground, and cover the lines for five or six inches on each side with two +or three inches of rough manure. The following spring renew cultivation, +and keep down the weeds the second year exactly as was done during the +first, and so on to the spring of the fourth year, when a crop will be +produced that will well reward all the labor that has been expended. +Sometimes, if the land is particularly suitable, a marketable crop may +be secured the third year, but as a rule it will be better to wait until +the fourth year before cutting much, as this would weaken the plants. To +compensate for the loss of a year's time in thus growing asparagus from +seed, cabbage, lettuce, onions, beets, spinach or similar crops that +will be marketable before the asparagus has grown high enough to +interfere with them, may be planted between the rows of asparagus the +first year of its growth with but little injury to it." + + +GOOD CROPS TWO YEARS FROM SEED + +In answer to the many inquiries as to how asparagus can be grown to +weigh two and three-fourths pounds per bunch of twenty-six stalks from +plants two years old from seed, as exhibited at a recent American +Institute spring exhibition, George M. Hay, of Connecticut, writes in +_American Gardening_ as follows: + +"Select a piece of ground where the soil is light, but of a good depth, +and plow thoroughly. About the 1st of May mark off the rows three or +four feet apart--for myself I prefer the latter distance as giving +plenty of room for cultivation. Run a two-horse plow over the same +furrow two or three times and you will have a depth of from fourteen to +eighteen inches. + +"Trenches having been all made, we come to the most important +part--namely, manuring. In order to give the young plants a good start +after germination we have to use liberal quantities of well-rotted +stable manure, and in this the young plants make roots that in a short +time are surprising. I use a one-horse load of manure to every +seventy-five feet of drill, tramping it well down, and with a rake draw +from each side of the trench soil to cover the manure to a depth of from +two to three inches. The surface is raked level, and with the end of a +rake or hoe a furrow one inch deep is drawn. + +"We are now ready for the seed, which should have been soaked in tepid +water for at least twenty-four hours. This will insure the immediate +starting of the seed when the soil is moist and has not had a chance to +dry out. If unsoaked seed is used and we have a dry spell for two or +three weeks, the seed will be almost useless by the time it receives +moisture enough to start. + +"When the asparagus is two or three inches high thin out to one foot +apart, being very careful not to disturb the plants left. A piece of a +stick cut to the shape of a table-knife is an ideal tool for thinning +out the young plants. It will be necessary to weed the rows by hand, +while the plants are very small, for a distance of six inches on each +side, as the cultivator, if run too close, will cover up the young +plants. Keep the horse cultivator at work as often as possible to +maintain moisture for the young roots. + +"By fall you will be surprised to learn how far the young roots have +traveled and the crowns prepared for next year's crop. Cover the rows +with stable manure for the winter, and in spring give a dressing of one +pound of nitrate of soda to one hundred feet of drill, and you will be +well repaid for the extra labor and outlay by being able to cut +asparagus of extra size in two years from the time of sowing the seed, +doing away with the transplanting of two-year-old roots, and then +waiting two more years before the first crop can be cut." + +The principal objection which has been made against this system of not +transplanting is that it does not admit of a careful choice of plants, +as the plants must be kept in the places where sown, while in the +transplanting method we need use only the choicest plants; then, if two +or three seeds come up close together, it is very difficult to thin +them out, and if left they will produce an inferior growth. + + +POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS PLANTS + +In the tests made at the Missouri Experiment Station, Prof. J. C. +Whitten found that it is much better to plant the seeds in six inches of +rich, sandy soil in the greenhouse or hotbed, in February or early +March, than to wait two or three months for outdoor planting. Professor +Whitten advises to "sow liberally, for seven-eighths of the seedlings +should be discarded. When the seedlings are three inches high, select +those which have the thickest, fleshiest, and most numerous stems, and +pot them. They vary more than almost any other vegetable. Many that +appear large and vigorous will have broad, flat, twisted, or corrugated +stems. Discard them. Beware, also, of those that put out leaves close to +the soil. These will all make tough, stringy, undesirable plants. The +best plants are those which are cylindrical, smooth, and free from +ridges. They shoot up rapidly, and attain a hight of two inches before +leaves are put out. They look much like smooth needles. This matter of +selecting the best plants for potting, and subsequent planting out, is +of the greatest importance in asparagus culture. + +"These young plants should first be put in small pots and moved into +larger ones as soon as they are well rooted. They may need to be shifted +twice before they are planted out-of-doors, which should be done when +danger of frost is over. Started in this way they continue to grow from +the time they are planted out and reach very large size the first +season. In the case of nursery-grown plants, where seeds are sown +directly out-of-doors, the young seedlings start very slowly, are very +tender during their early growth, and if the weather is unfavorable they +hardly become well established before autumn." + +[Illustration: FIG. 13--ONE-YEAR-OLD POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS PLANT] + +Fig. 13 shows a one-year-old plant started in February in the greenhouse +and transplanted to the field the first of May. Plants grown in this way +reach as good size in one year as the nursery-grown plants usually do in +three years. + + + + +VI + +SELECTION OF PLANTS + + +That strong, healthy, one-year-old plants are in every way to be +preferred to two or three year old ones has been demonstrated by many +carefully conducted experiments, and is now universally recognized by +intelligent and observant asparagus growers. The most noteworthy and +accurate experiments in this line were made by the famous French +asparagus specialist M. Godefroy-Leboeuf, who planted twelve stools of +one, two, and three years old respectively in the same soil under the +same conditions and at the same time. Calling those plantings Nos. 1, 2, +and 3, the following are the results obtained: + + _First Year._--No. 1.--All the stools came up before May 4th, and + were well grown. + + No. 2.--Ten stools showed above ground before May 4th, one on the + 10th, and one appeared to be dead. The asparagus heads were very + fine--finer, indeed, than those of No. 1. + + No. 3.--Eight stools showed above ground before May 4th, one on the + 12th, and three gave no signs of life. The heads were very fine at + first, but they became bent toward the end of the year (September + 15th), and were much weaker than those of No. 2. + + * * * * * + + _Second Year._--No. 1.--Well-grown, regular, and strong heads, + which measured on September 15th one inch in circumference. + + No. 2.--Well-grown but irregular heads, somewhat weaker than those + of No. 1. + + No. 3.--Only pretty well-grown heads, very irregular, some of the + stools having as many as eight or ten, but all very weak. One stool + died after growing two heads. + + * * * * * + + _Third Year._--No. 1.--Magnificent growths, the heads measuring on + April 10th from two inches to three and one-quarter inches in + circumference. + + No. 2.--Growth passable only, but very irregular. Some of the + stools were very small. The finest of them produced heads which + from April 8th to 10th only measured two and one-half inches in + circumference. + + No. 3.--Growth very poor and very irregular. Some of the stools + continued to produce small heads not much thicker than a quill pen, + the largest being from one and one-half inch to two inches in + circumference. + + * * * * * + + _Fourth Year._--No. 1.--Growth very remarkable. The heads began to + show on April 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. Some were from three and + one-quarter inches to four inches in circumference, and measured + four and three-quarter inches. Fifty of the heads formed a bundle + which weighed seven pounds. + + No. 2.--Growth passable, but later than No. 1. The heads made their + first appearance on April 6th, 10th, and 11th. Many of them were + very small; fifty of them barely made half a bundle, and only + weighed three and three-quarter pounds. + + No. 3.--Growth but poor, and somewhat late. The heads made their + appearance on April 4th, 6th, 9th, and 11th; one did not show till + the 22d. Fifty heads barely formed half a bundle and only weighed + two and one-half pounds. + + To sum up, it is clear that the plants of a year old in their + fourth season--that is to say, after having been planted out for + three years--gave a bundle weighing seven pounds, while those of + two years old only gave three and three-quarter pounds, and those + of three years old only two and one-half pounds; in other words, + taking round numbers, the plantation made with the one-year-old + plants produced double the crop of the two-year-old plants and + treble that of the three-year-old plants. The reader may easily + draw his conclusions from the preceding facts. + +Equally important is a careful selection of the individual plants to be +set out. A crown with four or five strong, well-developed buds is far +better than one with a dozen or more of weak and sickly ones, as the +latter will always produce thin and poor spears of poor quality. It is +therefore highly to be recommended to select only plants with not over +six buds and discard all others. The roots should be strong and of +uniform thickness, succulent and not too fibrous. Dry or withered roots +have to be cut off, and plants with many bruised or otherwise damaged +roots should be rejected entirely. The best roots are the cheapest. + + +MALE AND FEMALE PLANTS + +It has long been observed that all of the asparagus plants in a bed do +not produce seeds, owing to the fact that the male and female flowers in +asparagus are nearly always borne on separate plants. Seed bearing is an +exhaustive process, and, as might be supposed, those plants that have +produced seed have less vigor than those that have not. In order to +determine the difference in vigor between the seed bearing and non-seed +bearing plants, Prof. William J. Green, horticulturist of the Ohio +Experiment Station, staked off fifty of each in a plantation of half an +acre. When the cuttings were made the shoots taken from male and female +plants were kept separate, and the weight of each recorded in Bulletin +No. 9, Volume III., of the Ohio Station, as follows: + +"The cuttings were made at regular intervals and in the ordinary manner, +as for market purposes. The weight of shoots taken at each cutting is +not given in the table, since the facts are quite as well shown by +stating the aggregate weight for periods of ten days each. The division +into periods is made for the purpose of showing comparative earliness. +This could be shown in a more marked degree by taking the first and +second cuttings alone, but they were too limited in quantity to admit of +conclusions being drawn from them; hence they are included with the +other cuttings in the same period. + +PRODUCT FROM FIFTY PLANTS EACH, MALE AND FEMALE + ++========================+=============+============+ + |_Product from|_Product from + | fifty male | fifty female + | plants_ | plants_ ++------------------------+-------------+------------+ + | _Ounces_ | _Ounces_ + First period, 10 days | 37 | 21 + Second period, 10 days | 104 | 68 + Third period, 10 days | 266 | 164 + Fourth period, 10 days | 203 | 154 + +-------------+------------+ + Total for the season | 610 | 407 ++========================+=============+============+ + +"This shows a gain of the male over the female plants of seventy-six per +cent. for the first period, and a fraction less than fifty per cent. for +the whole season. Reversing the standard of comparison, it will be seen +that the female plants fall below the male forty-three per cent. for the +first period, and a little more than thirty-three per cent. in the +total. In no case did the female plants produce equally with the male. + +"If comparative earliness is determined by the date of first cutting +alone, there is no difference between the male and female plants, since +the first cutting was made on both at the same date; but taking quantity +of product into consideration, which is the proper method, there is a +decided difference, the gain of the male over the female plants being +seventy-six, fifty-two, sixty-three, and thirty-one per cent. for the +four periods respectively. The difference in yield between the two was +greatest at first, and diminished toward the last, which practically +amounts to the same thing as the male being earlier than the female. +There is a still further difference between the two in quality of +product, the shoots of the female plant being smaller and inferior to +those of the male. + +"It is not safe to draw conclusions from such limited observations as +these, further, at least, than to accept them as representing the truth +approximately. Allowing a wide margin for possible error, there would +still seem to be sufficient difference in productive capacity between +the male and female plants to justify the selection of the former and +rejection of the latter when a new plantation is to be started. If the +figures given in the table are taken as a basis, the gain in the crop, +if the male plants alone were used, would each season pay for all the +plants rejected, and leave a handsome margin at the end of the term of +years when an asparagus bed has served its period of usefulness. Male +plants can be secured by division of old plants, or by selecting those +that bear no seed, after they have attained the age of two years." + +In summing up the results of this experiment, Professor Green states +that male asparagus plants are about fifty per cent. more productive +than female plants, and the shoots being larger have a greater market +value. + + + + +VII + +THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION + + +As asparagus in its wild state is usually found growing in light and +sandy soils along or near the seashore, it has long been supposed that +it could not be cultivated in other localities and soils. While it is +true that asparagus succeeds best in a sandy, rich, and friable loam, +naturally underdrained and yet not too dry, there is not another +vegetable which accommodates itself more readily to as varying soils and +conditions. There is hardly a State in the United States in which at +present asparagus is not grown more or less extensively and profitably, +and the most famous asparagus districts of France and Germany are +situated at great distances from the seashore. + +The question of what soil to use is, as a rule, already settled; we have +to use the soil we have. Any good garden soil is suitable for asparagus, +and if it is not in the most favorable condition, under existing +circumstances, it can easily be made so. The soil should be free from +roots, stones, or any material that will not readily disintegrate, or +that will interfere with the growth of the spears, and with the knife in +cutting. Fruit or other trees, or high shrubs, must not be allowed in +the asparagus bed, because of the shade they throw over the beds, and +because their roots make heavy drafts upon the soil. Nor should high +trees, hedges, hills, or buildings be so near as to shade the beds, +because all the sunshine obtainable is needed to bring the spears +quickly to the surface. Whenever practicable the asparagus bed should be +protected from cold winds, and so slope that the full benefit of the +sunshine will be obtained during the whole day. Brinckmeier, in his +"Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," gives the following three rules for +guidance in selecting a location for asparagus beds: + +"1. One should choose, in reference to ground characteristics, open, +free-lying land, protected to the north and east [which, for American +conditions, should be north and west], of gradual slope, free from trees +or shrubbery. + +"2. The field should be exposed to the rays of the sun all day long; +therefore, a southern exposure is desirable, or, if that is not +obtainable, a southwesterly or southeasterly slope, because either east, +west, or north exposure will cause shade during a greater or less +portion of the day. + +"3. Standing, stagnant ground water, which cannot be drawn off by +drainage, is to be avoided, the requirements of the plants indicating a +somewhat damp subsoil, but not too high ground water." + +For commercial purposes on a large scale, and when the trucker has the +choice of location, a well-drained, light, deep, sandy loam, with a +light clay subsoil, is to be preferred to any other. Heavy clay soil, or +land with a hard-pan subsoil, or, in fact, any soil that is cold and +wet, is totally unfit for profitable asparagus growing, unless it is +thoroughly underdrained and made lighter by a plentiful addition of sand +and muck. + +Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more so than great +fertility, for the latter can be produced by heavy manuring, which the +future cultivation will require; and to the end that weeds may be few, +it is well that for a year or two previous to planting the land should +have been occupied by some hoed crop, such as potatoes, beets, cabbage, +etc. Land on which corn has been growing for two or three years is in +excellent condition for an asparagus field, provided it has been heavily +manured one year previous to the planting of the roots. + + +PREPARATION OF THE GROUND + +Asparagus differs from most other vegetables in that it is a perennial, +and when once planted properly, in suitable soil, it will continue to +produce an annual crop for a generation if not for an indefinite period, +while if the work is done carelessly and without consideration for the +plant's requirements the plantation will never prove satisfactory and +will run out entirely in the course of a few years. The establishing of +an asparagus bed is naturally more expensive than the planting and +raising of annual vegetables. In addition to this, the plants have to be +taken care of for three years before a crop can be harvested. On the +other hand, an asparagus bed is an investment for a lifetime, and the +dividends derived from it increase in proportion to the care and +thoroughness bestowed upon the preparation of the land. + +It is at once apparent, then, that nothing should be neglected to bring +the soil into the best possible condition before planting. This truth +was fully recognized by the gardeners of former years who practiced +most extraordinary methods in order to bring the land into the most +favorable condition for asparagus. Even now in some European countries, +where labor is cheap, the entire ground is trenched to a depth of three +or four feet, turning in at the same time all the available manure, +seaweed, and other fertilizing material. + +A famous old-time asparagus bed in England was made in this manner: "The +land was trenched three feet deep in trenches three feet wide and cast +up into rough ridges, after a crop of summer peas. All decaying +vegetation in the rubbish yards and corners was at the same time well +sorted and turned up. Early in autumn also were added some old mushroom, +melon, and cucumber bed material, a lot of manure from piggeries, cow +houses, and stables, a quantity of road-grit and sand, a quantity of +ditch and drain parings, turfy loam and sods, quite three feet thick. +These were all turned over four times and well incorporated together, +between Michaelmas and Lady Day, as one would a dungheap, the whole +being left in large ridges exposed to the frost. By April this compost +was in a kindly state; it was, therefore, laid down and planted with +good, clean one-year-old asparagus plants, which certainly grew in a +most extraordinary way." + +Another elaborate way of making an asparagus bed, formerly practiced in +France, is described by Dr. Maccullogh as follows: "A pit the size of +the intended plantation is dug four feet in depth, and the mold taken +from it must be sifted, taking care to reject all stones, even as low in +size as a filbert nut. The best part of the mold must then be laid aside +before making up the beds. The materials of the bed are then to be laid +in the following proportions and order: Six inches of common dunghill +manure, eight inches of turf, six inches of dung as before, six inches +of sifted earth, eight inches of turf, six