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ASPARAGUS
ITS CULTURE FOR HOME
USE AND FOR MARKET
A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE
PLANTING, CULTIVATION, HAR-
VESTING, MARKETING, AND PRE-
SERVING OF ASPARAGUS, WITH
NOTES ON ITS HISTORY AND
BOTANY ::::::•:
F. M. HEXAMER
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
1918
Copyright, 1901
BY ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
Printed in U. S. A*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAQt
Preface vi
I. Historical Sketch ....... i
II. Botany ......... 4
III. Cultural Varieties ....... 17
IV. Seed Growing ........ 26
V. The Raising of Flants ...... 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
Asparagus Plumosus Nanus
Asparagus Sprengeri ....
Asparagus Laricinus ....
Asparagus Racemosus, var. Tetragonus
Asparagus Sarmentosus
Crown, Roots, Buds, Spear
Stem Leaves, Flowers, Berries .
Flowers ......
Palmetto Asparagus ....
Pot-Grown Plant ....
Horizontal Development of Roots
Trenches Ready for Planting
Hudson's Trencher ....
Root in Proper Position for Covering
Cross-section of Trenches After Planting
Asparagus Field Ridged in Early Spring
Leveling the Ridges After Cutting Season
Fertilized Asparagus Plot .
Unfertilized Asparagus Plot
Basket of Asparagus .
Cutting and Picking Up Asparagus
Horse Carrier for Ten Boxes
Asparagus Knives
iv
PAGE
5
7
9
ii
12
14
M
15
21
37
5i
57
58
59
6o
67
69
75
77
85
86
87
89
ILLUSTRATIONS
End and Side View of White Asparagus Bunches
Conover's Asparagus Buncher .
Watt's Asparagus Buncher
Rack and Knives Used in New England .
At the Bunching Table ....
Box of Giant Asparagus ....
Southern Asparagus Crate ....
Tunnel for Forcing Steam Through the Soil
A Long Island Asparagus Cannery .
Sterilizing Tank ......
Sterilizing Room ......
Interior View of a California Asparagus Cannery
Perspective View of a California Asparagus Canne
Cannery in Asparagus Fields
Common Asparagus Beetle .
Asparagus Attacked by Beetles
Spotted Ladybird ....
Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle
Asparagus Stems Affected with Rust
Portion of Rusted Asparagus Stems .
Asparagus Field on Bouldin Island .
ry
PAGE
90
91
92
93
94
97
98
107
113
115
117
119
121
123
127
129
131
134
138
139
161
PREFACE
THE cultivation of asparagus for home use as
well as for market is so rapidly increasing,
^Hyj) and reliable information pertaining to it is so
frequently asked for, that a book on this sub-
ject is evidently needed. While all works on vegetable
culture treat more or less extensively on its cultiva-
tion, 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 gar-
dens 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 aspara-
gus as to make it not necessarily more expensive and
laborious than that of any other garden crop. To d*
PREFACE VI?
scribe and make clear these improved methods, to
demonstrate how easily and inexpensively an asparagus
bed may be had in every garden, and how much pleas-
ure, 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 oppor-
tunity for originality. All that the author has en-
deavored 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; " BraunschweigerSpargelbuch,"
Vlll PREFACE
von Dr. Ed. Brinckmeier; "Parks and Gardens of
Paris," by William Robinson; " Asparagus Culture,"
by James Barnes and William Robinson; " L,es Plantes
Potageres," by Vilmorin-Andrieux; the works of
Peter Henderson, Thomas Bridgeman, J. C. Loudon,
and others.
The author desires to express his grateful acknowl-
edgments 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, igoi.
ASPARAGUS
i
HISTORICAL SKETCH
The word ' ' asparagus ' ' is said to be of Persian
t origin. In middle Latin it appears as spara-
im^ gus; 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 his-
torically 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 culti-
2 ASPARAGUS
vated 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 coquefitur"
(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 as-
paragus 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, pars-
ley, holly, and sweet fennel — was a favorite preparation
HISTORICAL SKETCH 3
for use in dropsy and gravel. Among the Greeks and
Romans it was one of the oldest and most valued med-
icines, and to which most absurd virtues were attrib-
uted. 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
T""Ihe genus Asparagus belongs to the Lily Family.
It comprises about one hundred and fifty
£jjj|^] 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 flesh}''
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 avail-
able for propagation.
