Transcriber's Note: Obvious typos were fixed and use of hyphens was normalized throughout, but all other spelling and punctuation was retained as it appeared in the original text.

ASPARAGUS

ITS CULTURE FOR HOME USE AND FOR MARKET

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE PLANTING, CULTIVATION, HARVESTING, MARKETING, AND PRESERVING OF ASPARAGUS, WITH NOTES ON ITS HISTORY AND BOTANY

BY

F. M. HEXAMER

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

1914

Printed in U. S. A.

BEGINNING OF THE ASPARAGUS INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

he cultivation of asparagus for home use as well as for market is so rapidly increasing, and reliable information pertaining to it is so frequently asked for, that a book on this subject is evidently needed. While all works on vegetable culture treat more or less extensively on its cultivation, so far there has been no book exclusively devoted to asparagus published in America. Asparagus is one of the earliest, most delicious, and surest products of the garden. Its position among other vegetables is unique, and when once planted it lasts a lifetime; it may be prepared for use in great variety, and may be canned or dried so as to be available at any time of the year; and yet in the great majority of farm gardens it is almost unknown. The principal reason for this neglect is based upon the erroneous idea that asparagus culture requires unusual skill, expense, and hard work. While this was true, in a measure, under old-time rules, modern methods have so simplified every detail connected with the cultivation of asparagus as to make it not necessarily more expensive and laborious than that of any other garden crop. To describe and make clear these improved methods, to demonstrate how easily and inexpensively an asparagus bed may be had in every garden, and how much pleasure, health, and profit may be derived from the crop have been the principal inducements to writing this book.

In a popular treatise on so widely distributed a vegetable as asparagus, the cultivation of which had been brought to a high state of development many centuries before the Christian era, there is little opportunity for originality. All that the author has endeavored in this little volume has been to collect, arrange, classify, and systematize all obtainable facts, compare them with his own many years' experience in asparagus culture, and present his inferences in a plain and popular manner. Free use has been made of all available literature, especially helpful among which has been the Farmers' Bulletin No. 61 of the United States Department of Agriculture, by R. B. Handy; also bulletins of the Missouri, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, and South Carolina and other experiment stations; the files of American Agriculturist; Gardener's Chronicle, from which descriptions of several ornamental species by William Watson were condensed; Thome's "Flora von Deutschland;" "Eintraegliche Spargelzucht," von Franz Goeschke; "Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," von Dr. Ed. Brinckmeier; "Parks and Gardens of Paris," by William Robinson; "Asparagus Culture," by James Barnes and William Robinson; "Les Plantes Potageres," by Vilmorin-Andrieux; the works of Peter Henderson, Thomas Bridgeman, J. C. Loudon, and others.

The author desires to express his grateful acknowledgments to Mr. Herbert Myrick, editor-in-chief of American Agriculturist and allied publications, for critically reading the whole manuscript; to Prof. W. G. Johnson, Charles V. Mapes, C. L. Allen, A. D. McNair, Superintendent Southern Pines Experimental Farm; Prof. W. F. Massey, Robert W. Nix, Robert Hickmott, Charles W. Prescott, Joel Borton, and all others who by their help, suggestions, and advice have aided him in the preparation of this work.

F. M. Hexamer.
New York, 1901.

ASPARAGUS

I

HISTORICAL SKETCH

he word "asparagus" is said to be of Persian origin. In middle Latin it appears as sparagus; Italian, sparajio; old French, esperaje; old English, sperage, sparage, sperach. The middle Latin form, sparagus, was in English changed into sparagrass, sparrow-grass, and sometimes simply grass, terms which were until recently in good literary use. In modern French it is asperge; German, spargel; Dutch, aspergie; Spanish, esperrago.