inches of very rotten dung, +eight inches of the best of earth. The last layer of earth must then be +well mixed with the last of dung. The compartment must now be divided +into beds five feet wide by paths constructed of turf two feet in +breadth and one foot in thickness." + +A bed prepared in this manner, and planted and cultivated with as much +painstaking care, will no doubt produce asparagus of unsurpassed +quality, and may last forever. Yet the use of modern implements and a +better knowledge of the nature and requirements of the plant have +demonstrated that first-class asparagus can be produced with far less +expense and labor. While a deep and loose soil produces earlier and +better crops than a heavy and shallow one, indiscriminate deepening of +the soil by trenching or other means is not always desirable, even where +the cost does not come into consideration. When the subsoil is very +light and poor and deficient in humus, the placing of the better surface +soil below and the infertile lower strata above, trenching would be a +positive detriment. The same would be the case where the subsoil +consists of heavy impervious clay. + +In the fall preceding planting the land should be plowed deeply and left +in the rough state during the winter. Subsoiling has often been +recommended, yet practical growers but rarely make use of the subsoil +plow in the preparation of asparagus plantations, although the value of +subsoiling where the subsoil is heavy can not be doubted. Where stable +or barnyard manure can be had cheaply, and the soil is heavy, a liberal +coat spread broadcast over the surface and left to the action of the +weather during winter will ameliorate the ground considerably. In most +cases, however, the same object may be obtained by applying the manure +in spring. Joseph Harris mentions a case in which a bed was plowed and +subsoiled in the fall and the soil filled with manure, while another bed +near by was planted without manure, or extra preparation of any kind, +relying entirely on artificial fertilizers after planting, and the +latter was by far the better bed. As early in spring as the ground is in +suitable condition to be worked it has to be plowed and harrowed and +brought into as perfect condition as possible. + + + + +VIII + +PLANTING + + +Throughout the Middle and Northern States, spring, as soon as the soil +can be worked to good advantage, is decidedly the most favorable time +for planting asparagus. If it is not practicable to plant thus early, +the work may sometimes be delayed up to the middle of June. In planting +thus late, however, preparation has to be made for watering the plants +in case of drouth, else failure be inevitable. It is also necessary to +do the work as expeditiously as possible, so as not to expose the roots +to the drying influences of the sun and wind. Fall planting is advisable +only in climates where there is no danger of winter-killing of the +roots. + +After the ground has been plowed and harrowed, or spaded and raked over, +and brought into as mellow a condition as possible, the rows for +planting are to be laid out. It is usually recommended to have the rows +run north and south, so as to readily admit the sunlight. When this is +not practicable, however, it need not deter any one from making an +asparagus bed, as it is more important to have the rows run with the +slope of the land than in any particular direction of the compass, in +order to provide ready surface drainage. + + +DISTANCE TO PLANT + +As to the best distance between the rows and the plants in the rows +there is a wide difference of opinion, more so than with almost any +other cultivated plant. No unvarying rule can be laid down on this +point, as it depends largely upon the mechanical condition, depth, and +fertility of the soil. In a rich, moderately heavy soil, the roots may +be planted closer than in a poor, light soil. The tendency of the +present day is for giving the plants considerably more room than what +formerly was thought to be ample. Intelligent observers could not fail +to notice that crowded asparagus beds produce later and smaller crops, +and of inferior size and quality; that they do not last as long; and +that they are more liable to attacks from insects and fungi than when +more room is given to the plants. + +Gardeners of but a few decades ago had no idea of the possibility of +raising a profitable crop of asparagus planted four or five feet apart, +and would have looked with derision upon any one advocating so wild a +scheme. The remains of run out, old-time asparagus beds are still in +evidence in many old farm gardens. The rows in these were originally one +foot apart and the plants in the rows even closer than this, and perhaps +after every third or fourth row there was a path two feet wide. Of +course, in such a bed, after a few years, the entire ground became a +solid mass of roots, and the stalks became smaller and tougher from year +to year. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14--HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD +ASPARAGUS ROOT] + +In most asparagus sections special customs prevail, and even in these +different growers have their individual preferences; but all agree that +asparagus should never be planted closer than two feet in rows three +feet apart. For the home garden there is no better plan than to plant +but a single row, with the plants two or three feet apart, along the +edge or border of the ground, but not nearer than four or five feet to +other plants, and in case of grape-vines even more room should be given. +Here they require but little care, and the plants have an unlimited +space for the extension of their roots in search of moisture and food. +Asparagus needs considerable water, and an acre of land will hold so +much water and no more. The more plants there are on an acre the less +water there will be for each plant, and what is true of water is also +true of plant food. + +In field culture the distance adopted by asparagus growers varies from 3 +x 3 feet (4,840 plants per acre); 3 x 4 feet (3,640 plants per acre); 4 +x 4 feet (2,722 plants per acre); 4 x 5 feet (2,178 plants per acre); 5 +x 6 feet (1,452 plants per acre); 6 x 6 feet (1,210 plants per acre), +and even more. If the idea is to have the plants so far apart that their +roots can not interlace, twenty feet each way would not be too +extravagant a distance, under favorable conditions, as will readily +become apparent by a glance at Fig. 14. This illustration is an exact +reproduction of the root system of an asparagus plant four years from +the seed. The roots spread out upon a level floor measured thirteen feet +from tip to tip, the single roots averaging the thickness of a lead +pencil. This root grew in Madison County, Ill., and was washed out of +the ground--without having any of its roots torn--by the unusually heavy +spring rains which caused the Piasa River to overflow its banks and sent +a current rushing through the asparagus field in which it grew. If the +plant had remained in its position a few years longer its roots would +probably have extended ten feet in each direction. + +From this it does not follow, however, that asparagus should be planted +twenty or even ten feet apart to produce the largest returns, but it +plainly shows why the roots should not be planted as closely together +as was customary in former years; and it obviously demonstrates that +when land is cheap and manure and labor high, asparagus can not be hurt +by giving it plenty of room. It should also be considered that +earliness, size, and quality make a great difference with the price and +profits when early and large shoots are in demand. It might be possible +to get double the number of shoots per acre from thick than from thin +planting, but they might be so small and spindling as not to be worth +the labor and expense of cutting and marketing. + + +DEPTH OF PLANTING + +Contrary to the all but universal belief, asparagus is not a deep-rooted +plant. In the wild state its most frequent habitat is on the fertile +marshes of the shoreline in Europe, on ground but a few inches above the +tidewater which permeates the sandy subsoil. As the roots can not live +in water, they naturally grow to long distances parallel with the +surface and retain this habit under cultivation. The tendency of growth +in the asparagus roots in this direction is obviously demonstrated in +Fig. 14. + +The proper depth of planting asparagus roots varies somewhat, according +to the character of the soil, the method of cultivation, and the kind of +spears desired, whether white or green. As the new crowns rise somewhat +above the old ones annually, it seems but rational that the plants +should have sufficient room for the new growths before their crowns +become even with the surface of the land. When the crown once comes near +the level of the soil it is impossible to give proper cultivation, +unless the entire bed be raised by adding soil to the whole surface. + +While it is true that the deeper the crowns are planted the later they +will start in the spring, this is of account only during the first few +years. Besides, the factor of earliness is not of nearly as much +importance now as it was before northern markets were so bountifully +supplied with the southern grown crops several months before the opening +of the northern season. Shallow-planted asparagus sprouts earlier, but +soon exhausts itself, sending up spindling, tough shoots, while the +deeper-planted crowns produce large and succulent sprouts throughout the +season. When green asparagus is desired, and there is no danger of the +beetles eating the sprouts before they are fit for use, a depth of two +or three inches is sufficient, but for white or blanched asparagus a +depth of from eight to ten inches is necessary. + + +MANNER OF PLANTING + +As in other details of asparagus culture, the methods of planting have +undergone very material changes. The formerly usual practice of digging +deep trenches was not well founded--in the light of our present +experience and knowledge--and could be useful only for drainage. How +little regard was paid to the nature and requirements of the plant may +readily be perceived by reading the following directions for making an +asparagus bed, but little over half a century ago, in Bridgeman's "Young +Gardeners' Assistant": + +"The ground for the asparagus bed should have a large supply of +well-rotted dung, three or four inches thick, and then be regularly +trenched two spades deep, and the dung buried equally in each trench +twelve or fifteen inches below the surface. When this trenching is done, +lay two or three inches of thoroughly rotted manure over the whole +surface, and dig the ground over again eight or ten inches deep, mixing +this top-dressing, and incorporating it well with the earth. + +"In family gardens it is customary to divide the ground thus prepared +into beds, allowing four feet for every four rows of plants, with alleys +two feet and a half wide between each bed. Strain your line along the +bed six inches from the edge; then with a spade cut out a small trench +or drill close to the line, about six inches deep, making that side next +to the line nearly upright; when one trench is opened, plant that before +you open another, placing the plants upright ten or twelve inches +distance in the row, and let every row be twelve inches apart. + +"The plants must not be placed flat in the bottom of the trench, but +nearly upright against the back of it, and so that the crown of the +plants must also stand upright, and two or three inches below the +surface of the ground, spreading their roots somewhat regularly against +the back of the trench, and at the same time drawing a little earth up +against them with the hand as you place them, just to fix the plants in +their due position until the row is planted; when one row is thus +placed, with a rake or hoe draw the earth into the trench over the +plants, and then proceed to open another drill or trench, as before +directed, and fill and cover it in the same manner, and so on until the +whole is planted; then let the surface of the beds be raked smooth and +clear from stones, etc. + +"Some gardeners, with a view to having extra large heads, place their +plants sixteen inches apart in the rows instead of twelve, and by +planting them in the quincunx manner--that is, by commencing the second +row eight inches from the end of the first and the fourth even with the +second--the plants will form rhomboidal squares instead of rectangular +ones, and every plant will thus have room to expand its roots and leaves +luxuriantly." + +In diametrical contradistinction, and as an example of the very plainest +and simplest of modern methods, Joseph Harris wrote: "If you are going +to plant a small bed in the garden, stretch a line not less than four +feet from any other plant, and with a hoe make holes along the line, +eighteen inches or three feet apart, four inches deep, and large enough +to hold the plants when the roots are spread out horizontally. Do not +make deep holes straight down in the ground and stick the roots in as +you would a cabbage, but spread out the roots. After the roots are set +out cover them with fine soil, and that is all there is to it. Then move +the line three feet from the first row and repeat the planting until the +bed is finished. In the field make the rows with a common corn-marker, +three feet apart each way, and set out a plant where the rows cross. It +is but little more work to plant an acre of asparagus than an acre of +potatoes." + +Between these extreme methods many different directions for planting +asparagus have been given and practiced. Modern methods have not only +greatly simplified the planting, but have also materially reduced the +expense, increased the crop, and improved the quality of the product. + +[Illustration: FIG. 15--TRENCHES READY FOR PLANTING] + +After the ground has been properly prepared, it is marked off in +parallel rows from three to five or more feet apart, according to the +preferences of the grower. The easiest way to open these trenches is by +plowing a furrow each way, and, if necessary, going over the ground a +sufficient number of times to make the furrows from eight to ten inches +deep. After this the loose soil is thrown out with a shovel or a wide +hoe, so as to leave the trenches at a uniform depth of ten to twelve +inches and of the same width at the bottom, as seen in Fig. 15. By +rigging a piece of board on the mold-board of the plow more soil is +thrown out, so that usually it will not be necessary to go over the +ground oftener than twice. The Messrs. Hudson & Son, of Long Island, +have devised for their own use a "trencher" (Fig. 16), which with a good +team opens the trench to the desired depth in one operation and at a +great saving of labor. + +[Illustration: FIG. 16--HUDSON'S TRENCHER] + +If the entire ground has been heavily fertilized, plowing manure in the +trenches will not be necessary, yet many experienced asparagus growers +think that it pays to scatter some fertilizing material into the +trenches before planting. A favorite plan with Long Island growers is to +mix half a ton of ground bone, or fish scrap, with one hundred pounds of +nitrate of soda per acre, and thoroughly incorporate this mixture with +the soil to a depth of three inches before setting the plants. Others +prefer thoroughly decomposed manure spread over the bottom of the +furrow, to a depth of about three inches, before setting the plants. +Others prefer thoroughly decomposed manure spread over the bottom of the +furrow, to a depth of about three inches, and covering it with two +inches of fine soil. If the roots are to be planted four or more feet +apart it will be sufficient to throw a shovelful of manure where the +roots are to be placed. This is then spread out so as to make a layer +of about three inches, which is then covered with soil. + + +PLACING THE ROOTS + +The proper planting of the roots is the most critical point in asparagus +culture, as upon the manner in which this is performed--more than upon +other detail--depends the success, yield, duration, and profit of the +plantation. Almost any other neglect can be remedied by after-treatment, +but careless and faulty planting, never. Whatever care and personal +attention the grower may give to this work will be repaid manyfold in +future returns. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17--ASPARAGUS ROOT IN PROPER POSITION FOR COVERING] + +As stated before, only strong, healthy one-year-old plants with three or +four strong buds should be used, so as to insure an even growth over the +entire field, and at every stage of the work great care must be taken +not to expose the roots to the drying influences of sun and winds. When +everything is in readiness for planting, the roots are placed in the +trench, the crown in the center and the rootlets spread out evenly and +horizontally, like the spokes of a wheel, and at once covered with three +inches of fine, mellow soil, which is pressed around them. If the ground +is dry at planting-time it should be pressed down quite firmly about the +roots, so as to prevent their drying out, and to hasten their growth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18--CROSS-SECTION OF ASPARAGUS BED AFTER PLANTING] + +To still more insure success it is an excellent plan to draw up little +hills of soil in the bottom of the trench over which to place the roots +with the crowns resting on the top, thus raising the crowns a few inches +above the extremities of the roots and providing for them a position +similar to what they stood in before transplanting, as seen in Fig. 17. + +The subsequent covering of the roots can usually be done with a +one-horse plow, from which the mold-board has been removed, passing down +the sides of the row. This leaves the plants in a depression, the soil +thrown out in opening the rows forming a ridge on each side, as shown in +Fig. 18. This depression will gradually become filled during the process +of cultivation the succeeding summer. + + + + +IX + +CULTIVATION + + +As generally understood, the chief object of cultivation is to kill +weeds. This is an erroneous idea, however, as the appearance of weeds +serves simply as Nature's reminder of the necessity of immediate +cultivation. On ground cultivated as thoroughly as it should be for the +best development of the crop there will rarely be any weeds to kill, as +their germs have been destroyed by the process of cultivation before +they could make their appearance above the ground. + + +CARE DURING THE FIRST YEAR + +The cultural work in the asparagus bed during the first year consists in +loosening the soil at frequent intervals, and especially as soon after +rain as the ground becomes dry enough for cultivation. Frequent and +thorough cultivation is necessary not only to keep down the weeds, but +also to prevent the formation of a crust on the soil after rain, and to +provide a mulch of loose earth for the retention of moisture. In field +culture the work is best done with a one-horse cultivator or a +wheel-hoe, and on a small scale with a scuffle-hoe and a rake. As the +sprouts grow up small quantities of fine soil should be drawn into the +trenches from time to time, but during the early part of the season +great care must be exercised not to cover the crowns too deeply. + +Some growers advise to work the soil away instead of toward the plants, +considering the four inches of soil with which the roots are covered at +planting sufficient for the first year. While this may be true in a wet +or moderately moist summer, in a season of drouth the additional mulch +of mellow soil can not but be beneficial to the young and tender plants. +Especial care is required when working around the young sprouts, so as +not to cover, break, or in any way injure any of them. + +In the garden bed it pays to stake the canes when they are but a foot +high, so as to prevent the wind from disturbing the stools in the soil +by swaying the shoots backward and forward. Careful gardeners insert +stakes for this purpose at the time of planting, before the roots are +covered with soil, so as to guard against the danger of injuring any of +them. The best material for this tying is raffia, or Cuban bast. In +field culture staking is usually not practicable, partly on account of +the cost, and also because where there are many plants growing close +together they furnish some mutual protection to one another. The same +end may also be accomplished--partly, at least--by throwing up a furrow +on each side of the rows of plants. Precautions of this kind are +important in localities exposed to high winds, as their neglect may +often cause greater loss than it would have cost to provide proper +protection. + +Another important work in the asparagus bed during the first year is to +keep close and constant watch over the asparagus beetle, and at its +first appearance to apply the remedies recommended in the chapter on +injurious insects. Plants deprived of their foliage at this early stage +of their life have but a poor chance to recover from the loss. + +If it is found that some of the plants have not