6 ASPARAGUS
ORNAMENTAL SPECIES
A. medeoloides {Myrsiphyllum asparagoides) , popu-
larly 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 green-
house. While a few other species of asparagus have
been close rivals, it is yet unexcelled for many pur-
poses of floral decorations.
A. plumosus (the plumy asparagus). — A veuy
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 horizon-
tally, 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. tennissimus and A. plumosus nanus, the
fern-like appearance of which is seen in Fig. 2.
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, retain-
ing their freshness for weeks after being cut. As a
mmmBKKB
FIG. 3 — ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI
8 ASPARAGUS
house plant it has exceeded expectations, as it stands
dry atmosphere better than the older kinds of orna-
mental 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 speci-
men of this species which is trained against the north-
ern 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.
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 succu-
lent shoots, which grow to a length of about twelve
feet, and when fully developed are decidedly orna-
^0!v
m
FIG. 4 — ASPARAGUS LARICINUS
IO ASPARAGUS
mental. 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, per-
sistent. 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 tetra-
gonus, 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.
A. sarmentosus (Fig. 6). — An elegant evergreen
species from South Africa, where it grows freely in
mcist situations, forming dense, brushy stems with short
prickles, and studded with white, starry, fragrant flow-
ers, 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.
FIG. 3 — ASPARAGUS RACEMOSUS, VAR. TETRAGONUS
FIG. 6 — ASPARAGUS SARMENTOSUS
BOTANY 13
It is also grown in pots and baskets for the Cape-house,
and when in flower it is greatly admired.
A. Bronssoneti. — 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, Coop-
eri, crispns, declinatus, dccumbens, lucidtcs, retrofrac-
tus, scandens, tenuifolius, trichophyllas , umbellatus,
verticillatiLs ; virgatus, etc., etc.
EDIBLE SPECIES
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 culti-
vation. 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 peren-
nial, 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 pre-
vious growths. From the sides and the lower part of
the rootstock numerous cylindrical, fleshy roots start
FIG. 7 — ASPARAGUS CROWN,
ROOTS, BUDS, AND
SPEAR
FIG. 8 — ASPARAGUS STEM,
LEAVES, FLOWERS,
AND BERRIES
BOTANY
15
and extend several feet horizontally, but do not pene-
trate the soil deeply. In the course of time the older
roots become hollow and inactive without becoming
detached from the rootstock. The young root forma-
tion always takes place a little above the old roots,
which circumstance explains why the asparagus plants
gradually rise above the original level, thus necessi-
tating the annual hilling up or the covering of the
crowns with additional soil.
The asparagus flowers are mostly solitary at the
fig. 9
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 sta-
mens in the same flower. Fig. 9 shows a pistillate,
Fig. 10 a staminate, and Fig. 11 a hermaphrodite or
bisexual flower.
16 ASPAkaGUS
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 root-
stock, 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. Flow-
ers 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. aphy litis. — Indigenous to Greece, where the
young shoots are commonly used as food, especially
during I^ent.
Ill
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 compo-
sition 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 appear-
ance 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 pro-
nounced 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
I 8 ASPARAGUS
Jamaica, I,. 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 aspara-
gus; 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 dif-
ferent 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, satis-
factory results may be reached with almost any of the
varieties on the market.
AMERICAN VARIETIES
Barr3 s Mammoth (Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth).
— Originated with Crawford Barr, a prominent market
gardener of Pennsylvania. It is one of the earliest
CULTURAL VARIETIES 1 9
varieties, is veiy productive, and grows to the largest
3ize. In Philadelphia it is much sought after, and brings
ihe highest prices.
Conover's Colossal (Van Siclen's Colossal). — Origi-
nated with Abraham Van Siclen, of L,ong 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,
20 ASPARAGUS
and even when twelve to fifteen inches long are per-
fectly 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 Ex-
periment 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 Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society, at one of which the
weight of twelve stalks was 4 pounds 6}{ 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 suit-
able 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,
CULTURAL VARIETIES 21
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.
Purple Top and Green Top. — These were the only
FIG. 12 — BUNCH OF PALMETTO ASPARAGUS
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 success-
fully has given its name to a strain more or less dis-
22 ASPARAGUS
tinct. 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-in-
formed 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 recog-
nized— 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 sur-
face 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 com-
parative earliness, Prof. S. C. Mason and his assistant,
W. L. Hall, of the Kansas Experiment Station, have
made some interesting and instructive experiments,
CULTURAL VARIETIES 23
the results of which are given in Bulletin 70, as fol-
lows:
" The seed often 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 cor-
respondingly broad. During the fall the north half
of each variety was manured, at the rate of fifty loads
per acre, with strong barn-yard manure, and in the
spring the effect was noted.