The original habitat of the edible asparagus is not positively known, as it is now found naturalized throughout Europe, as well as in nearly all parts of the civilized world. How long the plant was used as a vegetable or as a medicine is likewise uncertain, but that it was known and highly prized by the Romans at least two centuries before the Christian era is historically recorded. According to Pliny, the Romans were already aware of the difference in quality, that grown near Ravenna being considered best, and was so large that three spears weighed one pound. The elder Cato has treated the subject with still greater care. He advises the sowing of the seed of asparagus in the beds of vine-dressers' reeds, which are cultivated in Italy for the support of the vines, and that they should be burned in the spring of the third year, as the ashes would act as a manure to the future crop. He also recommends that the plants be renewed after eight or nine years.

The usual method of preparing asparagus pursued by the Roman cooks was to select the finest sprouts and to dry them. When wanted for the table they were put in hot water and cooked a few minutes. To this practice is owing one of Emperor Augustus's favorite sayings: "Citius quam asparagi coquentur" (Do it quicker than you can cook asparagus).

While the indigenous asparagus has been used from time immemorial as a medicine by Gauls, Germans, and Britons, its cultivation and use as a vegetable was only made known to the people by the invading Roman armies. But in the early part of the sixteenth century it was mentioned among the cultivated garden vegetables, and Leonard Meager, in his "English Gardener," published in 1683, informs us that in his time the London market was well supplied with "forced" asparagus.

The medicinal virtues formerly attributed to asparagus comprise a wide range. The roots, sprouts, and seeds were used as medicine. The fresh roots are diuretic, perhaps owing to the immediate crystalizable principle, "asparagine," which is said to be sedative in the dose of a few grains. A syrup made of the young shoots and an extract of the roots has been recommended as a sedative in heart affections, and the species diuretica—a mixture of asparagus, celery, parsley, holly, and sweet fennel—was a favorite preparation for use in dropsy and gravel. Among the Greeks and Romans it was one of the oldest and most valued medicines, and to which most absurd virtues were attributed. It was believed that if a person anointed himself with a liniment made of asparagus and oil the bees would not approach or sting him. It was also believed that if the root be put on a tooth which aches violently it causes it to come out without pain. The therapeutic virtues of asparagus seem to have been held in almost as high esteem by the ancients as those of ginseng are esteemed by the Chinese to this day.

II

BOTANY

he genus Asparagus belongs to the Lily Family. It comprises about one hundred and fifty species, and these are spread through the temperate and tropical regions of the Old World. One-half of these species are indigenous to South Africa, and it is from this region that the most ornamental of the greenhouse species have been obtained.

All the species are perennial, with generally fleshy roots or tubers. The stems are annual in some, perennial in others, most of them being spiny, climbing shrubs, growing to a length of from five to twenty or even fifty feet. The true leaves are usually changed into spines, which are situated at the base of the branches and are often stout and woody. The false leaves, termed cladodia, are the linear or hair-like organs which are popularly called leaves; they are in reality modified branches. These cladodia are nearly always arranged in clusters at intervals along the branches, and the flowers generally spring from their axils. They usually fall off the hardy species in winter, and they are easily affected by unfavorable conditions in all the species. Most of them flower and fruit freely under cultivation, so that seeds are available for propagation.

FIG. 2—ASPARAGUS PLUMOSUS NANUS

ORNAMENTAL SPECIES

A. medeoloides (Myrsiphyllum asparagoides), popularly known as Smilax.—For many years this has been, and is yet, one of the most commonly grown and the most serviceable of the plants used by florists as "green." It is readily grown from seed in the greenhouse. While a few other species of asparagus have been close rivals, it is yet unexcelled for many purposes of floral decorations.

A. plumosus (the plumy asparagus).—A very graceful climbing plant which for finer decoration has largely taken the place of smilax, its foliage being finer than that of the most delicate ferns, and will last for weeks after being cut. The whole plant is of a bright, cheerful green. Its branches spread horizontally, and branch again in such a manner as to form a flat, frond-like arrangement, the leaves being very numerous, in clusters of about a dozen, bright green, and one-half inch long. A native of South Africa, where it climbs over bushes and branches in moist situations. There are several named varieties of this, most of which have originated in gardens. The most distinct are A. tenuissimus and A. plumosus nanus, the fern-like appearance of which is seen in Fig. 2.