started by the middle of +June, it is best to replace them with growing plants of the same age, +which should have been kept in a reserve bed for this purpose. If this +replanting is done carefully, so as not to mutilate any of the roots, +and on a cloudy day, it is best not to cut back the tops very severely. +Unless a copious rain sets in soon after planting, the roots have to be +heavily watered, after which they will keep on growing at once without +suffering any setback. + +The formerly all but universal practice was to cover the roots with +manure after the stalks had been removed in the fall for fear of frost +injuring or killing the roots. In sections where winters are very severe +this may still be desirable, as may be seen from the statement of so +keen an observer as Professor J. C. Whitten, of the Missouri Experiment +Station: "Most writers advise applying dressing of old fine manure +during the growing season when the plants can use it. In our soil better +results are obtained by applying it in winter. It prevents the soil from +running together and hardening, and also prevents the sprouts from +coming through, as they otherwise often do, too early in spring, and +becoming weakened by subsequent severe freezing." + +As the reverse of this plan, M. Godefroy-Leboeuf, the famous French +authority, recommends "to clear out of the trenches the soil which has +fallen into them from the sides of the mounds, and also remove from +above the stools a portion of that with which they were covered at the +time they were planted--say, to a depth of one and one-half inches--so +that the action of the frost may open the soil and that the rain may +penetrate and improve it; also that during the first fine days of spring +the sun may warm the surface of the soil and penetrate as far as the +stools. There is no fear that the action of the frost should hurt the +plants. Asparagus will never freeze as long as the stool is covered with +a layer of soil one and one-half to one and three-fourth inches in +depth." + +If the rows are not less than four feet apart a crop of some other +vegetables may be raised between them. Beans, dwarf peas, lettuce, +beets, or any kinds which do not spread much, are suitable for the +purpose. These by-products will help considerably toward paying the cost +of cultivating the main crop, besides having a tendency to keep the soil +cool and moist, a condition of no little importance to the asparagus. + + +CARE DURING THE SECOND YEAR + +The treatment of the asparagus plantation during the second year does +not differ materially from that of the first season after planting. The +ground has to be stirred frequently and kept scrupulously clean, and a +sharp lookout must be kept for the advent of injurious insects. As soon +as berries appear on the tops they should be stripped off and destroyed, +as the ripening seed absorbs a large share of the nourishment which +ought to go to the development and strengthening of the crowns which are +to produce the following year's crop. + +Even with the best of care, some plants will die out from time to time, +although the more thoroughly the ground has been prepared at the time of +planting, and the better the quality of the roots planted, the fewer +failures of this kind will occur. These blank spaces are not only +constant eyesores to the methodical gardener, but in the course of +several years the aggregate shortage of crops will be considerable, +while the amount of labor and fertilizer will be the same as in a fully +stocked plantation. Therefore, such vacancies should be filled in the +spring, not only of the second year, but whenever they occur in future +seasons. + +The best way to replant these dead or dying roots is to go over the rows +each fall, before the ground freezes, and drive a stake wherever there +is a plant missing, as in the spring, before the plants have started, it +would be difficult, if not impossible, to indicate the blank spaces. For +replanting in the second year good strong two-year-old roots should be +used. For the third and future years it is best to raise and keep a +supply of a sufficient number of reserve plants for this special purpose +in a similar manner as is done for forcing. As early in spring as the +season permits these clumps should be carefully lifted and transferred +to the permanent plantation. For three-year and older beds good strong +three-year-old roots should be used, as younger ones would have but a +poor chance between two older and well-established clumps. + + +CARE DURING THE THIRD AND FUTURE YEARS + +The third year cutting may begin in a moderate way, but too much should +not be attempted. If all the conditions of growth have been favorable +half a crop may be cut without injuring the roots, but under no +circumstances should cutting in the third year be continued for more +than three weeks. The general care of the bed during the third year is +similar to that of the second, with the exception that the soil is +worked more toward the rows, ridging them slightly. + +In the spring of the third and each succeeding year, as soon as the +ground can be worked it should be plowed between the rows, turning the +soil toward and over the crowns, leaving a dead furrow between the rows, +as seen in Fig. 19. If bleached asparagus is desired, these ridges over +the rows should be twelve inches higher than the bottom of the dead +furrows between the rows, and when the soil is very light and sandy a +hight of fifteen inches is preferable. For green asparagus the ridges +are left lower, and the shoots are allowed to grow several inches above +the ground before cutting, provided the asparagus beetle does not +appropriate them sooner. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19--PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF AN ASPARAGUS FIELD PROPERLY +RIDGED IN EARLY SPRING MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION] + +After the furrows are plowed out between the rows a home-made ridger is +used to smooth the ridges and complete the work. This is formed of two +heavy oak boards shod with tire iron, sloping upward and backward, +attached to a pair of cultivator wheels. This requires a good team, one +horse walking on either side of the row. On the light soils of Long +Island this implement works to perfection, but on stiff lands a +two-horse disk-wheel cultivator, with two disks on each side, going +astride of each row and throwing up fresh soil upon the ridge, proves +more effective. The same implements are used for renewing the ridges +during the cutting season, which will be required about once a week, as +the rains beat them down and the sun bakes a crust upon the top. + +Immediately after the cutting season is over the ridges are leveled, by +plowing a furrow from each side of the center (Fig. 20), after which the +land is harrowed crosswise until the surface is level and smooth. As +long as practical, surface cultivation should be given, especially after +rains, but usually at this time the plants make such rapid and vigorous +growth that there will be little time for the work. Their tops and +branches soon fill the entire space and quickly shade the ground so +densely as to keep down weed growth. Of course, whatever tall weeds may +spring up here and there have to be pulled out by hand. + + +FALL TREATMENT + +[Illustration: FIG. 20--LEVELING THE RIDGES AFTER THE CUTTING SEASON] + +The fall clearing of the plantation is an important part of asparagus +culture. As soon as the berries are turning red--but not before--the +stalks should be cut off even with the ground. If left longer the +berries will drop off, their seeds will soon become embedded in the +ground and fill the soil with seedling asparagus plants, which are about +the most obstinate weed in the asparagus bed. If cut sooner they are not +sufficiently matured, and the roots are deprived of their nourishment. +All the brush should be removed at once to an open field and burned, so +as not to provide lodging-places for injurious insects and fungi. Some +recommend leaving the seedless plants as a mulch during the winter, but +the possible benefit of this is so insignificant that it is not worth +while to leave them for a second cleaning in spring, when time is far +more valuable. + + +RENOVATING OLD ASPARAGUS BEDS + +The principal causes of asparagus beds running out are that in the first +place ten plants are set out in a space where only one could thrive; +then that the ground is not rich enough and had no proper cultivation; +and last, but not least, that the cutting of the stalks has been carried +to excess. What to do with the old bed is sometimes a perplexing +question, especially when a place changes hands and the new proprietor +has more progressive ideas than the former one had. + +Let the old bed stay, and set out a new one according to rational +methods. Some years ago the writer came into possession of an asparagus +bed which was known to be forty years old, and may have been much older. +It was a solid mass of roots without any distinguishable rows. The +spears produced were so small and tough that the first impulse was to +dig up the roots. But as this proved to be a more formidable task than +was anticipated, another plan was pursued. In autumn the bed was thickly +covered with fine yard manure. The following spring the bed was marked +out into strips of two feet in width. When the sprouts appeared those in +every alternate strip were cut clean off during the entire summer, and +the others allowed to grow. In the autumn of the year another heavy +application of manure was given to the entire bed. The following year +but few shoots appeared in the strips which had been cut all through the +summer. These were treated the same as before, and in the third year not +a sprout appeared in the alleys. The stalks left for use improved +greatly during the first year and the third year were of good +serviceable size and quality, so that even after the new bed, which had +been planted at the time this experiment was commenced, came into +bearing, the old one was retained for several years longer. Probably if +the vacant strips had been made three or four feet wide the result would +have been still better. This experience suggests the idea that the +easiest and least expensive way of exterminating an old asparagus bed is +to persistently mow down all the shoots for a season or two. + + + + +X + +FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING + + +Asparagus is a gross feeder. There is hardly another plant in +cultivation upon the vitality of which so great a demand is made. The +cutting of all its sprouts, or shoots, as soon as they appear above the +ground, for several weeks, is an abnormal and enormous tax upon the +plant, which is thus forced to extra exertion in order to reproduce +itself and perpetuate its kind. Therefore, it should have the most +tender care, and an abundance of nourishing and readily available food. +The earliness, tenderness, size, and commercial value of the product +depends principally on the rapidity of its growth, and, as this is +materially promoted by the richness of the soil, it is evident that the +plants should receive all the food they can assimilate during the +growing season. + +There is a wide difference of opinion among growers as to which is the +best kind of manure to use. Whatever the individual preferences may be, +there is this satisfaction to know that no kind of plant food can come +amiss on the asparagus bed, although the use of some kinds and +combinations may be more economical than others. Formerly animal manures +only were thought to be of any use for asparagus, and there are still +some growers who cling to this opinion. In recent years, however, there +has been a decided reaction in this regard in some of the principal +asparagus sections. The objections made against stable manure are that +it is more expensive to handle, that it is apt to get the land full of +weeds, and that it does not contain sufficient phosphoric acid and +potash. At present many growers use commercial fertilizers exclusively, +convinced that asparagus needs liberal feeding of potash and more +nitrogen than is generally supposed to be required. + +The composition of 1,000 parts of fresh asparagus sprouts is, according +to Wolff: + +Water 933 parts +Nitrogen 3.2 " +Ash 5.0 " +Potash 1.2 " +Soda 0.9 " +Lime 0.6 " +Magnesia 0.2 " +Phosphoric acid 0.9 " +Sulphuric acid 0.3 " +Silica 0.5 " +Chlorine 0.3 " + +This analysis shows very accurately what a given weight of asparagus +abstracts from the soil, but it does not, and can not, show or even +indicate certain indispensable demands. In this, as in other cases, the +analysis of a crop is a very uncertain guide to its proper +fertilization. It should be clearly understood by every cultivator of +the soil that no rigidly fixed formulas can be given for any one crop on +all soils. The question of quantity of application and of proportion +must always, in the very nature of the case, remain more or less a +matter of individual experiment. The following formula, given by Prof. +P. H. Rolfs, makes a good asparagus fertilizer: + +Nitrogen 4 per cent. +Potash 5 " +Available phosphoric acid 7 " + +One thousand five hundred pounds of the above formula should be applied +per acre. When possible apply twenty to forty tons of vegetable +material, such as partially rotted rakings of barnyard manure. Where +such vegetable matter is procurable, the quantity of nitrogen may be +decreased proportionately. If manure is obtainable, allowance should be +made for the fertilizing elements contained therein. + +An excellent formula for one ton of asparagus fertilizer, given by Prof. +W. F. Massey, consists of: + +200 lbs. nitrate of soda +700 " cottonseed-meal +800 " acid phosphate (13 per cent.) +300 " muriate of potash + +This will yield 4.9 per cent. ammonia, 6.1 per cent. available +phosphoric acid, 8.4 per cent. potash. + +The effects of the application of a scientifically balanced fertilizer +ration upon asparagus is clearly illustrated in Fig. 21, which presents +a photographic reproduction of an experimental plat of the North +Carolina State Horticultural Society at Southern Pines, N. C., +fertilized with + +250 lbs. nitrate of soda +400 " acid phosphate +160 " muriate of potash + +per acre, while Fig. 22 shows a plat of equal size which remained +unfertilized. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21--NORTH CAROLINA'S EXPERIMENT FARM ASPARAGUS PLOT; +FERTILIZED] + +The following table gives the amounts of different fertilizer materials +necessary to give the desired quantity of each element: + +_Element_ _Pounds of different materials for one acre_ + { 800 to 1,000 lbs. cottonseed-meal; or +Nitrogen { 350 to 400 " nitrate of soda; or + { 275 to 300 " sulphate of ammonia; or + { 400 to 600 " dried blood. + + { 300 to 500 lbs. kainit; or +Potash { 150 lbs. muriate of potash; or + { 150 to 300 lbs. sulphate of potash + +Phosphoric acid { 750 to 1,000 lbs. acid phosphate; or + { 600 to 800 dissolved bone. + +[Illustration: FIG. 22--NORTH CAROLINA EXPERIMENT FARM ASPARAGUS PLOT; +UNFERTILIZED] + +"Asparagus requires very heavy manuring, and yet its composition would +not indicate it," writes Mr. Charles V. Mapes. "The explanation is found +in the fact that it must grow very rapidly, otherwise it is tough, +stringy and flavorless, the same as with radishes. If it had a long +season to grow in, like timothy hay, it might grow successfully in very +poor soil. A half ton of timothy hay contains about as much plant food, +and in similar proportions, as two thousand bunches of asparagus, or +five thousand quarts of strawberries, and yet while this quantity of hay +will grow on an acre of almost any poor soil, the strawberries or +asparagus for a fair crop per acre require a rich garden soil. If the +hay were obliged to make as rapid growth as the asparagus, then it also +would require rich soil. With the strawberry there is but the lapse of a +few weeks from the time of blossoming to the full development of its +fruit. The plants need a superabundance of plant food within easy reach, +otherwise the fruit is small and inferior. The plant can not bear +profitable fruit and at the same time be compelled to struggle for +existence. The same is the case with asparagus. Neither of these crops +can take up out of the soil all the fertilizer that needs to be applied +for their successful growth, and therefore there is necessarily a large +quantity of plant food unused and left over in the soil." + +For these reasons, asparagus, while not necessarily an exhaustive crop, +requires heavy manuring. One ton of high grade vegetable manure is none +too much per acre, and is small, particularly in the expense, as +compared with the larger quantities of stable manure per acre, as +recommended by some successful growers. As already stated, formerly it +was thought necessary to place large quantities of manure in the bottom +of the deep trenches in which the young plants were set out, in order +that sufficient fertility might be present for several years for the +roots, as after the plants were once planted there would be no further +opportunity to apply the manure in such an advantageous place. This +theory has been found erroneous and the practice has been demonstrated +to be rather a waste than otherwise, and besides the roots of asparagus +thrive better when resting upon a more compact soil; nor is it necessary +that the soil should contain great amounts of humus, or be in an +extremely fertile condition when the plants are first put out, since by +the system of top-dressing a moderately fertile soil soon becomes +exceedingly rich and equal to the demands which the plants make upon +it. + +The plan of top-dressing beds during the fall or early winter is +gradually giving way to the more rational mode of top-dressing in the +spring or summer. It was believed that autumn dressing strengthened the +roots and enabled them to throw up stronger shoots during the following +spring. This is a mistake, however. In the Oyster Bay region formerly +all manuring was done in the spring, but the practice of applying all +fertilizers immediately after the cutting is finished is rapidly +increasing. The reason for this is found in the fact that, during the +growth of the stalks, after the cutting season is over, the crowns form +the buds from which the spears of next season spring, and it is probable +that it is principally during this period that the roots assimilate and +store up the materials which produce these spears. This being true, the +plant food added to the soil and becoming available after the cessation +of vegetation in the autumn can have little, if any, effect upon the +spears which are cut for market the following spring; it first becomes +of use to the plant after the crop has been cut and the stalks allowed +to grow. Thus the manuring of the autumn of 1901 will not benefit the +grower materially until the spring of 1903. + +Nevertheless, some highly successful asparagus raisers continue to apply +fertilizers in the spring, as evidenced by the following directions +given by one of the most prominent growers in the Oyster Bay district. +"After the roots have been set in the drill, put enough soil on them to +cover about two inches. Then sow about 500 pounds of high grade potato +fertilizer per acre in the drill. As the weeds commence to grow, +cultivate and hoe, letting the soil cave down in the drill. About the +middle of the season sow about 500 pounds more of fertilizer in the +drill. Continue to cultivate and hoe the remainder of the season. At the +end of the season the drill should be entirely filled up. The second +year sow about 2,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre broadcast, plow the +ground and harrow it down level, and keep the ground clean. The third +year open the drill over the asparagus with a one-horse plow, broadcast +2,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre about the time the shoots begin to +show, and back-furrow it up with a plow over the drill to form a ridge. +Then smooth the ridge down with a home-made implement resembling a +snow-plow reversed. Cut every morning all the shoots that show through +the ground. Do not cut more than four weeks in the first cutting season. +Continue to broadcast 2,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre every year." + +From what has been said in regard to the various methods of applying +fertilizers to asparagus, it will be readily understood that it can make +but little difference how it is distributed, whether on the rows, +between the rows, or broadcast, so long as enough of it is put on the +land. In an established asparagus bed the entire ground is a dense +network of roots, and wherever the fertilizer is put some of the roots +will find it, but not those of the plants over the crowns of which it +has been planted; not more so than the feeding roots of an apple tree +can reach a heap of manure piled around its trunk. + + +SALT AS A FERTILIZER + +Salt is but little used now by commercial asparagus growers, though it +has been recommended for this crop from time immemorial. About the +principal advantage to be derived from its