"The following table gives results as shown by the
24
ASPARAGUS
records of ten cuttings made the spring of 1897, from
April 20th to May 19th, inclusive; varieties averaged
in order of yield :
VARIETIES
240 feet of row in each, one-half manured
YIELDS IN POUNDS
and one-half unmanured
Manured
Unmanured
Total
1 Hub
31
29
26
20
19
16
17
18
16
15
27
29
20
18
15
17
16
13
14
14
58
58
2 Donald's Elmira
3 Vick's New Mammoth
47
39
5 Moore's Cross-bred
35
7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth. . . .
8 Columbian Mammoth White ....
33
33
32
30
10 Giant Purple Top
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.
i6 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 dif-
ference of season. The numbers mark their rank
CULTURAL VARIETIES 25
with regard to yield, 1 being the highest. The
ground occupied by this plantation is a rather low
bottom-land, being built uo 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. ' '
XV
SEED GROWING
THE asparagus plant begins to produce seed when
two years old. When fully developed the
JiH^ 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, how-
ever, 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
SEED GROWING 2f
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 considera-
tion 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 doubt-
ful 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
28 ASPARAGUS
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, theis 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.
SEED GROWING 29
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 selecled from
the resultant mass by the use ot a properly meshed
sieve.
THE RAISING OF PLANTS
A™" Sparagus can be propagated by division of
the roots, but this method gives so unsatis-
jj£^J! factory 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 im-
portant 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 advisa-
ble 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 indi-
vidual 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
THE RAISING OF PLANTS 3 1
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 sow-
ing 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 gar-
den 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
32 ASPARAGUS
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 gradu-
ally 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 Agricul-
turist, " 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 con-
venient, 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,
THE RAISING OF PLANTS 33
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 at-
tained 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 culti-
vation, and keep down the weeds the second year ex-
actly 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 suit-
able, 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 be-
34 ASPARAGUS
tween 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 Insti-
tute 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
ist 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
THE RAISING OF PLANTS 35
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 he
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 3roung 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 trans-
planting method we need use only the choicest plants;
then, if two or three seeds come up close together, if
36 ASPARAGUS
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
THE RAISING OF PLANTS 37
case of nursery-grown plants, where seeds are sown
directly out-of-doors, the young seedlings start very
slowly, are very tender during their earl} growth, and
FIG. 13 — ONE-YEAR-OLD POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS' PLANT
if the weather is unfavorable they hardly become well
established before autumn. ' '
Fig. 13 shows a one-year-old plant started in Feb-
ruary 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
T"Hhat strong, healthy, one-year-old plants are in
every way to be preferred to two or three
(jg^fcjj) 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 accu-
rate experiments in this line were made by the famous
French asparagus specialist M. Godefroy-Lebceuf, who
planted twelve stools of one, two, and three }^ears old
respectively in the same soil under the same condi-
tions and at the same time. Calling those plantings
Nos. 1,2, and 3, the following are the results obtained:
First Year. — No. i. — 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 circum-
ference.
No. 2. — Well-grown but irregular heads, somewhat weaker
than those of No. 1.
No. 3. — Only pretty well-grown heads, very irregular,
SELECTION OF PLANTS 39
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. I. — Magnificent growths, the heads
measuring on April ioth 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 ioth 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 ioth.
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. I. The heads
made their first appearance on April 6th, ioth, and nth.
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 nth ; 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 year- old only gave three and three-quarter
pounds, and those of three years old only two and one-hal
pounds ; in other words, taking round numbers, the planta-
tion made with the one-year-old plants produced double tht
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.
40 ASPARAGUS
Equally important is a careful selection of the indi-
vidual 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, horticul-
turist 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
SELECTION OF PLANTS
41
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 pur-
pose 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
fifty male
plants
Product from
fifty female
plants
First period, 10 davs
Second period, 10 days
Ounces
37
104
266
203
Ounces
21
68
164
154
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
42 ASPARAGUS
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. Allow-
ing 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 aspar-
agus 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
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 Ger-
many 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 cut-
ting. 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
44 ASPARAGUS
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 select-
ing a location for asparagus beds :
' ' i . One should choose, in reference to ground char-
acteristics, 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 can-
not 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
THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION 45
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 con-
sideration 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 prep-
aration of the land.