A. Sprengeri.—This is one of the best and most attractive house plants of recent introduction. It is of graceful form and habit when grown as a pot plant, but it is equally well suited for planting in hanging baskets. Its fronds are frequently four feet long, of a rich shade of green, and very useful for cutting, retaining their freshness for weeks after being cut. As a house plant it has exceeded expectations, as it stands dry atmosphere better than the older kinds of ornamental asparagus, and is not particular as to any special position. It delights in a well-enriched soil, rather light in composition, with plenty of drainage, and grows very rapidly. It is decidedly pretty when in bloom, its little flowers being pure white on short racemes, and the anthers are of a bright orange color. Fig. 3 gives a good idea of its graceful habit.

FIG. 3—ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI

A. falcatus.—One of the most striking twining plants for a large, temperate house. At the Kew Gardens, in London, England, is an enormous specimen of this species which is trained against the northern staircase, where it has formed a perfect thicket two yards through and twenty-five feet high, of long, rope-like, intertwining, spinous, fawn-colored stems, some of them fully fifty feet long, and clothed with wiry, woody branches, bearing whorls of leaves from two to three inches long and nearly one-fourth of an inch wide, falcate and bright green. The young stems are thick and succulent and gray-green, mottled with brown. For large conservatories, and particularly in moist, shady corners, where ordinary climbers will not thrive, this is an ideal plant. It is a native of the tropics of Asia and Africa, as well as the Cape.

A. laricinus (Fig. 4).—This handsome species has been in the Kew collection at least twenty years. It is grown in the succulent house, where, from a vigorous root system, it sends up annual stout succulent shoots, which grow to a length of about twelve feet, and when fully developed are decidedly ornamental. The stems are perennial, terete, dark brown, woody, one-half inch in diameter at the base, very spinous, freely branched, and branches zigzag and gray, the leaves in clusters one-fourth inch apart, hair-like, one and one-half inches long, bright green, persistent. Flowers axillary, many in a cluster, small, campanulate, white. Berries globose, dull red, one seeded, one-sixth of an inch in diameter. Common in various parts of South Africa. It is an excellent pillar plant.

FIG. 4—ASPARAGUS LARICINUS

A. racemosus.—This species is spread throughout the tropics of Africa and Asia; the Cape form of it is represented at Kew under the name of variety tetragonus, as shown in Fig. 5. This is a vigorous grower, with woody stems nine feet long, prickly at the base, fawn colored, freely branching above, each branch having at its base a sharp spine three-quarters of an inch long. The leaves are of a gray-green hue, four-angled, one-quarter of an inch long. Flowers in racemes two inches long, whitish, very fragrant. Berry red, globose, pulpy, one-seeded. An excellent climber for rafters, pillars, etc., growing vigorously under ordinary treatment. Its root system is a dense mass of tubers.

A. sarmentosus (Fig. 6).—An elegant evergreen species from South Africa, where it grows freely in moist situations, forming dense, brushy stems with short prickles, and studded with white, starry, fragrant flowers, which are followed with bright scarlet, pea-like berries; has stems four feet high, freely branched and clothed with dark green flat leaves three inches long. It is also grown in pots and baskets for the Cape-house, and when in flower it is greatly admired.

FIG. 5—ASPARAGUS RACEMOSUS, VAR. TETRAGONUS

FIG. 6—ASPARAGUS SARMENTOSUS

A. Broussoneti.—A beautiful hardy perennial climber from the Canary Islands, growing ten feet high; feathery foliage and scarlet berries. In the autumn this is very ornamental.

Among the most noteworthy of other ornamental species are: A. Aethiopicus, Africanus, Asiaticus, Cooperi, crispus, declinatus, decumbens, lucidus, retrofractus, scandens, tenuifolius, trichophyllus, umbellatus, verticillatus, virgatus, etc., etc.