use is that of killing weeds +without injuring asparagus, although it may be applied in sufficient +quantities to injure the asparagus. The indirect fertilizing value of +salt is mainly due to the fact that it has the power of changing +unavailable forms of plant food into available forms; but this object +may be secured cheaper and better by the use of kainit. In sandy soils +it may encourage the supply of moisture, but on naturally moist and +retentive soils heavy dressings of salt may do more harm than good. + +Much of the benefits to asparagus for which salt gets credit is its use +in a small way in the home garden, due to the fact that not dry salt, +but the brine and residue of the pork and corned beef barrels is applied +to the asparagus beds. This brine is rich in animal matter extracted +from the meat, and usually also in saltpeter, which has been used in +pickling. The latter substance alone, without the addition of salt, +exerts a strong fertilizing effect upon the plants. + +After a series of carefully conducted experiments by Mr. Charles V. +Mapes, he writes: + +"Salt was only effectual as a fertilizer in proportion as the soil +contained accumulated supplies of plant food, either from previous +manurings or from natural strength. Asparagus, unlike nearly all other +crops, will stand almost unlimited quantities of salt without injury. It +also thrives near the seashore, and it was therefore generally believed +that liberal quantities of salt were a necessity to its successful +growth. Experience has shown, however, that its presence is not at all +necessary for its growth, and that the reason that a bed to which salt +has been applied shows quickened and improved growth is that the salt +dissolves out of the soil plant food which, without the presence of the +salt, would have become too slowly reduced to available condition for +producing good crops. The salt acted practically as a stimulant and +added nothing except chlorine and soda, neither of which in any +considerable quantity is essential for growing this crop. It is this +dissolving action that takes place in the soil whenever any soluble salt +or fertilizer, like kainit, potash salts, acid phosphates, etc., be +applied to the soil, that is often mistaken for a manuring one. The +result is an exhaustion, not a strengthening, of the soil. The crop is +grown at the expense of the limited supply of food that the soluble salt +can act upon. The fertilizer has acted practically as a stimulant." + + + + +XI + +HARVESTING AND MARKETING + + +The chief labor in asparagus culture is the cutting and bunching. As it +is of the greatest importance that the work be done promptly and +expeditiously, it is desirable to have more help than is wanted merely +for the asparagus, and then, when the asparagus is ready for market, +they can go to hoeing and tilling other crops. Five acres in full +bearing will require from six to eight men from four to six hours per +day to do the cutting and three or four to do the bunching. A successful +farmer in western New York, who has four acres of asparagus, employs +eight or ten boys and girls, for from three to six hours per day, to do +the cutting and three women to bunch it. The women are paid by the +bunch, and work five to ten hours per day. Piecework, if properly done, +is nearly always cheaper than day work, and is better for the employes +and the employer. + + +CUTTING + +As has been stated in a previous chapter, cutting should not begin until +the plants have become strong and vigorous, which requires two or three +years from the planting. In the latitude of New York City the cutting +season commences usually the last week in April and closes July 10th, +although but few growers cut after the 1st, particularly if the season +has been a favorable one. Except on old and well-established plantings, +cutting should not extend for more than six or seven weeks. Some growers +cut asparagus as long as it pays to ship, regardless of the damage done +to the plants. The old rule to discontinue cutting asparagus when green +peas are abundant is a safe one to follow, especially in the home +garden. Unlike other crops, about as much can be cut each day, or at +each cutting, as the day before, during the season, varying only +according to the weather. + +_Manner of cutting._--The mode of cutting asparagus varies according to +the requirements of the markets, whether green or white stalks are +desired. Whatever individual preferences may be, the fact is that in New +York City, and some other large market centers, 75 per cent. of the +asparagus sold is white or blanched, and it would be useless to try to +persuade the buyers to take any other. To show how extreme the +convictions are in this matter of taste, we quote from Prof. J. F. C. Du +Pre, of the Clemson Agricultural College: "Why any one should prefer the +almost tasteless, insipid white to the green 'grass,' into which the +sunshine has put the flavor of ambrosia, is beyond my comprehension." On +the other hand, Leboeuf, the famous asparagus expert of Argenteuil, +writes: "Properly blanched asparagus is infinitely more tender and +delicate than green. To serve up green asparagus is to dishonor the +table." + +In recent years a compromise has been made between the two styles. By +allowing the tops of the hilled-up sprouts to grow four inches above the +surface, the upper half of the stalk is green while the lower half +remains white. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23--BASKET OF ASPARAGUS READY FOR THE BUNCHING SHED] + +For green asparagus the sprouts are cut when six or seven inches high, +and then only so far below the surface as to furnish a stalk about nine +inches long. For the white style the rows have to be ridged twelve +inches above the crowns, and the stalks are cut as soon as the tops show +above the ground, the cutting off being eight or nine inches below the +surface. + +Whichever method is followed, it is very important to cut every day +during the season, and to cut clean at each cutting, taking all the +small sprouts as well as the large ones. If the weak and spindling +shoots are allowed to grow they will draw away the strength from the +roots, to the injury of the crop. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24--CUTTING AND PICKING UP ASPARAGUS IN A TEN-ACRE +FIELD OF C. W. PRESCOTT, MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASS.] + +When cutting, the sprout is taken in the left hand and the knife run +down close alongside of it to the proper depth, carefully avoiding other +spears that are just beginning to push up all around the crown. Then the +handle of the knife is moved away from the stalk, to give it the proper +slant, the knife shoved down so as to sever the stalk with a tapering +cut, and at the same time the stalk is pulled out. After cutting, the +asparagus should be removed out of the sun as soon as possible to +prevent its wilting and discoloring. Usually this is done by dropping +the stalks in a basket which, when full (Fig. 23), is carried to the +bunching shed. On large plantations, however, the cutters leave the +stalks on the ground to be picked up by boys following closely, as seen +in Fig. 24. To facilitate the picking up and carrying away, horse +carriers are used, as shown in Fig. 25. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25--HORSE CARRIER FOR TEN BOXES OF ASPARAGUS] + +In some sections of Europe, especially at the famous asparagus regions +of Argenteuil, a knife is never used. According to W. Robinson: "The +slightly hardened crust around the emerging bud and on top of the little +mound is pushed aside, the fore and middle finger separated are then +thrust deeply into the soft soil, pushing the earth outwards. If a +rising shoot be met with on the way down, it is carefully avoided. A +second plunge of the two fingers and pushing out of the earth usually +brings them to the hardened ground about the crest of the root; the +forefinger is then slipped behind the base of the shoot fit to gather, +and rushed gently outward, when the shoot at once snaps clean off its +base. This plan has the advantage of leaving no mutilated shoots or +decaying matter on the ground. Once gathered, care is taken that the +shoot is not exposed to the light, but placed at once in a covered +basket. As soon as the stalk is gathered, the earth is gently and +loosely drawn up with the hand, so as to leave the surface of the mound +as it was before, not pressing the earth in any way, but keeping it +quite free. The shoots are not rubbed or cleaned in any way--it would +disfigure them, and they do not require it." + +_Knives._--There are several styles of knives for cutting asparagus, but +an ordinary ten-inch butcher-knife with the point cut square off, +leaving the end about an inch and a quarter wide and ground sharp like a +chisel, answers the purpose as well as any of the implements made +especially for the purpose. Another serviceable tool for cutting +asparagus is a carpenter's thin firmer-chisel, one and one-half inches +wide, nearly flat, and the thinnest that can be obtained ground on the +convex side or back, about an inch from the end, which should be rounded +off on the inside to prevent them from injuring sprouts near by. Other +styles of asparagus knives are seen in Fig. 26. + + +SORTING AND BUNCHING + +In some local markets asparagus is sold loose, by weight, in which case +but little regard is paid to the size and length and color of the +stalks, nor to the style of packing. This is the most profitable way for +the grower to sell, as it saves him all the expense and labor of +bunching, and as even the smallest stalks are thus salable, there is no +waste whatever, while the prices obtained are about the same as those +for first-class bunches--that is, two pounds of loose asparagus sell for +about the same price as a full-sized bunch. But in city markets +asparagus could hardly be sold in such a condition, and it is of first +importance that it should be carefully graded and neatly bunched. + +[Illustration: FIG. 26--VARIOUS ASPARAGUS KNIVES] + +[Illustration: FIG. 27--END AND SIDE VIEW OF PRIME WHITE ASPARAGUS +BUNCHES] + +_Sorting._--Careful growers assort into three sizes: extras, primes, and +seconds. The size and weight of the bunches vary somewhat in different +markets. Bunches varying from six to twelve inches in length are +received at wholesale centers, but the most convenient and popular size +for a bunch of prime white asparagus is eight and one-half inches long, +averaging thirty spears, and weighing two pounds. The side view of one +and the end view of three bunches of this size of white asparagus are +shown in Fig. 27. To assure uniformity some ingenious contrivances have +been invented, most of which are a great improvement over the old-time +bunchers, consisting merely of a board with four pins, six inches long, +and placed about four inches apart each way, to form a square. Two +strings, usually of bast matting, were laid down on the board, which was +set on a bench up against the wall, or had a back made of another board +tacked on it at right angles. The asparagus was laid on the buncher +between the pins, the tops touching the back or wall to keep them even. +When the bunch was large enough the strings were tied firmly, and the +butt end of the bunch cut square. + +[Illustration: FIG. 28--CONOVER'S ASPARAGUS BUNCHER] + +_Bunchers._--The modern bunchers are constructed of cast iron and are +easily handled. One of the first to come into use was Conover's (Fig. +28). The principle of the operation is that the stalks are placed +between two brass strips, a hinged cover is brought down by means of a +lever and held in place until the strings are tied. Two ties should be +used, one placed about two inches from either end. The bunch must be +tied so tightly that it will not loosen in handling and transportation +to market. The Watt's Buncher (Fig. 29), used extensively in New Jersey, +is so arranged that the arms may be adjusted to any size bunch desired +by simply loosening the bolts at either end, and pulling out the arms so +as to fit the shape of the bunch, and thus both ends can be bunched +properly. The style of buncher and knives in favor with growers in the +famous asparagus region near Concord, Mass., are seen in Fig. 30, and +the process of bunching in Fig. 31. + +[Illustration: FIG. 29--WATT'S ASPARAGUS BUNCHER] + +_Tying materials._--Twine, Cuban bast, sisal, and various other +materials are used for tying, but nothing is better for this purpose +than raffia fiber. This is obtained from the raffia or rofia palm, a +native of the island of Madagascar. The tree sends enormous branches +from near the ground, the pinnate leaves of which produce this fiber. +One palm frond will produce eighty to one hundred long, green leaflets +from two to five feet in length, and from this the fiber is prepared. +"Silk lamba" is also a product of this palm. Raffia fiber is now +extensively used for tying up plants, for grafting, and many other +purposes, as it is very strong, as soft as silk, and is not affected by +moisture or changes of temperature, and it does not break or ravel when +folded or knotted. + +[Illustration: FIG. 30--RACK AND KNIVES USED IN NEW ENGLAND] + +[Illustration: FIG. 31--AT THE BUNCHING TABLE] + +_Rubber bands._--The use of rubber bands for fastening asparagus bunches +has recently been found to have some advantages not possessed by other +materials. Prof. W. J. Green, of the Ohio Experiment Station, writes in +Bulletin No. 9: "The work can be done more rapidly and better. The +saving in time is fully one-third, which will pay for the increased cost +of rubber over string, reckoning wages at seventy-five cents per day. +This difference might be less where expert tyers are employed, or very +low rates per hundred bunches are paid. In any case, the work can be +done in a manner that is much more satisfactory to dealers with rubber +than with string. This is owing to the fact that rubber holds the +bunches intact, while string allows them to fall apart and to become +unsightly. Doubtless, in some cases, dealers would be willing to pay +more for bunches fastened with rubber than for those put up in the +ordinary manner. Even though no difference is made in price for +asparagus put up by the two methods, the bunches fastened with rubber +bands sell more readily than those tied with string. + +"Rubber bands can be bought for two dollars per pound, and the size best +adapted to the purpose run about two thousand bands per pound, or +sufficient for one thousand bunches. This makes rubber bands cost about +two cents per dozen bunches more than string, if the saving in labor is +not taken into consideration. + +"The saving in the item of labor depends, of course, upon the kind of +labor employed. In determining the relative value of the two methods not +only must cost of labor be taken into consideration, but the character +of the market as well. When competition is not strong careful bunching +is not a matter of great importance, but in many markets it is essential +that the bunches be put up in such a manner that they will not fall +apart. In such cases rubber bands will more than pay for their extra +cost, by insuring more ready sales, if not by increasing the price. + +"The method employed in bunching with rubber bands is to slip a band +over an ordinary teacup--one with straight sides and without a handle; +fill the cup with asparagus shoots, the heads downward, and then slip +the band from the cup to the bunch. This makes a bunch of about the +right size, and gives the upper end a nicely rounded appearance. All +that remains to be done is to slip on another band and to square the +butts with a sharp knife. Possibly a metallic cup would answer better, +being thinner, but a teacup is not objectionable in this particular. If +smaller bunches are desired than the smallest cup that can be found, it +is not necessary to fill the cup." + + +MARKETING + +During the entire process of cutting, sorting, bunching, and packing +great care must be exercised not to bruise or in any way injure the +heads, as the gummy juice of these soon heats and spoils the whole. They +should also be kept cool and dry, else the moisture causes decay. Of +course if, when cutting, the ground is wet, some of the soil will adhere +to the lower ends of the stalks; this has to be rinsed off in clean +water, but not by immersing the entire stalk. + +If the bunches are to be kept over night, before packing, the butts +should be dipped in clean water and stood on end on a cold cellar +bottom, or upon grass or hay that has been thoroughly wet; but the +crowns, or the green portions of the sprouts, should never be sprinkled +or wet. It is a common practice to set the bunches in shallow pans +containing water, but this is apt to give a bitter taste to the stalks. + +[Illustration: FIG. 32--BOX OF GIANT ASPARAGUS READY FOR SHIPMENT] + +[Illustration: FIG. 33--SOUTHERN ASPARAGUS CRATE, CONTAINING 24 BUNCHES +OF GREEN ASPARAGUS] + +[Illustration: FIG. 34--END PIECE OF SOUTHERN CRATE] + +_Crates._--There is no standard shape or size of crates for shipping +asparagus, and in the wholesale markets of New York City a great variety +of styles is found. Of late ordinary twenty-four or thirty-two quart +berry crates have come into favor with near by growers, as they are +cheap, light, and easily handled. In these the bunches are laid down +flat, in tiers, alternating the butt ends so that when the crates are +full the top row is level with the cover. Some growers, of very fine +asparagus even, use solid wooden boxes. Fig. 32 shows such a box +containing three dozen bunches. A crate with the top a few inches +narrower than the bottom has the advantage that it holds the bunches +more firmly together than straight-sided boxes. Fig. 33 shows a crate +containing two dozen bunches of green asparagus ready for shipment, with +the exception of the slats to be nailed on the side. Fig. 34 shows the +shape of the end pieces. These crates are made of various sizes, +according to the length of the bunches. The crate here illustrated was +24 inches long, 12 inches high, 19 inches wide at the bottom, and 14-1/2 +inches at the top, inside measurement. The end boards were 7/8 of an +inch thick, and the slats about half an inch. + +In shipping to a distant market some thoroughly wet grass, or sphagnum +moss, should be put in the bottom of the crate, the bunches stood on +ends, butt down, and pressed so tightly together that they can not move +or shift in handling. The crate should have a tight bottom and ends. The +sides may be tight half way up, and the rest of the sides and the top +should be slatted. This keeps the butts moist and the tops dry and +cool. + + + + +XII + +FORCING + + +The forcing of asparagus in various methods has been practiced for +centuries, and is rapidly developing into an important industry. The +forcing may be done in any place where a temperature of 50 deg. to 60 deg. +can be secured, in the greenhouse, hotbed, pit, cellar, or in the garden +and field. Whichever plan is pursued, the management of the plants to be +forced is the same. The roots should not be less than three years old, +and, if obtainable, four or five-year-old plants are to be preferred. +These may be dug up from ordinary out-of-door plantations, or, if the +forcing is to be done on a large scale and as a permanent industry, the +plants have to be grown from seed for this special purpose. To keep up a +continuous succession new sowings have to be made every year. The sowing +of the seed and the management of the plants during the first year is +the same as described in Chapter V. + +The following year, as early as the season permits, the one-year-old +seedlings are planted out in rows, to develop as much strength as +possible. As the plants are to remain only two years in the nursery bed, +they may be placed closer than in a permanent plantation. A distance of +two and one-half feet between the rows and one foot in the rows is, +however, the narrowest limit, and, where enough ground is available, +three by one and one-half or two feet would be still better. By +purchasing one-year-old plants a year's time may be gained, but +otherwise there are decided advantages in raising one's own plants. +During the following two seasons the ground has to be kept in the best +possible tilth, and at the end of the third season from seed the roots +may be dug just before the ground is likely to freeze. In lifting the +roots it is important not to expose them to the drying influence of the +sun and air more than is unavoidable. It is also important to preserve +the entire clump intact with as much soil adhering to the roots and +crown as possible. They are then placed in a shed, pit, or cool cellar, +and covered with sand or soil to prevent their drying out. Moderate +freezing does not injure the roots, and some growers think that it even +adds to their forcing value. + + +FORCING IN THE GREENHOUSE + +With florists the forcing of asparagus has this important advantage: +that the income obtained from it is nearly all gain, as the space under +the benches, which may thus be utilized, is of but little use for other +purposes. If the floor under the benches is soil this is dug out so as +to form a pit about a foot deep, or at least a few inches deeper than +the clumps are high. Three or four inches of good rich soil is scattered +over the bottom, and upon this the clumps are placed close together. +Dry, mellow soil is then scattered between and over the clumps, so that +the crowns are covered one or two inches, and given a thorough watering. +If blanched shoots are desired, the crowns will have to be covered with +six or eight inches of soil. The same object may be obtained by shutting +off the light, which can easily be accomplished under greenhouse +benches. Where it is not practicable to make excavations under the +benches, a pit may be constructed by placing boards against the posts +and filling in the space thus furnished. To secure a succession, new +roots from the reserve stock have to be planted every three or four +weeks. + +For the first week or ten days after placing the roots in the +forcing-pit they should be kept rather cool, so as to give them a chance +to become established. A temperature of 45 deg. to 50 deg. is best, at +first. Afterward it should be raised to 55 deg. to 60 deg., and during +the day it may rise as high as 80 deg. to 85 deg. But, as a rule, very +high temperatures induce a spindling growth. During the entire forcing +process asparagus requires a large amount of water, but unless it has the +chill taken off, and ample means for drainage are provided, it may do far +more harm than good. The interval between the time of planting and the +first cutting varies greatly, according to the temperature and other +conditions. + +The following are actual dates of asparagus forcing under benches at +Cornell University: Plants taken from an old patch November 29th and set +under benches three days later. December 4th, shoots just pushing +through. December 8th, first shoots cut, averaging nine inches long. +December 14th, first good cutting, shoots running from six to fifteen +inches long. December 18th, second good cutting. December 26th, a good +cutting, some of the shoots having remained too long and become woody; +some of these shoots were two feet long. January 10th, a heavy cutting. +January 19th, cut about half as many shoots as on the 10th. January +30th, cut about as much as on the 19th, but shoots growing smaller. +February 10th, small cutting of weak shoots. Beyond this time there were +no shoots worth cutting. + + +FORCING IN HOTBEDS AND FRAMES + +The forcing of asparagus in hotbeds does not differ materially from that +in the greenhouse, except in the supply of heat. "A most suitable place +for forcing asparagus," writes William Scott, in _Garden and Forest_, +"is a frame about four feet deep with one-fourth inch hot-water pipe +running around it. About two and one-half feet of fresh stable litter +should be put into the frame and firmly packed, with an inch or two of +sand spread over it. This bed should be allowed to stand until the heat +of the manure has declined to about 70 deg., and not below 65 deg., before +the crowns are placed on it. For this work advantage should be taken of a +day when the weather is mild, as the crowns are easily damaged by frost. +Large crowns five or six years old are preferable to smaller ones for +forcing. They may be placed rather closely together in the frame, but +the distance apart must be regulated by their size. The roots should be +spread evenly over the surface and covered with six inches of sand. +Little water will be required, as the steam from the manure affords +considerable moisture; but if the bed should become dry, it may be +moistened with water of the same temperature as the soil in the frame. A +little air may be admitted, when the day is bright and warm, to keep +the temperature from rising above 80 deg. When the points of the shoots +begin to appear above the sand the crop is ready to cut. When ground is +plentiful, a supply of forcing crowns can be kept up by sowing a little +seed every year, having five or six successions, the oldest plants being +forced for cutting." + +With French gardeners it is customary to plunge the frames in warm +stable manure and place the roots directly in the manure, packed as +closely together as possible. A mere sprinkling of soil is placed over +them. As a result the shoots come up very thick. Only strong, fine +three-year-old roots are used, and as many as five crops of roots follow +each other through the autumn, winter, and spring in the same frame. +Straw mats are used to cover the frames at night. + + +FORCING IN THE FIELD + +Forcing asparagus where it is grown in the field has a twofold advantage +over removing the roots to a warm place. First, it saves the trouble and +expense of transplanting them, which must be done with much care; and, +second, it saves the plants from being ruined by the forcing process. +Plants forced in the field where they grow will, if given good care, +regain their vigor in a season or two, and may be used again for +forcing. By this latter method a better quality and a larger quantity of +marketable asparagus is also secured. + +Various means have been devised to force asparagus in the field, where +it is so well established that it continues growth in the summer as +though it had not been forced the previous winter. A simple and rather +common method of accomplishing this is to place barrels over clumps of +asparagus very early in the spring and pile fermenting manure about +them, the warmth from the manure forcing the shoots into rapid growth. +When the forcing season is over and the danger from frost is past the +barrels are removed, and the plants continue growth in the open air. +Sometimes asparagus is forced by placing frames, covered with sash, over +the plants in the field, the rows of asparagus being set rather close +together. This is considered a very profitable method by many market +gardeners. Another method of forcing asparagus in the field is to dig +ditches between the rows and fill them with fermenting manure. The +surface of the bed may also be mulched with manure. The latter plan is +extensively practiced by French market gardeners. + +At the beginning of November the pathways between the beds of asparagus +are dug up about two feet in depth and width. The soil coming from the +pathway is divided very carefully and put about eight inches thick on +the surface of the bed. The trench is filled up with fresh stable +manure, not litter, and frames are placed on the bed. The manure should +rise as high as the top of the frames and the lights be entirely covered +with mats and litter to prevent the heat accumulating in the frame from +escaping. In about two or three weeks the asparagus begins to show +itself on the surface of the bed. Many market gardeners cover the whole +of the bed inside the frames to a thickness of three or four inches with +manure, to force the vegetation more quickly; but in this case the +manure must be removed when the asparagus begins to shoot. When the +shoots are about three inches out of the ground they may be cut. The +mats must be taken off in the daytime, but the heat must be well kept +up, else the roots and buds will fail to push. The beds are forced every +second year only. The gathering of the asparagus may continue for about +two months but no longer, or the plantation would be injured. When the +gathering is over the frames are taken away, and the soil which was dug +up from the alleys is put back again. + +An ingenious method of forcing asparagus in the field by means of +shallow tunnels was devised and successfully carried out by Prof. J. C. +Whitten, at the Missouri Experiment Station, who gives the following +account in Bulletin No. 43: + +[Illustration: FIG. 35--TUNNEL THROUGH THE ROWS OF ASPARAGUS FOR FORCING +STEAM THROUGH THE SOIL] + +"The field selected for the experiment was planted to asparagus about +ten years ago. The plants were in fair vigor, though of a small variety. +The first section forced embraced six rows, four feet apart, and fifty +feet long. Fig. 35 shows this section with one tunnel uncovered. +Trenches were first made between the rows. This was done by plowing +between them, twice in a place, throwing the furrows on the plants so as +to cover each row with two furrows of loose earth. These trenches +between the rows were then made uniform by means of the spade. When +finished they were three or four inches lower than the crowns of +asparagus in the adjacent rows. These trenches were then covered with +twelve-inch boards, which rested on four-inch blocks, placed at frequent +intervals along either side of the trenches. This formed tunnels +between the rows for conducting the steam. To guard against the steam's +escaping, two or three inches of soil was placed over the boards, and +the asparagus patch was then covered with five or six inches of horse +manure. This covering was to prevent the heat from escaping from the +soil too rapidly. It was then ready for the steam to be turned into the +tunnels. + +"To conduct the steam a one and one-half inch pipe was carried above +ground from the boiler to one end of the central tunnel, a distance of +one hundred and eighty-five feet. A steam hose long enough to reach each +tunnel was attached to this pipe through which to blow steam into the +tunnels. It was not the idea to give a constant supply of steam, but to +discharge a little into the tunnels each afternoon, or as often as was +necessary to maintain sufficient warmth. A piece of tile was inserted +into the mouth of each tunnel to prevent the discharging steam from +tearing away the earth. + +"The first steam was turned into the tunnels on November 14th. Steam was +discharged into each tunnel, not to exceed five minutes at a time, in +order not to heat the earth too hot in any single place. It required +about one hour of steaming the first day to bring the bed up to the +required temperature of sixty degrees. The distribution of heat +throughout the bed was very uniform and satisfactory. The moist steam +seemed to permeate the soil equally in all directions. + +"After the first day very little steaming was necessary until the +asparagus began to be produced. On an average the bed was steamed about +twice in three days and then only for about five minutes for each +tunnel. The soil and horse manure mulch seemed to hold the heat very +well, the frequent steamings keeping up fermentation in the mulch. + +"The first asparagus was cut November 24th, ten days after the first +steam was applied. The stems were cut just before they got through the +soil and were perfectly bleached. They were as large as those ordinarily +produced during the normal period of growth in spring, and were far more +crisp and delicious. + +"Cuttings of asparagus were made almost daily for about a month, when +the growth became somewhat weak. The last cutting was made on December +22d. During the month 141 bunches of the ordinary market size, and +weighing about one-half pound each, were cut from this bed of 25 x 50 +feet. This was equivalent to 300 feet of row or 100 hills of asparagus. + +"Exhausting steam into the asparagus bed, instead of returning it to the +boiler in an inclosed circuit, would at first seem to be a wasteful +process of heating. Experiment showed, however, that the circumstances +justified this method. Heating a bed of this kind by a circuit of +steam-pipes or hot-water pipes is very unsatisfactory. The heat from +pipes very soon dries out the soil around the tunnels, destroying its +power to conduct heat. In this way the bed becomes too hot and dry +adjacent to the tunnels and too cold a short distance from them. It also +becomes necessary to maintain heat in the pipes a good part of the time. + +"By blowing steam directly into the tunnels the soil is kept moist; the +steam has a penetrating effect, and permeates all parts of the bed, +giving a uniform heat throughout; this moist steam keeps up a continual +fermentation of the manure mulch, thus giving heat, and only occasional +brief steamings are necessary. + +"Care must be taken not to use too much steam at one time, or the plants +may be ruined by overheating. Our asparagus rows were four feet apart, +the tunnels midway between them were only eight inches wide, and yet we +found that five minutes at a time was as long as was safe to force steam +into a single tunnel. + +"These experiments have been so successful as to indicate that any one +provided with a steam-heating plant could successfully force asparagus +for the markets in this manner." + +Another plan of forcing asparagus in the field, devised by Prof. L. H. +Bailey, is thus described in his "Forcing Book": "The Cornell asparagus +house--if it may be called a house--is about twenty by fifty feet and +the frame is made of steam-pipes. The sides, or walls, are only eighteen +inches high, and the frame consists simply of a ridge and three pairs of +rafters. The steam-heating pipe or riser is just beneath the ridge, and +this feeds two returns upon either side of the house, next the walls. +When it is desired to force the asparagus, canvas or muslin is stretched +over the frames. No difficulty has been found in starting the asparagus +into growth in January and February. The cover is left on and the heat +kept up until all danger of frost is past, when the canvas is removed +and the plants grow naturally out-of-doors. The secret of this method +will no doubt be found to lie in allowing the plantation to become very +thoroughly established (at least, three or four years old) before +forcing is attempted, in the very best tillage and fertilizing during +the summer while the plants are growing, in taking off the cover just as +soon as settled weather comes, and in not cutting the plants until after +that time." + + + + +XIII + +PRESERVING ASPARAGUS + + +CANNING + +The canning factory has made asparagus a vegetable for every day of the +year instead of being a luxury for a few weeks, as was formerly the +case. The canners have made it a farm crop instead of a garden product. +To a great extent canning has transformed the farm into a garden, +increasing the profits from every acre planted many fold. In many +localities an acre of what was formerly considered a sandy waste is now +yielding more than double the net profit of the best acre under +cultivation in ordinary farm crops. + +_Eastern methods._--The pioneers in this industry on Long Island, N. Y., +have been the Messrs. Hudson & Sons, who have extensive plants at +Mattituck and Riverhead, each of them as complete as mechanical skill +and enterprise can make them. Each plant consists of a storehouse, 50 x +150 feet; a packing-house, 40 x 125 feet; and a can manufactory, 25 x 60 +feet. A steam-engine of ten horse-power is required for hoisting, +pumping, and for generating gas for the soldering-heaters, and a boiler +of one hundred horse-power to generate steam for sterilizing the +asparagus. A perspective view of one of the plants is seen in Fig. 36. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36--PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF A LONG ISLAND ASPARAGUS +CANNERY] + +The asparagus, as it comes from the growers, is in bunches seven and +one-half inches long and weighing two and one-half pounds each. These +bunches are put under a cutter and cut to six and five-eighths inches; +they are then untied and put in a tank four feet wide by eight feet long +and two feet deep, in which they are washed as carefully as it is +possible to do it. It is then hoisted up to what is called the blanching +tank, which contains forty gallons. In this it is kept at a scalding +heat for one-half hour, when it is ready for the cans. These are filled +by women who soon become very dextrous, which is always the case when +the pay is in proportion to the amount of work done. Each can contains +just one and one-half pounds. Exact weight is imperative, as are details +in all manufacturing establishments. Great care is exercised in packing, +so that there are no bruised or broken heads, and that on opening the +can the stalks may appear as well as if cut fresh from the garden. After +the asparagus is in the cans they are filled with a weak brine, which +not only expels the air, but adds materially to the flavor of the +asparagus. + +The cans are then taken to the soldering-bench for sealing up. There +systematic labor is noticeable, as every detail of canning must be +carried on systematically to make it profitable. The soldering-irons +used are hollow and the exact size of the caps, which fit perfectly the +grooves made for them. A single turn of the iron finishes the work. +Before the caps are put in their places a small hole is made in each to +allow the gas, which is generated by the heat from the soldering, to +escape. Without this precaution it would be impossible to hermetically +seal the cans. A single drop of solder closes the small opening, and the +cans are ready for the retorts for sterilizing. + +[Illustration: FIG. 37--STERILIZING TANK] + +Here two methods are employed--dry steam, which is the quicker method, +and boiling in a closed tank. Most of the first-class stock is +sterilized in the latter. This tank (Fig. 37) is in three sections, in +all twenty feet long, each section holding five hundred cans. The cans +are put in iron cribs and are pushed in and taken out with steam +elevators. As soon as the cans are lowered the sections are closed +tightly and the steam is turned on. The first process of sterilization +lasts twenty minutes, when the tank is opened, the cans taken out, and a +vent given each. This permits the accumulated gas to escape, which, if +allowed to remain, would materially injure the quality of the asparagus, +both in flavor and preservation. For this work a small prick punch is +used, which makes a hole not larger than a pin's head. This vent is +almost immediately closed with a single drop of solder and the cans are +again returned to the tanks, where the same operation of cooking is +repeated. Another twenty minutes completes the work, when the cans are +removed to the packing-room, where they are labeled, wrapped, and packed +ready for shipment. The cans or boxes are seven inches long, four wide, +and two and one-half deep. A view of the sterilizing-room is presented +in Fig. 38. + +[Illustration: FIG. 38--VIEW OF STERILIZING-ROOM] + +The culls, which are put up as tips, are small-sized and crooked heads +which, although of equal value as a vegetable, are not shipped to +market, as they would detract from the value of the first quality, and +are considered by both farmers and canners as by-products. These are cut +to three and one-half inches in length, and then go through the same +process in canning as the first quality, except that dry steam only is +used in sterilization. After going through the blanching process the +tips are put in round cans, four inches in diameter and five inches +high. After soldering up these cans they are put in the retorts, which +are three feet square, each containing five hundred cans, and treated +with steam two hundred and fifty pounds to the inch. The cans remain in +these retorts half an hour. Then they are taken out, vented, put back +again, and remain under the same pressure another half hour, when the +work is completed. + +By rigid economy even in the most minute detail, and by the skill +required in the knowledge of canning, asparagus can now be had at a +reasonable price at all seasons of the year, which is a boon to both +producer and consumer. At $14.00 per one hundred bunches for No. 1 and +$7.00 per hundred bunches for No. 2, or culls, asparagus is one of the +most profitable of agricultural crops, and even at one-half these prices +it is a much better paying crop than potatoes at 50 cents per bushel. + +[Illustration: FIG. 39--INTERIOR VIEW OF A CALIFORNIA ASPARAGUS CANNERY] + +_Pacific Coast methods._--Canning and preserving of asparagus in +California is carried on on as grand a scale as are most other +undertakings. An idea of the extent and importance of this comparatively +new industry may readily be conceived when it is considered that one +establishment alone, The Hickmott Asparagus Canning Co., on Bouldin +Island, in the San Joaquin River, has recently shipped an entire +train-load of canned asparagus from San Francisco to New York. This +train consisted of fifteen freight-cars containing 600 cases each, +making a total of 9,000 cases, averaging forty-eight pounds each, thus +making an actual weight of 432,000 pounds. By far the larger portion of +the yearly asparagus crop in California is canned or preserved in glass, +and in that shape sent to the East, exported to England and the +continent of Europe, and, in fact, to every civilized country of the +world. For canneries where nothing but the white product is put up the +shoots are cut the instant they show their tips above the surface. The +canneries are located as near the fields as possible, the effort being +to get the product in glass or cans before it becomes in any way +withered, the important point being that asparagus is never allowed to +become dried. + +[Illustration: FIG. 40--PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF CANNING PLANTS AT BOULDIN +ISLAND] + +The method employed at Bouldin Island, where a crop of 1,500 acres is +canned annually, is to have troughs containing running water in shady +places in the fields. The asparagus, as fast as cut, is brought to these +troughs, and is thoroughly washed. These troughs are just wide enough to +take in the shoots of the proper length for canning, and each piece is +trimmed before being immersed. From the troughs the asparagus is taken +to the sorting table, then on to the scalding vats until it reaches the +fillers, where is completed the systematic handling of this product, +packing it to perfection, nothing remaining except to be labeled, when +it is ready to be forwarded to the markets of the world. The entire +process from the time the stalks are taken from the ground to the time +they are ready for the table consumes less than six hours. The process +throughout is a marvel of cleanliness, particular attention and stress +being laid on every detail connected with it. No bleaching agents or +anything foreign or deleterious whatever is used in the packing of +this plant. In Fig. 39 is seen the interior of one of these canneries, +where the especially constructed solderless cans of the company are +being packed. Everything connected with the growing, harvesting, and +canning is done on Bouldin Island, save only the printing of the labels. +That the operators may be lodged in comfort the company has erected +modern cottages for their employes who have families, besides +well-equipped boarding-houses. The development and growth of this +asparagus cannery is one of the marvels of California. Starting ten +years ago with a rented boiler, under the arched dome of the sky for a +roof, and nothing but the shade of weeping willows for a storehouse, as +seen in the Frontispiece, it has developed into a superb plant, equipped +with all modern appliances. During the active season 1,500 hands are +employed directly and indirectly by the canning company, and the +estimated output for the average season is 150,000 cases. Figs. 40 and +41 present perspective views of some of the asparagus canneries on +Bouldin Island. + + +DRYING + +Although the drying of asparagus is not much practiced in America, it is +well worth the attention of those who at times have a surplus of fresh +stalks. Dried asparagus is especially recommended for soups and sauces, +and if properly prepared it is no less desirable as a table vegetable. +Dried asparagus keeps indefinitely, and cost of transportation is +largely reduced. For the latter purpose medium-sized spears are most +suitable, as they dry more evenly than larger ones. Some recommend the +peeling or scalding of the stalks before drying, but this is not +essential, and, if desired, may be done after steaming. On a large scale +the drying may be done in any modern evaporator. + +[Illustration: FIG. 41--CANNERY IN ASPARAGUS FIELDS] + +For home use the most satisfactory way is to string the stalks with a +large needle and strong thread through the butt ends of the stalks, and +hang them along buildings or fences where they are exposed to the full +rays of the sun. To insure a uniform drying it is important that all the +spears on the string are of the same thickness, as the thicker ones +require more time to dry than those of smaller size. When the air is dry +and warm one day's exposure to the sun will be sufficient to dry them. +Otherwise the strings will have to be hung up in the kitchen in the +evening, or in some other dry place over night, to be brought out again +the following morning, until the asparagus is perfectly dry. It is then +ready to be put in boxes or loose bags and stored in a dry place. If the +stalks have been peeled before drying, when desired for use they are +placed in cold water for half an hour, some salt is added, and they are +cooked like fresh asparagus. + +For preparing dried asparagus that has not been peeled before drying, +Dr. Brinckmeier recommends taking a sufficient number of the dried +stalks and place them in water, which, while not boiling, is very near +the boiling point, and keeping them there until they resume their +succulent, smooth, fresh appearance. To keep the water just right a +double boiler is best, with the stalks in the inner one. The water in +the outer vessel should be kept at a steady boil. As the stalks resume +the fresh appearance, take them out carefully one by one and place in +cold water until cooled, after which place on a dish to dry. They should +be carefully scalded to remove the hard outside skin, done up in a +bundle, either by tying with strings or wrapping in a piece of netting, +placed in boiling water, to which a little salt has been added, and +allowed to remain there a few moments--a very few, for it cooks +quickly--until done. + +These methods are recommended for white asparagus only, and when +properly dried and cooked asparagus so treated is by many considered to +be hardly distinguishable from the freshly cut, although it looses its +white color in the process. Smaller and green stalks may be dried on +wire frames or wooden racks over the kitchen stove, similar to apples. + + + + +XIV + +INJURIOUS INSECTS + + +While a number of different insects feed upon the asparagus plant, there +are only two species which have so far become extensively distributed +and caused serious damage in the United States. Both of these were +imported from Europe, and are limited for their food supply to the +asparagus plant. + + +THE COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE[A] + +(_Crioceris asparagi_) + +This beetle is by far the most important enemy of the asparagus plant. +It was first noticed in this country at Astoria, L. I., now a part of +New York City, in 1859, but its actual introduction into that locality +occurred about 1856. The injury inflicted by this insect is due to the +work of both adults and larvae upon the tender shoots, which they render +unfit for market, early in the season. Later they destroy, by +defoliation, growing plants, and are particularly injurious to +seedlings, the roots of which are weakened by having their tops +devoured. Larvae, as well as beetles, attack the tenderest portions of +the plants, but the latter gnaw with seemingly equal relish the +epidermis, or rind, of the stems. The beetles are also accused of +gnawing young shoots beneath the surface, causing them to become woody +and crooked in growth. + +The beetle illustrated in Fig. 42 is a most beautiful creature--from the +entomologist's point of view--slender and graceful in form, blue-black +in color, with red thorax and lemon-yellow and dark blue elytra or wing +covers, with reddish border. Its length is a trifle less than one-fourth +of an inch. + +[Illustration: FIG. 42--COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE + +_a_, beetle; _b_, egg; _c_, newly hatched larva; _d_, full-grown larva] + +From the scene of its first colonization in Queen's County, N. Y., the +insect migrated to the other truck-growing portions of Long Island. It +soon reached southern Connecticut, and has now extended its range +northward through Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Southward it has +traveled through New Jersey, where it was first noticed in 1868, to +southern Virginia. At present it is well established in the principal +asparagus-growing sections of New England, of New Jersey, Delaware, and +Maryland, and is present in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. The +question of distribution is an important one, as this species is rapidly +extending its range. In a very few years we may expect its spread to +other portions of the States in which it is now local, and later it will +naturally move westward to Indiana and other States west and south of +there. + +The insect passes the winter in the beetle state under convenient +shelter, and toward the end of April or early in May, according to +locality, or at the season for cutting the asparagus for market, issues +from its hibernating quarters and lays its eggs for the first brood. The +eggs are deposited endwise upon the stem or foliage, and in the early +spring upon the developed stalks, usually in rows of from two to six, or +more. In from three to eight days the eggs hatch, the young larvae, +commonly called "grubs" or "worms," presenting the appearance indicated +in Fig. 42, _c_. They at once begin to feed, and are from ten days to a +fortnight, according to Fitch and others, in attaining full growth. When +full grown the larva appears as in Fig. 42, _d_. It is soft and fleshy, +much wrinkled, and in color dark gray or olive, which usually becomes +lighter and yellowish with age. The mature larva enters the earth, and +here, within a little rounded, dirt-covered cocoon which it forms, the +pupa state is assumed. In from five to eight or more days the adult +beetle is produced, which soon issues from the ground in search of food +and of a suitable place for the continuance of the species. In Fig. 43 +is shown a spray of asparagus, with the common asparagus beetle in its +different stages, asparagus top at the right showing eggs and injury. + +[Illustration: FIG. 43--SPRAY AND TOP OF ASPARAGUS ATTACKED BY BEETLES] + +The duration of the life cycle is about thirty days from the time the +eggs are laid until the insects attain maturity, but the time is shorter +in the hotter parts of a season than in the cooler days of May or +September. In the District of Columbia the eggs, in the warmest part of +midsummer, develop in three days and the pupae in five days. From this it +may be estimated that, in the very warmest weather, the development of +the insect may be effected in about three weeks from the time the egg is +laid. In colder climates and in spring and autumn the development from +egg to beetle will require from four to perhaps seven weeks. In the +northern range of the species, two and perhaps three broods are usually +produced, and farther southward there is a possibility of at least a +fourth generation. In the latitude of the District of Columbia the +beetles usually disappear to enter into hibernation in the latter days +of September. + +The common asparagus beetle has very efficient checks in the shape of +predaceous insects, which prey upon its larvae and assist in preventing +its undue increase. One of the most active of these predaceous insects +is the spotted ladybird (_Megilla maculata_ DeG.), represented in its +several stages in the illustration (Fig. 44.) The adult of this beetle +is rose-colored, with numerous black spots. The spined soldier-bug +(_Podisus spinosus_ Dal.) and the bordered soldier-bug (_Stiretrus +anchorado_ Fab.) are also useful as destroyers of asparagus beetle +larvae, which they catch and kill by impaling them upon their long beaks +and sucking out their juices. Certain species of wasps and small +dragon-flies also prey upon the larvae. Asparagus beetles are very +susceptible to sudden changes of temperature, and immense numbers of +hibernating beetles are sometimes killed in winter during severe cold +spells following "open" weather. + +[Illustration: FIG. 44--SPOTTED LADYBIRD + +_a_, larva; _b_, empty pupal skin; _c_, beetle, with enlarged antenna +above] + +_Remedies._--The common asparagus beetle, under ordinary circumstances, +may be held in restraint by the simplest means. Chickens and ducks are +efficient destroyers of the insect, and their services are often brought +into requisition for this purpose. A practice that is in high favor +among prominent asparagus growers is to cut down all plants, including +volunteer growth, in early spring to force the beetles to deposit their +eggs upon new shoots, which are then cut every day before the eggs have +time to hatch. Another measure of value consists in permitting a portion +of the shoots to grow and serve as lures for the beetles. Here they may +be killed with insecticides, or the plants, after they become covered +with eggs, may be cut down and burned, and other shoots be allowed to +grow up as decoys. One of the best and least expensive remedies against +the larvae is fresh air-slacked lime dusted on the plants in the early +morning while the dew is on. It quickly destroys all the grubs with +which it comes in contact. The lime may be conveniently applied by means +of a whisk-broom or a Paris green sifter. Even dry road dust applied in +this manner will have a beneficial effect. The special merit of these +insecticides is that they can be used without the least danger upon +young shoots being cut for market or home use. + +Paris green and other arsenites, applied dry in powder, mixed with flour +or plaster, or in solution, answer equally well, after cutting has +ceased, and possess the advantage of destroying beetles as well as +larvae. One pound of Paris green to a barrel of fine plaster makes a +sufficiently strong mixture. It may be necessary to make two of these +applications at intervals or as often as the larvae reappear on the +plants. Powdered hellebore mixed with flour, one part to ten, or in +solution of one ounce of hellebore to three gallons of water, is also +very effective against the young larvae. Pyrethrum or buhach may be used +in similar manner, and kerosene emulsion has been highly recommended by +some experimenters. In hot weather, when the soil is dry, the larvae may +be brushed or shaken from the plants so that they will drop to the +heated ground, where they die, being unable to regain the shelter of the +plants. Whichever methods for the destruction of this pest are adopted, +unless the work be done thoroughly and with concerted action by all the +growers in the section, the relief can not be permanent. + + +THE TWELVE-SPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE + +(_Crioceris 12-punctata_ Linn) + +The presence of this insect in America was first detected in 1881, and +it is still much rarer and consequently less injurious than the +preceding species. In Europe, where it is apparently native, it is +common but not especially destructive. The chief source of damage from +this species is from the work of the hibernated beetles in early spring +upon the young and edible asparagus shoots. Later beetles as well as +larvae appear to feed exclusively upon the berries. The eggs are +deposited singly, and apparently by preference, upon old plants toward +the end of shoots, which, lower down, bear ripening berries, and they +are attached along their sides instead of at one end, as in the case +with the eggs of the common species. Soon after the larva hatches from +the egg it finds its way to an asparagus berry, enters it, and feeds +upon the pulp. In due time it leaves the first berry for another one, +and when full growth is attained it deserts its last larval habitation +and enters the earth, where it transforms to pupa and afterward to the +adult beetle. The life cycle does not differ materially from that of the +common species, and there are probably the same or nearly as many +generations developed. + +[Illustration: FIG. 45--TWELVE-SPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE + +_a_, beetle; _b_, larva; _c_, second abdominal segment of larva; _d_, +same of common asparagus beetle] + +This species is at present distributed throughout the asparagus-growing +country of New Jersey, particularly in the vicinity of the Delaware +River, the whole of Delaware, nearly the entire state of Maryland, the +District of Columbia, the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania bordering +the state line of New Jersey, northeastern Virginia in the vicinity of +the western shore of the Potomac River, Staten Island, and Monroe +County, N. Y., the last mentioned being the most northern locality known +for the species. The mature beetle in life rivals the common asparagus +beetle in beauty, but may be distinguished by its much broader wing +covers and its color. The ground color is orange red, each wing cover is +marked with six black dots, and the knees and a portion of the under +surface of the thorax are also marked with black, as seen in Fig. 45, +_a_. The beetle as it appears on the plant when in fruit very closely +resembles, at a little distance, a ripe asparagus berry. The full-grown +larva is shown in Fig. 45, _b_. It measures, when extended, +three-tenths of an inch, being of about the same proportions as the +larva of the common species, but is readily separable by its ochraceous +orange color. Fig. 45, _c_, shows the second abdominal segment of larva, +and _d_ same of the common asparagus beetle, much enlarged. + +_Remedies._--The remedies are those indicated for the common asparagus +beetle, with the possible exception of caustic lime and other measures +that are directed solely against that species, but the habit of the +larva of living within the berry places it for that period beyond the +reach of insecticides. The collection and destruction of the asparagus +berries before ripening might be a solution of the problem, but it is +questionable if recourse to this measure would be necessary, save in +cases of an exceptional abundance of the insect. + + +THE ASPARAGUS MINER + +(_Agromyza simplex_) + +In a recent bulletin from the New York Experiment Station, Prof. F. A. +Sirrine describes a comparatively new and injurious insect on asparagus. +It was discovered on Long Island, and injures the young plants by mining +just underneath the outside surface. The habits of this creature are +such that there is little chance of applying remedies for its +destruction. Cultural and preventive measures seem to be the most +practical, and are suggested. The parent insect is a small fly, which +deposits its eggs for the first brood early in June, and no doubt much +can be done toward keeping the pest under control by not allowing small +shoots to grow during the cutting season. Professor Sirrine is of the +opinion that where young beds are put out yearly the pest can be kept in +check by pulling and burning the old stalks. He points out the fact that +the stalk should be pulled in the fall rather than in the spring, as it +is difficult to pull them early in the season, and in many cases the +dormant stage of the insect is left in the ground. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] Condensed from an official report by J. H. Chittenden of the United +States Department of Agriculture. + + + + +XV + +FUNGUS DISEASES + + +Asparagus is subject to the attacks of a number of fungi, the most +widespread and destructive being the "rust," the cause of which is a +fungus described by De Candolle as _Puccinia asparagi_ in the year 1805. +From this it is seen that the rust upon the asparagus has been known to +scientists for nearly a hundred years, and it is but reasonable to +suppose that more or less of this fungus has existed beyond the history +of man. + +The first mention of asparagus rust in the United States was by Dr. +Harkness, who claimed to have observed it on the Pacific Coast in 1880, +although it is doubtful whether the genuine asparagus rust was ever +found there. The first mention of it in the Eastern States was in the +fall of 1896, and since then its range has been widening each year. Dr. +Byron D. Halsted, of the New Jersey Experiment Station, was the first to +call attention to it, and made it the subject of careful study. The +results and conclusions derived from his experiments were published in a +special bulletin, and from this the greater part of the following has +been condensed. + + +RECOGNITION OF THE RUST + +[Illustration: FIG. 46--ASPARAGUS STEMS AFFECTED WITH RUST] + +[Illustration: FIG. 47--PORTION OF RUSTED ASPARAGUS STEMS] + +When an asparagus field is badly infested with the rust the general +appearance is that of an unusually early maturing of the plants (Fig. +46). Instead of the healthy green color there is a brown hue, as if +insects had sapped the plants or frost destroyed their vitality. Rusted +plants, when viewed closely, are found to have the skin of the stems +lifted, as if blistered, and within the ruptures of the epidermis the +color is brown, as shown in Fig. 47. The brown color is due to +multitudes of spores borne upon the tips of fine threads of the fungus, +which aggregate at certain points and cause the spots. The threads from +which the spores are produced are exceedingly small and grow through the +substance of the asparagus stem, taking up nourishment and causing an +enfeebled condition of the victim, which results in loss of the green +color and the final rustiness of the plant, due to the multitude of +spores formed upon the surface. These spores are carried by the wind to +other plants, where new disease spots are produced; but as the autumn +advances a final form of spore appears in the ruptures that is quite +different in shape and color from the first ones produced through the +summer. The spores of late autumn, from their dark color, give an almost +black appearance to the spots. + +There is another form which the rust fungus assumes not usually seen in +the asparagus field, but may be found in early spring upon plants that +are not subjected to cutting. This is the cluster-cup stage, so named +because the fungus produces minute cups from the asparagus stem, and in +small groups of a dozen to fifty, making usually an oval spot easily +seen with the naked eye. This stage of the fungus comes first in the +order of time in the series, and is met with upon volunteer plants that +may grow along the roadside or fence row, or in a field where all the +old asparagus plants have not been destroyed. + + +METHODS OF TREATING THE RUST + +All the cultivated varieties of asparagus are readily affected by the +rust, although it has been found that some varieties, notably Palmetto, +are less susceptible to its attacks than others. The most effectual +means of controlling the disease are spraying, burning of the brush, +cultivation, and irrigation. + +_Spraying._--Dr. Halsted, in his first experiments, used soda-bordeaux, +hydrate-bordeaux, and potash-bordeaux. The spraying began June 2d, and +ten sprayings were applied during the season. The applications were made +with a knapsack pump, and therefore were far more expensive than they +would have been if the sprayings were made with horse-power. With the +fungicide costing $5.00 per acre, and a machine that would spray two or +more rows at a time, it would be possible to reduce the cost to $10.00 +per acre, or even less. In effectiveness the soda-bordeaux stood first. +Between the other fungicides there was but little difference. The best +results showed a reduction of rust of about one-quarter, which is not as +satisfactory a result as had been expected. + +In the spraying work conducted by Professors G. E. Stone and R. E. +Smith, at the Massachusetts Experiment Station, the results were more +encouraging. The solutions used were potassium sulfide, saccharate of +lime, and bordeaux mixture. The spraying was done with a knapsack +sprayer, provided with a Vermorel nozzle, and after the first +application it became evident that the practice was of little importance +on account of the difficulty in making the solution stick to the plant. +For successful spraying of asparagus a finer nozzle is required than any +that is now in the market. + +In some other experiments carried out on a small scale the asparagus +plants were practically covered with solutions, when they were put on +with an ordinary cylinder atomizer, and the lime solutions showed +excellent sticking qualities; but with the ordinary coarse nozzle the +solutions would run off of the glossy epidermal covering of the plant +very readily. Should the spraying of asparagus ever become a necessity, +then some apparatus which can be strapped to a horse's back should be +used. The narrow space between the rows forbids the use of the ordinary +mounted appliances, and if spraying is to be carried on upon a large +scale, it would be better to have the spraying mixture carried in some +manner on the horse's back. In this way it would be possible to carry +some thirty or forty gallons of mixture through the narrow rows. + +_Burning the affected tops._--There can be no doubt that by the burning +of the infested brush, after the cutting season, innumerable rust spores +are destroyed. But if this is done before the stalks are entirely dead +new ones will spring up at once, and in a few days will be as badly +affected as the first. The burning of the tops in the summer has, +moreover, a decidedly injurious effect upon the roots, seriously +weakening their vitality, and making the growth of the following year +still more susceptible to the infection. + +In the autumn, however, after the stalks are dead and dry, this damage +does not prevail, and the spores upon old brush can be destroyed by +burning the asparagus stems either as they stand in the field or by +cutting and throwing the brush into piles. By the latter method many of +the smaller branches will be broken off and scattered upon the ground, +giving a suitable place for the spores to remain over the winter. For +the same reason it is an advantage to burn the brush in autumn instead +of the spring, and thus prevent the large loss of spores that would +obtain. In other words, burn the plants as soon as they become brown +and lifeless, for any delay means the breaking up of the brittle, rusty +plants, and a heavy sowing of the spores upon the ground. If the fire +could go over the whole field of standing brush, that would be the most +effective destruction. At best, with these precautions, many of the +spores will get scattered upon the soil, and it would be well to +sprinkle a thin coat of lime upon the ground and leave it there during +the winter. If this could be followed by a turning under of the surface +soil in the spring, it would bury the spores that might still be living, +so that they would be out of reach. + +_Cultivation and irrigation._--It has been observed that the injury to +asparagus plants, as a result of rust, has been confined to dry soils, +although there are places where beds in close proximity showed +remarkable differences as to infection; and that robust and vigorous +plants, even where cultivated on apparently dry soil, are capable of +resisting the summer or injurious stage of the rust. + +In view of all the experiments so far made, and the experiences of +practical asparagus growers, Stone and Smith conclude that: "The best +means of controlling the rust is by thorough cultivation in order to +secure vigorous plants, and in seasons of extreme dryness plants growing +on very dry soil with little water-retaining properties should, if +possible, receive irrigation." + +From a knowledge of the occurrences of the rust in Europe, and from +observations made in Massachusetts, they are led to believe that the +outbreak of the asparagus rust is of a sporadic nature, and is not +likely to cause much harm in the future, provided attention is given to +the production of vigorous plants. + + +ASPARAGUS LEOPARD SPOT + +Attention was called to this new disease by Prof. W. G. Johnson, in +Bulletin No. 50, Maryland Experiment Station, September, 1897. It was +observed in a limited area in the asparagus growing section on the +eastern shore of Maryland. The disease belongs to the group of +anthracnoses, and is regarded by Dr. B. D. Halsted as a new species. In +some places growers have mistaken it for the work of asparagus beetles. +In general appearance it is very striking, the characteristic spots +resembling the coat of the leopard. It has, therefore, been called +"asparagus leopard spot," to distinguish it readily from rust. The +disease has been found only in a comparatively small area, but, no doubt +will be found in other places later. Asparagus growers should, +therefore, be on their guard and watch it. The remedies thus far +successfully used are the same as those for rust. + + + + +XVI + +ASPARAGUS CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES + + +ASPARAGUS IN NEW ENGLAND + +Asparagus was grown in Concord, Mass., in a limited way as early as +1825. Mr. Edmund Hosmer used to carry it to market in season on his milk +wagon. Timothy Prescott and F. R. Gourgas grew garden patches before +1840. To John B. Moore belongs the credit of growing and improving +asparagus in this section of the State. Mr. Moore selected the most +promising shoots, and by a judicious system of culture succeeded in +placing on the market a valuable variety in the shape of Moore's +Cross-bred. Most of the "giant" asparagus grown in Concord to-day could +be traced to the plants produced by his skill. A sample bunch of twelve +stalks, twelve inches long, from Moore's Cross-bred plants weighed four +pounds eight ounces. In 1872 the first bed of asparagus of any size was +set out by Mr. George D. Hubbard, who was laughed at by his neighbor +farmers, who saw only ruin for the young man. The next year Mr. Hubbard +set out more, so that for twenty years he was probably the largest +grower in Massachusetts. + +Most of the leading varieties are grown in Concord, but the farmers are +looking for a rust-proof variety and hope to find one. The Palmetto has +not rusted as badly as other kinds, but has not been grown so +extensively. One-year-old roots should be set by all means, as they +start sooner, grow more vigorously, and in the end pay better. The roots +should be carefully selected from vigorous stock. A very large part of +Concord asparagus is planted on sandy soil--_i.e._, good, rich, mellow +corn land. This kind of land needs more manure, but then the crop is +more satisfactory and the labor bill is not so high. The land previous +to setting to asparagus should be well tilled and manured. + +Land for asparagus beds should be plowed late in the fall, and if stable +manure can be afforded should be applied liberally. In the spring plow +again early and harrow well. The roots should be planted in April as +soon as the ground can be worked. After determining the direction of the +rows a number of laths, four feet long, are placed in line where the +first row is to be. It is very important to get the rows straight and an +even distance apart. A good strong pair of horses and a large plow are +used, a board being so placed above the mold-board of the plow that the +loose soil will not fall back into the furrow. Drive the horses so that +the middle of the evener will just come to the lath, then change the +lath over its own length, if the rows are to be four feet apart, and +that will mark the next row. Change each lath as you come to it, and +when your first furrow is completed your second row will be all marked +out. Return in the first row to make it deeper and also to straighten +any bends. Shovel out the ends for a few feet and you will have a proper +furrow to set asparagus roots in. Proceed with the other rows in the +same manner, and you will have a good-looking plantation. + +The larger growers in Concord set the plants two feet apart in the row +and have the rows four feet apart. The plants are set in the bottom of +the furrow, covered two inches, and should level up by fall so that the +crowns will be six or seven inches below the surface. The furrows may be +made very deep, so that manure can be placed in the bottom, or +fertilizer may be strewn before the plants are set or after. The roots +should be spread out carefully in the bottom of the furrow, care being +taken to have them in line. The bed should be cultivated with a +fine-tooth cultivator or weeder often enough to prevent the growth of +weeds. Keep the bed clean and do not have the trenches filled in before +the last of September. The tops should not be cut in the fall of the +first year, as the snow will be held by them, and thereby protect the +roots to some extent. Some growers spread coarse manure on their beds in +the fall to prevent the soil from being blown away and also to prevent +winter killing, which, however, is rare. + +In the second year the bed may be plowed or wheel-harrowed in the spring +as early as possible. Concord growers use animal manure or chemical +fertilizers, as the case may be or as the bed may require. The bed +should be smooth harrowed just before the new shoots appear, and good +clean cultivation given during the season. After harrowing or plowing in +the third year, sow your chemicals or fertilizer broadcast and harrow +in. A good formula for asparagus is: Nitrate of soda, 300 to 400 pounds; +muriate of potash, 400 pounds; and fine ground bone, 600 pounds per +acre. The shoots will appear about May 5th, and should be cut for about +two weeks; then let them grow up and cultivate well during the season. + +Home-mixing of fertilizer is practiced by some of the growers in this +vicinity, as it is cheaper and better. Any intelligent farmer can, with +a little study, purchase and mix the raw materials to advantage. Not so +much fertilizer is used as formerly by our growers, who are beginning to +think that we use more plant food than the crop needs, thus throwing +away many dollars each year. The cost of an acre of asparagus when +properly planted and manured is about two hundred dollars, varying with +the cost of help, manure, etc. The average product of asparagus beds is +about two hundred and eighty-eight dozen bunches per acre--probably less +since the rust appeared in 1897. + +Asparagus is grown largely on Cape Cod. There the roots are planted in +rows six feet apart and four or five feet in the row. Seaweed is used +largely in connection with fertilizer and manure. Various grains, oats, +rye, etc., are sometimes sown to prevent the soil being blown away. The +method of culture is much the same as elsewhere. + +At Concord the asparagus season opens usually about May 5th. The shoots +are cut two or three inches under ground and should be about eight +inches in length. These are laid in handfuls on the ground by the +cutter, each one cutting two rows. The product of four rows is laid in +one row, making what is called a "basket row." These "basket rows" are +gathered in baskets, boxes, or wheelbarrows, and taken to the +packing-shed. The asparagus is placed on a table and packed in racks of +uniform size, passed to the person who ties, and then to be butted off. +The bunches are then washed and set up in troughs ready for market. +Water is added in season to swell the bunch tight and it is then packed +in bushel boxes for market, going in by teams each night. + +Asparagus was free from pests until 1889, when the asparagus beetle made +its unwelcome appearance. Methods of fighting the beetle were unknown to +growers generally at that time, but necessity soon taught us. Chickens +and hens are used with good results, also Paris green dry was applied +with an air-gun when the dew was on the foliage. Cutworms sometimes do +the asparagus crop severe damage, but chickens and hens are a sure +remedy--in fact, hens are a decided benefit in an asparagus field, +keeping down many weeds. + +After learning to control the asparagus beetle we were visited by the +rust, which has proved a stubborn foe and absorbs the sap which ought to +go to the growing plant. Appearing in July, 1897, the rust seriously +damaged many beds in eastern Massachusetts. Many remedies have been +suggested, but so far none of them have proved perfectly satisfactory. +Growers have been advised to cut the infected tops as soon as the rust +appears, but such a practice is all wrong, however good in theory. Do +not cut the tops until the sap has left the stalks. This is the advice +of a large number of asparagus growers and scientific men who are +engaged in experimental work. + +CHARLES W. PRESCOTT. + +_Middlesex County, Mass._ + + +ASPARAGUS ON LONG ISLAND + +The cultivation of asparagus on Long Island does not differ materially, +in most respects, from that practiced in other localities, other than in +its extent. But there is probably more to be learned about its +cultivation there than in any other section of the country, from the +fact of its being grown under such changed conditions of soil. Here it +can be shown that the character of soil is not, of itself, of great +importance, and that on soil usually considered worthless--on land that +can be bought, uncleared, at from five to ten dollars per +acre--asparagus can be made as profitable a crop as on land considered +cheap at one hundred dollars per acre. + +Nearly every farm, the northern boundary of which is the Long Island +Sound, has from two to twenty acres of soil composed very largely of +fine drift sand, in all respects like quick-sand in character. This, +when mixed with light loam, as is frequently the case, is the most +favorable land for asparagus, and in such it is largely grown, being +unsuited to potatoes or cereals, and where grasses make but a feeble +struggle for existence. Within five minutes' walk to the south the soil +is from a lively to a quite heavy loam, in which corn, potatoes, +cabbage, cauliflower, and, in fact, all other crops revel. In this soil +the asparagus also finds a congenial home, but no better than in the +sand, in which but little else can be grown; neither can it be grown +here more profitably. The expense for fertilizers is a little more on +the sandy soil, but the cost in labor on the heavy soil will quite +equal the cost of extra fertilizer required on the light. + +Whether away from a saline atmosphere a light soil would be as favorable +as a heavy one for the asparagus is a question that practical experiment +only can settle. But it is an important one, as it is not generally +supposed that it is possible to grow asparagus, at a profit, on such +soils as are now being devoted to this crop on Long Island. + +That which has been called the barren wastes, the dwarf-pine and +scrub-oak lands of Suffolk County, can be made most profitable farming +lands may be a surprise to many, but that such is the case does not +admit of a doubt. As evidence of this, let us state what is being done +along these lines. Messrs. Hudson & Sons, leading canners of asparagus, +have bought a farm of 525 acres of as poor land as it is possible to +find on Long Island, which they are to devote exclusively to this crop. +They have already more than fifty acres planted, and are getting the +whole in readiness as rapidly as possible. This is no experiment, but +simply doing on a large scale what has profitably been done on a small +one. + +On similar soils a low estimate of net profit is $100 per acre, and +there are many instances where double this profit is made. The price +paid last season by the canners was $14 per 100 bunches for first +quality, and $6 per 100 for culls, or "tips," as they are usually +called. With good cultivation, which means a liberal supply of plant +food--and there is no crop that requires more--and the surface kept +clean, free from weeds, and frequently cultivated, so that the surface +is at all times loose and fine to prevent evaporation, the average yield +is 2,500 bunches per acre. If we estimate the tips at 25 per cent. of +the crop, the gross receipts will amount to $200 per acre. + +After a given acreage is ready for cutting, which is the third year +after planting, the annual cost of cultivation is not very much, if any, +more than that of a crop of potatoes. It is a question whether the +actual cost of growing and marketing an acre of asparagus is not less +than that of an acre of potatoes. Some growers assert it is three times +as much work to take care of a given acreage of asparagus as of +potatoes; admitting it, the relative cost is stated above. + +C. L. ALLEN. + +_Nassau County, N. Y._ + + +ASPARAGUS IN NEW JERSEY + +An important point in asparagus culture is to remove the top growth in +the fall of the year. For this purpose I use a mowing-machine, then rake +up the brush and burn it on the bed. After this I top-dress heavy with +manure, leaving it lie on the land until spring. + +Just as soon as the ground is fit to work at all I put on a disk-harrow, +and cut it about four times each way until it is thoroughly pulverized. +Then with a smoothing-harrow I level it, and repeat the smoothing-harrow +operation about once a week to keep down all weeds coming through. Then +we let it go as long as we can, possibly two weeks, and at the +appearance of weeds we take an ordinary sweet-potato ridger having a +plow on either side and run it astride the row, covering everything in +the row. Doing this on Saturday afternoon holds the asparagus back over +the following day. Then we take the middle out with a one-horse +cultivator. This is done probably three times during the cutting season, +which is eight weeks. With the help of one of these weeders, which we +use at least once a week, we keep the bed quite clean of all weeds, and +this I consider very essential. The cultivation should continue after +cutting until the top growth becomes so large as to protect the ground, +and then there will be but little trouble late in the season about +weeds. It doesn't pay to grow them anywhere, and especially not in +asparagus beds. + +In planting, the ground should be well prepared and furrowed out eight +inches in depth, four and one-half feet apart, and the plants two and +one-half feet in the row, with a little fine manure in bottom of row; +put about two inches of soil on the plants to cover. Then as the sprouts +come up, keep on filling the furrows by cultivation. + +I have been using some commercial manures the past two years, applying +at the rate of one ton to the acre about the rows in the spring; then +nearly a ton of salt to the acre applied at any time. It helps keep +weeds down and gives the asparagus a good flavor. Above all, do not +forget to apply the fertilizer, and Plenty, with a big "P," of +it--either stable manure or commercial fertilizers. Probably there will +be less weeds by using the latter, but there needs to be a great deal of +the former in the beginning for several years, to give the bed a good +body of rich earth, from which the plants feed. It appears to me this +is the secret of success. + +Much depends upon how asparagus is put up for the market, making it look +attractive, in nice, clean, new crates and neatly prepared bunches, and +the stalks must be large, tender, and of good flavor. Grass from a +strong bed grown in twenty-four hours is much more tender and better in +every way than grass grown in forty-eight hours from a poor bed. We are +compelled to cut every twenty-four hours, or the asparagus would waste, +and the gathering is accomplished in about three and one-half hours each +day, early in the morning. + +JOEL BORTON. + +_Salem County, N. J._ + + +ASPARAGUS IN THE SOUTH + +There is no crop grown by the Southern trucker that has paid better than +asparagus year after year. With many of the other truck crops sent North +the growers have to contend with a host of planters who rush in at times +to plant certain crops like early potatoes, peas, and beans, and whose +inferior crops often glut the market and make the season unprofitable +all around. These men drop out after a season that their particular +venture did not pay, and the regular truckers, being well aware that +they would do so, always redouble their efforts the year after a bad +season with any particular crop, knowing from experience that then it +would be certain to be profitable. + +But the asparagus crop is one into which the temporary growers can not +jump in and out of, for the crop requires special preparation of the +soil and patient waiting and culture pending the time for reaping a +harvest, and the men who are always ready to jump into the annual crops +always wish to realize at once, and do not generally have the capital to +put into a crop that requires several years before realizing. Hence the +asparagus crop has been left to the regular market gardeners, and has +been uniformly profitable when well managed. + +As regards soil for asparagus in the South, it should be deep, light, +warm, and well drained, either naturally or artificially. The level +sandy soils that abound in all the South Atlantic Coast region, having a +compact subsoil of reddish clay under it at a moderate depth, makes the +ideal soil for the early asparagus. + +In preparing such a soil for the crop, it is well to be thorough in the +matter, for the crop is to remain there indefinitely, and if success is +to be expected the previous preparation should be of the most thorough +character. Hence, as the soils best adapted to the growth of the plant +are commonly deficient in vegetable matter, which desirable +characteristic can only be found in abundance on the lands too low and +moist for the asparagus crop, some preparatory culture should be used +that will tend to increase the amount of organic decay in the soil. + +For this purpose there is nothing better than the Southern field or cow +pea. The land should be prepared by giving it a heavy dressing of acid +phosphate and potash; and putting it in peas sown broadcast at the rate +of a bushel or more per acre. With a heavy dressing of the mineral +fertilizers the pea crop will be heavy, and should be allowed to fully +ripen and decay on the land, to be plowed under, and the process +repeated the following year. In the mean time the seed should be sown +for the growth of the roots for setting the land. + +Two crops of cow-peas allowed to die on the land and turned under will +give a store of vegetable matter that would be hard to get in any other +manner. While heavy manuring with stable manures is very desirable where +the material can be had at a reasonable cost, the larger part, and, in +fact, nearly all of the Southern asparagus, must be grown by the aid of +chemical fertilizers, and the storing up of humus in the land from the +decaying peas is an important factor in the placing of the soil in a +condition to render the chemical fertilizers of more use, since the +moisture-retaining nature of the organic matter plays an important part +in the solution of matters in the soil. Aside from this, there will be a +large increase in the nitrogen contents of the soil through the +nitrification of this organic matter. + +The second crop of peas should be plowed under in late fall when +perfectly ripe and dead, so that the land can be gotten into condition +for planting in early spring. The land should be thoroughly plowed, and +if the clay subsoil comes near the surface it should be loosened with +the subsoil plow. Furrows are then run out four and a half to five feet +apart, going twice in the furrow, and then cleaning out with shovels +till there is a trench a foot deep. In the bottom of this trench place a +good coat of black earth from the forest, or, if well-rotted manure can +be had, use that of course. Set the plants twenty inches apart in the +furrow, and by means of hand-rakes pull in enough earth to barely cover +the crowns. + +As growth begins, the soil is to be gradually worked in around the +advancing shoots till the soil is level. Now give a dressing of 1,000 +pounds per acre, alongside the rows, of a mixture of 900 pounds of acid +phosphate, 500 pounds of fish scrap, 200 pounds of nitrate of soda, and +400 pounds of muriate of potash, and keep the plants cultivated +shallowly and flat with an ordinary cultivator till the tops are mature. +An application of salt may be useful if applied in the fall in making +some matters in the soil available, but salt in itself is of no use +whatever to the plants. We would never apply salt in the spring, as it +has a tendency to lessen nitrification and to retard the earliness of +the shoots. + +The annual dressing of the fertilizer named should now be increased to a +ton per acre, and it should be applied not later than February 1st in +each year. After the tops have been cut in the fall it is a good plan to +plow furrows from each side over the rows and to plow out the middles, +for the shoots will always start earlier in an elevated ridge, which +warms up earlier in the spring. + +The second year after planting cutting may begin, and the shoots must be +cut as fast as they show, care being taken to cut down near the crown of +the roots, but not to injure the other shoots that may be starting. +After cutting is over--and the length of time the bed should be cut is +of little importance in the South, for the price at the point where it +is shipped will always tell you when to stop--the soil should be again +worked down flat, and if the growth has not been as satisfactory as +could be wished, a dressing of 100 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda at +this time will usually pay very well. Asparagus should always be bunched +in a machine made for that purpose. The bunches are packed in crates +just deep enough to hold the bunches set upright on a bed of moss, and a +cover of the same damp moss should be placed on top. + +Where there is a demand for green asparagus the planting should be done +more shallowly in a simple furrow, and the entire culture should be flat +and shallow. The shoots are cut at the surface of the ground after they +have attained the proper length. One thing is to be observed in either +method, and this is that during the cutting season everything long +enough must be cut daily, and that the little shoots be not allowed to +run up and branch out. Cull the shoots after they are all out and bunch +accordingly. Green shoots should be bunched by themselves and not mixed +with the blanched ones. None but new, light crates should be used, for a +clean and neat package will always favor its contents in the selling. + +W. F. MASSEY. + +_North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station._ + + +ASPARAGUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA + +The growing of asparagus for market in California is proving to be one +of the most successful of its minor industries. There is a large area in +the State which is exactly suited to the production of this vegetable. +This is the region of sedimentary deposits, washed by waters that are +to some extent brackish, or naturally saline. Commercial asparagus +farming is limited to the reclaimed lands around the bay of San +Francisco, the marshy deltas of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, +and the so-called peat lands of Orange and San Luis Obispo counties. +Small beds, however, for local consumption are to be found in California +as generally and frequently as they are in other States. + +There is a fascination about asparagus culture that is founded on +legitimate financial returns. It is practically "a sure thing" when once +established, and the conditions of climate and soil are such that the +work attendant on production is a minimum in proportion to the return. +No diseases of the plant have yet shown themselves in California, and it +is seldom that the weather is unsteady enough to be a factor in limiting +production. The deterring feature is the fact that it is not till the +third year that a return can be expected on the investment. But as other +crops, such as potatoes and beans, can be grown between the rows in the +interim, the time of waiting is not so entirely an unproductive one as +might at first be supposed. + +The methods of preparing, planting, and working are practically the same +in all sections of California. The proposed beds are plowed as deeply as +possible and thoroughly fertilized. All of the soils appropriate for +commercial asparagus farming are so light that deep cultivation is a +comparatively easy matter. Furrows for planting are then run and made +double depth. Some growers think it worth while to distribute +fertilizer along these furrows and then turn for a third time, so as to +enrich the ground immediately below the roots to be set out. These +furrows are run from four to six feet apart, the latter being considered +the better usage. In them one-year-old plants are then set by hand at +distances varying from eighteen inches to three feet. The former +distance is preferred by the Italian growers on Bay Farm Island in San +Francisco Bay, but the Southern growers and those along the Sacramento +River lean to the greater distance. The only difference seems to be +whether there will be sufficient nutriment in the soil to force the +plant into giving as large and tender shoots as where each plant is +allowed a larger area. The plants are set with the crowns about four +inches below the surface and the roots are carefully spread out before +covering. Planting is done any time from November to April, but the +middle of February is perhaps the most common time. + +The culture for the first year consists in keeping the soil loose and +free from weeds. Ordinarily other crops are grown between the rows, and +their cultivation serves to keep the ground in proper condition. The +asparagus is allowed to come up, feather, and seed without interference, +no cutting being done the first year. Care, however, is taken to cut off +the tops close to the ground in the fall before the seed begins to +drop--the volunteer asparagus being the worst enemy in culture with +which the grower has to deal. About the beginning of the rainy season a +heavy coating of manure is placed over the beds and left to be leeched +in by the rains. + +[Illustration: FIG. 48--VIEW OF ASPARAGUS FIELD ON BOULDIN ISLAND, +CALIFORNIA] + +The second year some growers cut more or less for market, but the bed +is then longer in coming to its full strength and will not give so large +a product the following years. There is a variation in the spring +working, according to the nature of the land. Where the soil has a +tendency to be cold, the first plowing is away from the rows, so as to +let the sun more quickly down to the starting plants. Where the soil is +light, or the season forward, this plowing is omitted. The latter +plowings are toward the rows, the effort being by ridging to give a long +blanched surface to the shoots. For the canneries where nothing but the +white product is put up, the shoots are cut the instant they show their +tips above the surface. The local market shows a preference for the +greener shoot, and so before cutting it is allowed to stretch itself up +into the light. The third year regular cutting begins, and from that +time forward the beds increase in the quantity and quality of the +product for the next fifteen years. + +The methods of marketing are somewhat different from those practiced in +the East. Little or none of the asparagus is bunched. It is packed loose +in boxes holding from forty to fifty pounds, and the loose product is +retailed to the consumer by the pound. The first boxes begin to go out +by the beginning of February, though small quantities can be seen in +market as early as January 15th. The canning contracts run, as a rule, +from March 1st to June 15th. After that the weather is so dry that the +yield stops unless the beds are irrigated. In most sections, however, +irrigation is not necessary up to this time. + +A notable exception to this is Bouldin Island, in the San Joaquin +River. This is reclaimed land, and lies some six or eight feet below the +surface of the water. The soil is river silt on a peat stratum thirty +feet deep. The top is so fine and friable that it does not, in spite of +the surrounding river, hold enough moisture to keep the vegetation alive +during the hot spring months. A north wind in May would lift up the +whole surface of the island and carry it away in dust. It is an easy +matter, however, to let in water through the dikes, and this is done in +sufficient quantities to keep the soil in place. + +The question of profit in asparagus growing is one that can only be +treated in a relative way. The industry is as yet so new, and instances +of phenomenal returns from small holdings are so many, that it is hard +to arrive at what might be called a commercial ratio of gain. It is safe +to say, however, that with ordinary care there has never been an actual +loss with asparagus culture in California. A low estimate of profit is +probably $50 per acre. The cost of preparation and planting where diking +has not been necessary has seldom been more than $100 per acre. The +gross returns taken from recent years' reports vary from $100 to $200 +per acre, so that it can readily be seen that the return to the +asparagus farmer is very fair. Most of the farms in California are in +rented land. The Bay Farm Island people pay a ground rent of $50 per +acre. On Bouldin Island the rental is on a basis of 40 per cent. of the +net proceeds. In Fig. 48 is presented a view of a fully established +asparagus field on Bouldin Island. + +WARREN CHENEY. + +_Alameda County, Cal._ + + +ASPARAGUS IN FRANCE + +Asparagus is grown much more abundantly and to a much larger size in +France than in England. The country is half covered with it in some +places near Paris; farmers grow it abundantly, cottagers grow it, and +everybody eats it. Near Paris it is chiefly grown for market in the +valley of Montmorency and at Argenteuil, and it is cultivated +extensively for market in many other places. About Argenteuil several +thousand persons are employed in the culture of asparagus. + +It is grown to a large extent among the grape-vines as well as alone. +The vine under field culture is cut down to near the old stool every +year, and allowed to make a few growths which are tied erect to a stake. +One plant is put in each open spot, and given every chance of forming a +large specimen, and this it generally does. The growing of asparagus +among the vines is a very usual mode, and a vast space is thus covered +with it about here. + +It is also grown in other and special ways. Perhaps the simplest and +most worthy of adoption is to grow it in shallow trenches. These are +usually about four feet apart. The soil generally is a rather stiff +sandy loam with calcareous matter in some parts, but the soil has not +all to do with the peculiar excellence of the vegetable. It is the +careful attention to the wants of the plant which produce such good +results. Here, for instance, is a young plantation planted in March; and +from the little ridges of soil between the trenches have just been dug a +crop of small early potatoes. In England the asparagus would be left to +the free action of the breeze, but the French cultivators never leave a +young plant of asparagus to the wind's mercy while they can find a stake +of oak about a yard long. + +When staking these young plants they do not insert the support close to +the bottom, as we are too apt to do in other instances, but a little +distance off, so as to avoid the possibility of injuring the root; each +stake leans over its plant at an angle of forty-five degrees, and when +the shoots are big enough to touch it, or to be caught by the wind, they +are tied to the stake. The ground in which this system is pursued being +entirely devoted to asparagus, the stools are placed very much closer +together than they are among the vines--say, at a distance of about a +yard apart. The little trenches are about a foot wide and eight inches +deep. + +The best asparagus in France is grown at Argenteuil and by one system +mainly. The plants--one-year seedlings (never older)--are planted in +shallow trenches seven or eight inches deep, the plants a little more +than one yard apart and the lines four feet apart. No manure is given at +planting; no trenching or any preparation of the ground, beyond digging +the shallow trench, takes place. In subsequent years a little manure is +given over the roots in autumn; the soil, thrown out of the trenches and +forming a ridge between them, is planted with a light crop in spring. In +all subsequent years the earth is placed over the crowns in spring and +removed in autumn. + +Under this system good results are obtained in various soils, the only +difference being that on cold clay soils the planting is not quite so +deep. Every winter the growers notice the state of the young roots, and +any spot in which one has perished they mark with a stick, to replace +the plant the following March. Early every spring they pile up a little +heap of fine earth over each crown. When the plantation arrives at its +third year they increase the size of the mound, or, in other words, a +heap of finely pulverized earth is placed over the stool, from which +some, but not much, asparagus is cut the same year, taking care to leave +the weak plants and those which have replaced others untouched for +another year. + +The process of gathering is interesting to the stranger. Asparagus +knives of various forms are described in both French and English books, +but one is confidently told by the growers that they are only fitted for +amateurs who do not care to soil their fingers. The cultivators here +never use a knife, the work being done with the hands. Gatherings are +made every second day about the end of April, but in May when the growth +is more active the stools are gathered from every day. + +The French mode of cultivating asparagus differs from the English +principally in giving each plant abundant room to develop into a large +healthy specimen, in paying thoughtful attention to the plants at all +times, and in planting in trenches instead of a raised bed. They do not, +as is done in England, go to great expense in forming a mass of the +richest soil far beneath the roots, but rather give it at the surface, +and only when the roots have begun to grow strongly.--W. ROBINSON, in +"Parks and Gardens of Paris." + + + + +INDEX + + + PAGE +American varieties, 18 + Barr's Mammoth, 18 + Columbian Mammoth White, 19 + Conover's Colossal, 19 + Donald's Elmira, 19 + Eclipse, 19 + Hub, 20 + Mammoth, 20 + Moore's Cross-bred, 20 + Palmetto, 20 + Purple top or green top, 21 + +Asparagus culture in different localities, 145 + in New England, 145 + on Long Island, 150 + in New Jersey, 152 + in the South, 154 + in California, 158 + in France, 164 + +Asparagus species, 6 + plumosus nanus, 6 + medeoloides, 6 + Sprengeri, 6 + falcatus, 8 + laricinus, 8 + racemosus, 10 + sarmentosus, 10 + Broussoneti, 13 + officinalis, 13 + acutifolius, 16 + aphyllus, 16 + + +Botany, 4 + +Bunchers, 91 + +Bunching, 89 + + +Canning, 112 + Eastern methods, 112 + Pacific coast methods, 118 + +Crates, 96 + +Cultivation, 61 + the first year, 61 + the second year, 64 + the third and future years, 66 + +Cultural varieties, 17 + +Cutting, 83 + Manner of, 84 + + +Drying, 122 + + +Edible species, 13 + +European varieties, 21 + German Giant, 22 + Argenteuil, 22 + Yellow Burgundy, 22 + + +Fall treatment, 68 + +Fertilizers and fertilizing, 72 + +Forcing, 100 + in greenhouse, 101 + in hotbeds and frames, 103 + in field, 104 + in Cornell asparagus house, 110 + +Fungus diseases, 137 + Asparagus rust, 137 + Asparagus leopard spot, 144 + + +Growing asparagus without transplanting, 32 + + +Harvesting and marketing, 83 + +Historical sketch, 1 + + +Insects, 126 + Common asparagus beetle, 126 + Twelve-spotted asparagus beetle, 133 + Spotted ladybird, 130 + Asparagus miner, 135 + + +Knives, 88 + + +Male and female plants, 40 + +Marketing, 96 + + +Ornamental species, 6 + + +Planting, 49 + Distance to plant, 50 + Depth of, 53 + Manner of, 54 + Placing the roots, 59 + +Plants, Raising of, 30 + +Pot-grown asparagus plants, 36 + +Preparation of the ground, 45 + +Preserving asparagus, 112 + + +Raising of plants, 30 + +Renovating old asparagus beds, 70 + +Rubber bands, 93 + + +Salt as a fertilizer, 81 + +Seed-growing, 26 + +Selection of plants, 38 + +Soil and its preparation, 43 + +Sorting, 89 + +Sorting and bunching, 89 + +Sterilizing, 116 + +Subsoiling, 47 + + +Transplanting, Growing asparagus without, 32 + +Tying material, 92 + + +Variety tests, 22 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Asparagus, its culture for home use +and for market:, by F. 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