It is at once apparent, then, that nothing should be
neglected to bring the soil into the best possible con-
dition before planting. This truth was fully recog-
nized by the gardeners of former years who practiced
46 ASPARAGUS
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 L,ady 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
THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION 47
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 deepen-
ing 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
48 ASPARAGUS
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 prepara-
tion 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 condi-
tion to be worked it has to be plowed and harrowed
anc1 brought into as perfect condition as possible.
VIII
PLANTING
T "Throughout the Middle and Northern States,
spring, as soon as the soil can be worked to
i^jj|^ good advantage, is decidedly the most favor-
able time for planting asparagus. If it is
not practicable to plant thus early, the work may some-
times be delayed up to the middle of June. In plant-
ing 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 sun-
light. 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.
50 ASPARAGUS
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 aspara-
gus 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 per-
haps 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.
In most asparagus sections special customs prevail,
and even in these different growers have their indi-
PLANTING
51
vidual 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
FIG. 14 — HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD
ASPARAGUS ROOT
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
52 ASPARAGUS
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 wThat is true of water is also true
of plant food.
In field culture the distance adopted by asparagus
growers varies from 3x3 feet (4,840 plants per acre);
3x4 feet (3,640 plants per acre) ; 4x4 feet (2,722
plants per acre); 4x5 feet (2,178 plants per acre);
5x6 feet (1,452 plants per acre); 6x6 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 ex-
travagant 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 meas-
ured thirteen feet from tip to tip, the single roots
averaging the thickness of a lead pencil. This root
grew in Madison County, 111., and was wTashed 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 aspara-
gus should be planted twenty or even ten feet apart to
produce the largest returns, but it plainly shows why
PLANTING 53
the roots should not be planted as closely together as
was customary in former years; and it obviously demon-
strates 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 shore-
line 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 demon-
strated 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
54 ASPARAGUS
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 impor-
tance 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 read-
ily 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
PLANTING 55
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 trench-
ing 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 uutil the whole
56 ASPARAGUS
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 cut 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
PLANTING 57
simplified the planting, but have also materially
reduced the expense, increased the crop, and improved
the quality of the product.
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 wa}' 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
FIG. 15 — TRENCHES READY FOR PLANTING
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.
58
ASPARAGUS
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
FIG. l6 — HUDSON'S TRENCHER
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
PLANTING 59
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 neglecl can be remedied
'
i
■'
/ ' -^/53
FIG. 17 — ASPARAGUS ROOT IN PROPER POSITION FOR COVERING
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.
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 plant-
ing, the roots are placed in the trench, the crown in the
60 ASPARAGUS
center and the rootlets spread out evenly and horizon-
tally, 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.
To still more insure success it is an excellent plan
to draw up little hills of soil in the bottom of the
FIG. l8 — CROSS-SECTION OF ASPARAGUS BED AFTER PLANTING
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 cultiva-
tion the succeeding summer.
CULTIVATION
A^m S generally understood, the chief object of
cultivation is to kill weeds. This is an erro-
i
?$$&, neons 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 cultiva-
tor 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
62 ASPARAGUS
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 suf-
ficient 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
CULTIVATION 63
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 pur-
pose. 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 set-
back.
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 kill-
ing 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.
\\ nitterj, 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. ' '
64 ASPARAGUS
As the reverse of this plan, M. Godefroy L,ebceuf,
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 pene-
trate 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 pay-
ing 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 }?ear 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
CULTIVATION 65
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 gar-
dener, 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 the}* 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.
66 ASPARAGUS
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.
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
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68 ASPARAGUS
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 har-
rowed 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
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 nourish-
ment. All the brush should be removed at once to an
open field and burned, so as not to provide lodging-
-1#&iSB
70 ASPARAGUS
places for injurious insects and fungi. Some recom-
mend leaving the seedless plants as a mulch during
the winter, but the possible benefit of this is so insig-
nificant 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.
L,et the old bed stay, and set out a new one accord-
ing to rational methods. Some j^ears 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 dis-
tinguishable 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
CULTIVATION 7 1
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 jrears
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.
FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING
spAragus 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 nour-
ishing and readily available food. The earliness, ten-
derness, size, and commercial value cf 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 grow-
ers 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 aspar-
FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING 73
agus 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 exclu-
sively, convinced that asparagus needs liberal feeding
of potash and more nitrogen than is generally sup-
posed 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-o "
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 indis-
pensable 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 pro-
portion must always, in the very nature of the case,
remain more or less a matter of individual experi-
74 ASPARAGUS
rnent. 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 quan-
tity 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 fer-
tilizer, 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.