EDIBLE SPECIES

Asparagus officinalis.—While the young sprouts of a few other species may be used as food, this is the only one which has found a permanent place in cultivation. It is a branching, herbaceous plant, reaching a hight of from three to seven feet; the filiform branchlets, three to seven inches long, less than one-quarter inch thick, are mostly clustered in the axils of minute scales. The rootstock, or "crown," is perennial, and makes a new growth each year of from one to three inches, extending horizontally, and generally in a straight line. It may propagate from both ends, or from only one, but in either case the older part of root stalk becomes unproductive and finally dies. Fig. 7 shows the new portion of the rootstock crowned with buds for the production of new shoots, while the older portion bears the scars and dead scales of previous growths. From the sides and the lower part of the rootstock numerous cylindrical, fleshy roots start and extend several feet horizontally, but do not penetrate the soil deeply.

In the course of time the older roots become hollow and inactive without becoming detached from the rootstock. The young root formation always takes place a little above the old roots, which circumstance explains why the asparagus plants gradually rise above the original level, thus necessitating the annual hilling up or the covering of the crowns with additional soil.

FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 11

The asparagus flowers are mostly solitary at the nodes, of greenish-yellow color, drooping or filiform, jointed peduncles; perianth, six-parted, campanulate, as seen in Fig. 8. Anthers, introrse; style, short; stigma, three-lobed; berry, red, spherical, three-celled; cells, two-seeded. While the flowers are generally diœcious—staminate and pistillate flowers being borne on different plants—there appear also hermaphrodite flowers, having both pistils and fully developed stamens in the same flower. Fig. 9 shows a pistillate, Fig. 10 a staminate, and Fig. 11 a hermaphrodite or bisexual flower.

In one case, at least, the author has also observed that a plant which has been barren of seed at first changed into a seed-bearing plant the following year. Similar changes in the sexuality of strawberries have been observed under certain conditions. These facts may explain, in a measure, the difficulty experienced in raising permanently sterile asparagus plants.

Asparagus acutifolius.—A native of Southern Europe and Northern Africa. It has a fleshy rootstock, hard, wiry, brown stems, five to seven feet high, with rigid branches three to six inches long, thickly closed, with tufts of gray-green, hair-like, rigid leaves, which in exposed situations are almost spinous. Flowers yellow, a quarter of an inch in diameter, fragrant. The young sprouts are tender, and, when cooked, of a peculiar aromatic flavor. In their native home they are used like the cultivated kind.

A. aphyllus.—Indigenous to Greece, where the young shoots are commonly used as food, especially during Lent.

III

CULTURAL VARIETIES

lthough but one species of edible asparagus has found its way into general cultivation, many varieties and strains are recognized.

Up to within a comparatively recent period it was thought that there existed only one distinct kind, or variety, of asparagus. As late as 1869 so keen an observer as Peter Henderson believed that "the asparagus of our gardens is confined to only one variety, and the so-called giant can be made gigantic or otherwise, just as we will it, and the purple top variety will become a green top whenever the composition of the soil is not of the kind to develop the purple, and vice versa. All practical gardeners know how different soils and climates change the appearance of the same variety. Seeds of cabbage taken from the same bag and sown at the same time, but planted out in soils of light sandy loam, heavy clayey loam, and peat or leaf-mold, will show such marked differences when at maturity as easily to be pronounced different sorts. This, no doubt, is the reason why the multitude of varieties of all vegetables, when planted side by side to test them, are so wonderfully reduced in number."

But after inspecting an acre of ordinary asparagus and an acre of Abraham Van Siclen's Colossal—which was afterward introduced as Conover's Colossal—at Jamaica, L. I., N. Y., Mr. Henderson wrote: "A thorough inspection of the roots of each lot proved that they were of the same age when planted. The soil was next examined, and found to be as near the same as could be, yet these two beds of asparagus showed a difference that no longer left me a shadow of a doubt of their being entirely different varieties."

In but few vegetables do the conditions of soil, locality, mode of cultivation, and other circumstances affect the quality, size, and appearance as much as in asparagus. It is therefore difficult to distinguish fixed and permanent varieties from mere local strains and forms secured by selection.

Through natural and artificial selection, through use of seed of strong shoots from superior roots, there has been improvement in the size and yield of asparagus; from the peculiar adaptability of soil and climate, and the effect of manure and high cultivation, there have appeared certain variations in the product of different beds which have led to the bestowing of a new name; but the effect of this care and these favorable conditions is not sufficiently strong to produce distinct varieties with fixed characteristics. Therefore, with correct and rational treatment of the plant from the time of seeding through all the stages of culture, satisfactory results may be reached with almost any of the varieties on the market.

AMERICAN VARIETIES

Barr's Mammoth (Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth).—Originated with Crawford Barr, a prominent market gardener of Pennsylvania. It is one of the earliest varieties, is very productive, and grows to the largest size. In Philadelphia it is much sought after, and brings the highest prices.

Conover's Colossal (Van Siclen's Colossal).—Originated with Abraham Van Siclen, of Long Island, N. Y., and was introduced by S. B. Conover, a commision merchant of West Washington Market, New York City, some thirty years ago. The superiority of this variety over all other kinds known at that time made it soon supplant all other varieties, and it is to this day better and more favorably known than any other sort.

Columbian Mammoth White.—This was introduced by D. M. Ferry & Co., in 1893. The immense shoots are clear white, and, in favorable weather, remain so until three or four inches above the surface, without earthing up or any other artificial blanching. The crown or bud of the young stalk is considerably smaller than the part just below it, thus further distinguishing the variety. All but a very few of the seedlings will produce clear white shoots, and the green ones can be readily distinguished and rejected when planting the permanent bed.

Donald's Elmira.—Originated by A. Donald, Elmira, N. Y., and was first introduced by Johnson & Stokes, Philadelphia, Pa. This is characterized by the delicate green color of its stems, different from any other kind. Its stalks are very tender and succulent, while its size is all that can be desired.

Eclipse (Dreer's Eclipse).—A light green mammoth strain of excellent quality and attractive appearance. The stalks, not rarely, measure two inches in diameter, and even when twelve to fifteen inches long are perfectly tender and of a delicate light green color.

Hub.—Originated in New Hampshire several years ago, and was introduced by Joseph Breck & Sons, Boston, Mass. Although not generally catalogued, it is a distinct and valuable variety that has made a decided record for itself in the tests of the Kansas Experiment Station, where its yield, by weight, was greater than any other.

Mammoth.—This is a somewhat indefinite term, as almost any prominent seedsman and grower who has a particularly good and large strain of asparagus suffixes it to his own name. Among the best known of these are Vick's Mammoth, Maule's Mammoth, Prescott's Mammoth, etc.

Moore's Cross-bred.—This originated with J. B. Moore, who for twenty years was awarded the first prize on asparagus at the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, at one of which the weight of twelve stalks was 4 pounds 6-¹/₄ ounces. It retains the head close until the stalks are quite long, and is of uniform color, while for tenderness and eating quality it is excelled by none. It is particularly recommended for cultivation in New England.

Palmetto.—A variety of Southern origin, but suitable for the North also. At the South it is somewhat earlier than Conover's Colossal, but its great advantage is that it is almost destitute of, what dealers call, culls, nearly all shoots being of a uniform and large size. The bunch from which the engraving (Fig. 12) was made measured twenty-two inches in circumference, and contained forty-eight stalks of nine inches in length and remarkably uniform in size. It was taken on March 30th from a field of fifty acres, near Charleston, S. C. But the greatest point in its favor is its comparative security from the attacks of rust.

FIG. 12—BUNCH OF PALMETTO ASPARAGUS

Purple Top and Green Top.—These were the only distinct sorts in cultivation before the introduction of Conover's Colossal, but are now almost unknown to the trade and cultivators.

EUROPEAN VARIETIES

The named varieties of asparagus of European origin are very numerous, as almost every locality in which asparagus is cultivated extensively and successfully has given its name to a strain more or less distinct. Generally these varieties differ only in a single characteristic, and these differences, for the most part, are so little that they are lost when grown under different climatic and soil conditions. The best-informed authorities recognize three cultivated varieties, which have distinct commercial characteristics and whose seeds reproduce them in the seedlings.