76 ASPARAGUS
The following table gives the amounts of different
fertilizer materials necessary to give the desired quan-
tity of each element :
Element Pounds of different materials for one acre
I Soo to 1,000 lbs. cottonseed-meal; or
Nitrogen . . . \ 35° to 4°° " nitrate of soda; or
I 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
1 150 to 300 lbs. sulphate of potash
„ , . ., ( 750 to 1,000 lbs. acid phosphate; or
Phosphoric acid ] ' ,. , , ,
( 600 to 800 dissolved bone.
' ' Asparagus requires very heavy manuring, and
yet its composition would not indicate it," writes Mr.
Charles V. Mapes. ' ' The explanation is found in the
fa(ft 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
78 ASPARAGUS
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 exist-
ence. 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 necessar)'
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 other-
wise, 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 exceed-
FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING 79
ingly 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, how-
ever. 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 prob-
able that it is principally during this period that the
roots assimilate and store up the materials which pro-
duce 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 dis-
trict : ' ' After the roots have been set in the drill, put
enough soil on them to cover about two inches.
80 ASPARAGUS
Then sow about 500 pounds of high grade potato
fertilizer per acre in the drill. As the weeds com-
mence 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 sea-
son. 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 differ-
ence how it is distributed, whether on the rows, be-
tween 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 feed-
ing roots of an apple tree can reach a heap of manure
piled around its trunk.
FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING 8 1
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 ad-
vantage 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 propor-
tion 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,
82 ASPARAGUS
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, net 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
T"1he chief labor in asparagus culture is the cut-
ting and bunching. As it is of the greatest
SHHJ 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. Piece-
work, if properly done, is nearly always cheaper than
day work, and is better for the employes and the em-
ployer.
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 ioth. although but few growers
84 ASPARAGUS
cut after the ist, 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 aspara-
gus varies according to the requirements of the mar-
kets, whether green or white stalks are desired. What-
ever 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 con-
victions 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,
L,ebceuf, 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 be-
tween the two styles. By allowing the tops of the
hilled-up sprouts to grow four inches above the sur-
HARVESTING AND MARKETING
85
face, the upper half of the stalk is green while the
lower half remains white.
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
FIG. 23 — BASKET OF ASPARAGUS READY FOR THE BUNCHING
SHED
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 impor-
tant 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.
When cutting, the sprout is taken in the left hand
■ —
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5
HARVESTING AND MARKETING 87
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
FIG. 25 — HORSE CARRIER FOR TEN BOXES OF ASPARAGUS
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.
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
88 ASPARAGUS
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
pushed 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 re-
quire it."
Knives. — There are several styles of knives for cut-
ting 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 Pvig. 26.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING
89
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, a^id as even the smallest stalks are thus
FJG. 26 — VARIOUS ASPARAGUS KNIVES
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.
Sorting. — Careful growers assort into three sizes :
extras, primes, and seconds. The size and weight of
the bunches vary somewhat in different markets.
go
ASPARAGUS
Bunches varying from six to twelve inches in length
are received at wholesale centers, but the most con-
venient 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
FIG. 27 — END AND SIDE VIEW OF PRIME WHITE ASPARAGUS
BUNCHES
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 be-
HARVESTING AND MARKETING 9 1
tween 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.
Bunchers. — The modern bunchers are constructed
of cast iron and are easily handled. One of the first to
fig. 28 — conover's asparagus buncher
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 trans-
portation to market. The Watt's Buncher (Fig. 29),
used extensively in New Jersey, is so arranged that the
92 ASPARAGUS
arms may be adjusted to an}- 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.
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
HARVESTING AXD MARKETING
93
Pi
1 1 r
FIG. 30 RACK AND KNIVES USED IN NEW ENGLAND
changes of temperature, and it does not break or ravel
when folded or knotted.
Rubber ba?ids. — The use of rubber bands for fasten-
ing 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
HARVESTING AND MARKETING 95
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. Kven 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 con-
sideration.
' ' The saving in the item of labor depends, of
course, upon the kind of labor employed. In deter-
mining 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
96 ASPARAGUS
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 mois-
ture 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.
Crates. — There is no standard shape or size of
HARVESTING AND MARKETING
97
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.
[mw(7TimwrmW\
FIG. 32 BOX OJ GIANT ASPARAGUS READY FOR SHIPMENT
In these the bunches are laid down flat, in tiers, alter-
nating 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
98
ASPARAGUS
FIG. 33 — SOUTHERN ASPARAGUS CRATE, CONTAINING 24
BUNCHES OF GREEN ASPARAGUS
- r 14r'/z in
19 tn
FIG. 34 — END PIECE OF SOUTHERN CRATE
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
HARVESTING AND MARKETING 99
length of the bunches. The crate here illustrated was
24 inches long, 12 inches high, 19 inches wide at the
bottom, and 14^2 inches at the top, inside measure-
ment. The end boards were yi 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
T|he 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 500 to 6o° can be secured, in the green-
house, hot-bed, 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 per-
manent industry, the plants have to be grown from
seed for this special purpose. To keep up a continu-
ous 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 de-
velop 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 dis-
tance of two and one-half feet between the rows and one
foot in the rows is, however, the narrowest limit, and,
FORCING IOI
where enough ground is available, three by one and
one-half or two feet would be still better. By pur-
chasing 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 ex-
pose them to the drying influence of the sun and air
more than is unavoidable. It is also important to pre-
serve the entire clump intact with as much soil adher-
ing 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. Mod-
erate 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 im-
portant 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 pur-
poses. 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
102 ASPARAGUS
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 the)- should be kept rather cool,
so as to give them a chance to become established. A
temperature of 45 ° to 500 is best, at first. Afterward
it should be raised to 55 ° to 6o°, and during the day
it may rise as high as 8o° to 850. 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
FORCING IO3
two feet long. January 10th, a heavy cutting. Janu-
ary 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 cut-
ting 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 Gai'den 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 700, and not below 65 °, 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,
104 ASPARAGUS
to keep the temperature from rising above 8o°.
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
FORCING 105
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. Some-
times 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 thick-
ness of three or four inches with manure, to force the
vegetation more quickly; but in this case the manure
106 ASPARAGUS
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 suc-
cessfully carried out by Prof. J. C. Whitten, at the
Missouri Experiment Station, who gives the following
account in Bulletin No. 43 :
' ' 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 tun-
108 ASPARAGUS
nels 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 dis-
charge 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 neces-
sary until the asparagus began to be produced. On
FORCING IO9
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 keep-
ing 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 un-
satisfactory. 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
I IO ASPARAGUS
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 con-
tinual 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 overheat-
ing. 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 mar-
kets 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
FORCING III
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 dur-
ing the summer while the plants are growing, in tak-
ing off the cover just as soon as settled weather comes,
and in not cutting the plants until after that tim^ "
T
XIII
PRESERVING ASPARAGUS
CANNING
he canning factory has made asparagus a vege-
table for every day of the year instead of
being a luxury for a few weeks, as was for-
merly 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 gar-
den, 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 con-
sists of a storehouse, 50x150 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 hoist-
ing, 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 per-
spective view of one of the plants is seen in Fig. 36.
The asparagus, as it comes from the growers, is in
bunches seven and one-half inches long and weighing
114 ASPARAGUS
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 doit. 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 sys-
tematically 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 hermatically seal the cans. A single
drop of solder closes the small opening, and the cans
are ready for the retorts for sterilizing.
Il6 ASPARAGUS
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 com-
pletes 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-
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 con-
sidered 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
Il8 ASPARAGUS
the first quality, excepl 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 the}7 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 pajung crop than potatoes at 50
cents per bushel.
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, averag-
1 20 ASPARAGUS
ing 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 prod-
uct in glass or cans before it becomes in any way
withered, the important point being that asparagus is
never allowed to become dried.
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 aspara-
gus 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 per-
fection, 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 atten-
tion and stress being laid on every detail connected
with it. No bleaching agents or anything foreign or
122 ASPARAGUS
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 cot-
tages 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 store-
house, as seen in the Frontispiece, it has developed
into a superb plant, equipped with all modern appli-
ances. During the active season 1,500 hands are em-
ployed 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 desir-
able as a table vegetable. Dried asparagus keeps
indefinitely, and cost of transportation is largely re-
duced. For the latter purpose medium-sized spears
are most suitable, as they dry more evenly than larger
124 ASPARAGUS
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 evap-
orator.