German Giant.—This variety embraces most of the German and French sorts—the Giant Dutch Purple, Ulm Giant, Giant Brunswick, Large Erfurt, Early Darmstadt, and many others.

Argenteuil.—Of this three sub-varieties are recognized—the early, intermediate, and late; and these are the kinds grown almost exclusively in the vicinity of Paris, France, where its culture and improvement have steadily developed for centuries. Under good culture the late Argenteuil produces stalks from three to six inches in circumference, at eight inches below the tips.

Yellow Burgundy.—The distinctive characteristic of this variety is that the young shoots below the surface of the soil are light yellow instead of white to tips, being greenish-yellow. It is also claimed to be more rust-resisting than other European sorts.

VARIETY TESTS

To determine the comparative effects of manuring on different varieties of asparagus, and also their comparative earliness, Prof. S. C. Mason and his assistant, W. L. Hall, of the Kansas Experiment Station, have made some interesting and instructive experiments, the results of which are given in Bulletin 70, as follows:

"The seed of ten varieties of asparagus was planted. A good stand was secured, and the young plants were cultivated during the summer in the usual way. Early the following spring the entire patch was dug up and the roots heeled in. The same ground was then prepared for a permanent plantation, by plowing it deeply and marking it with furrows four feet apart. These furrows were made as deep as possible, but after the loose soil had run back into them they were on the bottom hardly six inches below the level of the ground. In these furrows the roots of the seedlings were planted (240 feet of row for each variety), making altogether a patch of 35.25 square rods, or a little more than one-fifth of an acre (.22 of an acre). The plants were set about a foot apart in the row, and covered only an inch or two above the crown, leaving along the rows depressions some two inches deep, which were gradually filled up during the summer, by the many cultivations. During the winter the stalks were cleared off, but nothing was done with the patch in the spring more than to cut and note the earliest shoots, the first cutting of which was made April 13th. The patch was cultivated during summer as before, except that the size of the plants interfered somewhat—many of the plants growing six feet high and correspondingly broad. During the fall the north half of each variety was manured, at the rate of fifty loads per acre, with strong barnyard manure, and in the spring the effect was noted.

"The following table gives results as shown by the records of ten cuttings made the spring of 1897, from April 20th to May 19th, inclusive; varieties averaged in order of yield:

"Of the two heaviest yielding varieties, Hub and Donald's Elmira, the last named is the earliest, though Hub is also quite early. As nearly as can be judged from the notes, the ten varieties rank for earliness about as follows, though all kinds yielded something at the first cutting:

{10 Giant Purple Top.
{ 7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth.
{ 2 Donald's Elmira.
{ 6 Conover's Colossal.
{ 3 Vick's New Mammoth.
{ 1 The Hub.
{ 9 Dreer's Eclipse.
4 Palmetto.
5 Moore's Cross-bred.
8 Columbian Mammoth White.

"Those included within a brace have little or no difference of season. The numbers mark their rank with regard to yield, 1 being the highest. The ground occupied by this plantation is a rather low bottom-land, being built up of a clay silt from the former overflow of two creeks, mixed with vegetable mold. It is rather too compact for the best growth of asparagus, as it contains very little sand."

IV

SEED GROWING

he asparagus plant begins to produce seed when two years old. When fully developed the stalks are from five to six feet in hight, with numerous branches upon which are produced a profusion of bright scarlet berries, containing from three to six seeds each. It is not advisable, however, to harvest seed from plants less than four years old.

To save the seed the stalks are cut close to the ground as soon as the berries are ripe, which may be known by their changing color, from green to scarlet, and softening somewhat. The entire stalks are then cut off, tied in bundles, and hung up in a dry place safe from the attacks of birds, some kinds of which are very fond of this seed. After the berries are fully dried they are stripped off by hand, or thrashed upon a cloth or floor, and separated from the chaff. They are then soaked in water for a day or two to soften the skin and pulp of the berries, after which they are rubbed between the hands, or mashed with a wooden pounder, to break the outer shells. The separation of the pulp from the seed is accomplished by washing. When placed in water the seeds will settle with the pulp and the shells will readily pass away in pouring off the water. To clean the seeds thoroughly the washing has to be repeated three or four times. It is then spread on boards or trays to dry in the sun and wind. After the first day it should be removed from the sun, but exposed to the air in a dry loft, spread thin for ten days or more. When thoroughly dried the seed is stored in linen or paper bags until needed.