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
PRESERVING ASPARAGUS 1 25
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 care-
fully 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 aspara-
gus 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
mm asparagus plant, there are only two species
j£3££l which have so far become extensively dis-
tributed 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*
{Crioceris asparagt)
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 in-
jurious 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 epi-
dermis, or rind, of the stems. The beetles are also
♦Condensed from an official report by J. H. Chittenden of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
INJURIOUS INSECTS
127
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
FIG. 42 — COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE
a, beetle ; b, egg ; c, newly hatched larva ; d, full-grown larva
wing covers, with reddish border. Its length is a
trifle less than one-fourth of an inch.
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,
128 ASPARAGUS
Delaware, and Maryland, and is present in Pennsyl-
vania, New York, and Ohio. The question of distri-
bution is an important one, as this species is rapidly
extending its range. In a very few years we may ex-
pect its spread to other portions of the States in which
it is now local, and later it will naturally move west-
ward 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," pre-
senting the appearance indicated in Fig. 42, c. They at
once begin to feed, and are from ten days to a fort-
night, 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
FIG. 43 — SPRAY AND TOP OF ASPARAGUS ATTACKED BA
BEETL' S
I 30 ASPARAGUS
in its different stages, asparagus top at the right show-
ing eggs and injury.
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 lat-
ter 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 in-
crease. One of the most active of these predaceous
insects is the spotted ladybird (Megilla metadata 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 i^Podi-
sus spinosus Dal.) and the bordered soldier-bug '"Sti-
retrus anchorado Fab.) are also useful as destroyers of
asparagus beetle larvae, which they catch and kill by
mpaling them upon their long beaks and sucking out
INJURIOUS INSF.CTS
131
their juices. Certain species of wasps and small
dragon-flies also prey upon the larvae. Asparagus
beetles are very susceptible to sudden changes of tem-
perature, and immense numbers of hibernating beetles
are sometimes killed in winter during severe cold spells
following ' ' open ' ' weather.
Remedies. — The common asparagus beetle, under
ordinary circumstances, may be held in restraint by
FIG. 44 SPOTTED LADYBIRD
a, larva ; b, empty pupal skin ; c, beetle, with enlarged antenna above
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
1 3 ' ASPARAGUS
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 reme-
dies 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 bene-
ficial 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 pow-
der, 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 helle-
bore 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 }Toung larvae. Pyreth-
rum 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 thor-
INJURIOUS INSECTS I33
oughly and with concerted action by all the growers in
the section, the relief can not be permanent.
THE TWELVE-SPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE
{Crioieris 12-punctata Linn)
The presence of this insect in America was first
detected in 1881, and it is still much rarer and conse-
quently 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 pref-
erence, 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.
This species is at present distributed throughout
the asparagus-growing country of New Jersey, partic-
ularly in the vicinity of the Delaware River, the whole
134
ASPARAGUS
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
FIG. 45 — TWELVE-SPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE
a, beetle; b, larva; c, second abdominal segment of larva ; if, same
of common asparagus beetle
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
INJURIOUS INSECTS 1 35
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 sep-
arable 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 excep-
tion 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 be}^ond the reach of insecticides. The collec-
tion 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
(Agro?nyza simplex)
In a recent bulletin from the New York Experi-
ment Station, Prof. F. A. Sirrine describes a com-
paratively 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. Cul-
tural 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
I36 ASPARAGUS
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.
XV
FUNGUS DISEASES
A "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 Candoile as Puccinia
asparagi in the year 1805. From this it is seen that
the rust upon the asparagus has been known to scien-
tists for nearly a hundred years, and it is but reason-
able 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
When an asparagus field is badly infested with the
mst the general appearance is that of an unusually
PIG. 46 ASPARAGUS STEMS AFFECTED WITH RUST
FUNGUS DISEASES
139
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 blis-
FIG. 47 — FOl riON OF RUSTED ASPARAGUS STEMS
tered, 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,
140 ASPARAGUS
taking up nourishment and causing an enfeebled con-
dition 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 OP TREATING THE RUST
All the cultivated varieties of asparagus are readily
affected b}^ 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.
FUNGUS DISEASES I4I
used soda-bordeaux, hydrate-bordeaux, and potash-
bordeaux. The spraying began June 2d, and ten spray-
ings 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 dif-
ference. 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 Ex-
periment Station, the results were more encouraging.
The solutions used were potassium sulfid, saccharate
of lime, and bordeaux mixture. The spraying was
done with a knapsack spraj-er, provided with a Ver-
morel 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 ordi-
nary cylinder atomizer, and the lime solutions showed
excellent sticking qualities; but with the ordinary-
coarse nozzle the solutions would run off of the glossy
142 ASPARAGUS
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 be-
tween 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.
Bur?ii?ig the affeEled 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 aspar-
agus stems either as they stand in the field or by cut-
ting 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
FUNGUS DISEASES 1 43
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 wTould 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 irrigaiioyi. — 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 remark-
able differences as to infection; and that robust and
vigorous plants, even where cultivated on apparently
dry soil, are capable of resisting the summer or inju-
rious 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 irriga-
tion."
From a knowledge of the occurrences of the rust
in Europe, and from observations made in Massachu-
setts, they are led to believe that the outbreak of the
144 ASPARAGUS
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 bjr Prof.
W. G. Johnson, in Bulletin No. 50, Maryland Experi-
ment 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 apearance it is very striking, the character-
istic spots resembling the coat of the leopard. It has,
therefore, been called ' ' asparagus leopard spot," to dis-
tinguish 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. Aspara-
gus 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
sparagus 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 pro-
duced 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
146 ASPARAGUS
hope to find one. The Palmetto has not rusted as
badly as other kinds, but has not been grown so ex-
tensively. 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 care-
full}' 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 j^our 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
CULTURE IX DIFFERENT LOCALITIES I47
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 earty as possible. Con-
cord growers use animal manure or chemical fertil-
izers, 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,
I48 ASPARAGUS
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, pur-
chase 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 hun-
dred 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 con-
nection 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 prod-
uct 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
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 49
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 grow-
ers 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, tne rust
seriously damaged many beds in eastern Massachu-
setts. 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.
I50 ASPARAGUS
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 con-
sidered worthless — on land that can be bought,
uncleared, at from five to ten dollars per acre — aspara-
gus can be made as profitable a crop as on land con-
sidered 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
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 151
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 as-
paragus 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 aspara-
gus, 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
152 ASPARAGUS
surface is at all times loose and fine to prevent evapo-
ration, 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 cul-
tivation 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 smooth-
ing-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
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 53
piow on either side and run it astride the row, covering
everything in the row. Doing this on Saturday after-
noon 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 whicb
154 ASPARAGUS
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, JV. 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 profit-
able.
But the asparagus crop is one into which the tern-
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 55
porary 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 natu-
rally or artificially. The level sandy soils that abound
in all the South Atlantic Coast region, having a com-
pact 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 vegeta-
ble 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 pre-
pared 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
I5& ASPARAGUS
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 chem-
ical 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 im-
portant 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.
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 57
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 ten-
dency 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 start-
ing. 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
158 ASPARAGUS
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 shal-
low. 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. Massky.
North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station.
ASPARAGUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA
The growing of asparagus for market in Califor-
nia 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
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 59
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 L,uis Obispo coun-
ties. Small beds, however, for local consumption are
to be found in California as generally and frequently
as the5r are in other States.
There is a fascination about asparagus culture that
is founded on legitimate financial returns. It is prac-
tically "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 pro-
portion 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 sup-
posed.
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. Fur-
rows for planting are then run and made double depth.
Some growers think it worth while to distribute fer-
l6o ASPARAGUS
tilizer 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 Fran-
cisco 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. Plant-
ing 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 cultiva-
tion 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 coat-
ing of manure is placed over the beds and left to be
leeched in by the rains.
The second year some growers cut more or less for
162 ASPARAGUS
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 plo wings 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 quan-
tity 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 Feb-
ruary, 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
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 63
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 ordi-
nary 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 prep-
aration 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.
164 ASPARAGUS
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 Argen-
teuil, and it is cultivated extensively for market in
many other places. About Argenteuil several thou-
sand 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 gener-
ally 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. Per-
haps 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
CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 1 65
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 dis-
tance 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 Argen-
teuil 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
1 66 ASPARAGUS
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 speci-
men, 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
\meriean 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 l,ong 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
PAGE
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 . . no
Fungus diseases 137
Asparagus iust 137
Asparagus leopard spot .... 144
Growing asparagus without trans-
planting 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
1 68
ASPARAGUS
PAGE
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
siubDer bands 93
PAGE
Salt as a fertilizer 81
Seed-growing 26
Selection of plants 3S
Soil and its preparation 43
Sorting 89
Sorting and bunching 89
Sterilizing 116
Subsoiling 47
Transplanting, Growing aspara-
gus without 32
Tying material 92
Variety tests 2?
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DUE DATE
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