When cheapness of the seed is the main consideration such promiscuous harvesting may be permissible, but when only the best is desired careful selection and preparation becomes necessary. Even if the parent plants are of choice types, not all the seeds from them are equally good. The seed, for instance, which has been gathered from a stool which has flowered side by side with an inferior kind, and at the same time, may be worthless, because it has been fertilized badly. Then the last heads generally yield nothing but doubtful seed which seldom reproduces the proper type. The seeds which grow at the end of the shoots also, as well as those produced by the upper and lower extremities of the stem, have the same defect.

In order to insure the production of the very best asparagus seed a sufficient number of pistillate or seed-bearing plants, which produce the strongest and best spears, should be selected and marked so that they may be distinguished the following spring when the shoots appear. These clumps should be close together and near some staminate or male plants which have to be marked likewise, as without their presence fertile seed can not be produced. The number of the male to the female plants should be about one to four or five. The following spring all the sprouts of the selected male plants are allowed to grow without cutting any. On each hill of the female plants the two strongest and earliest stalks are allowed to grow, cutting the later appearing spears with the others for market or home use. Thus these early stalks of both male and female plants bloom together before any other stalks, and the blooms on the female plants will be fertilized with the pollen of the selected male plants. This last is of prime importance, for on proper fertilization depends the purity of the seed as well as the vigor of the resultant plant. Not all seed of even a good plant properly fertilized should be used for reproduction, as of the seeds gathered from any plant some will be better than others. Only the largest, plumpest, and best matured seeds should be used, for by saving these the most nearly typical plants of the sort will be most certainly produced. The selection of the best seed from typical plants is as essential to success as are good soil, thorough cultivation, and heavy manuring.

The best seeds are produced from the lower part of the stalk, hence it is well to top the plant after the seed is well set, taking off about ten inches, and to remove the berries from the upper branches, that all the strength may go to the full development of the more desirable berries. If, after this has been done, there is more than sufficient seed for the purpose desired, a second discrimination can be made between the seed of plants which produce numerous berries and those which are shy bearers, the latter being desirable, as this indicates a tendency in the plant to produce stalk rather than seed, and it is as a stalk producer that asparagus is valuable.

Harvesting, cleaning, and preserving the seed is, of course, to be done carefully; the separation of the heavy and the light seeds can be accomplished by means of water, while the larger can be selected from the resultant mass by the use of a properly meshed sieve.

V

THE RAISING OF PLANTS

sparagus can be propagated by division of the roots, but this method gives so unsatisfactory results that it is rarely practiced. Raising the plants from seed is therefore the only method worth considering. The seed may be sown either in the fall or spring. But far more important than the time for sowing is the quality of the seed. While asparagus seed retains its vitality for two or more years, it is not safe to use seed older than one year. Fresh seed may be recognized by its glossy black color and uniform smooth surface, while old seed has a smutty gray color and its surface is generally rough and wrinkled. Yet even with this as a guide it is not easy to distinguish bad from good seed, and still more difficult, if not impossible, is it to distinguish the seed of different varieties. It is therefore advisable to procure seed only from dealers of undoubted reliability and pay a fair price for it rather than to accept poor seed as a gift. A uniformity of the individual plants in the asparagus bed or field is a matter of prime importance; only large, fully developed seeds should be used, screening out and rejecting all small and inferior ones.

In northern latitudes spring sowing is preferable to fall sowing. The ground of the seed-bed should be well drained and fairly retentive of moisture. As soon as the soil admits of working it should be well pulverized and enriched with decomposed manure. On a small scale a spading-fork is the best implement for preparing soil for nursery rows of asparagus plants.

Straight lines should be marked about fifteen inches apart and drills made about an inch deep when the sowing is done very early in the season, and one-half to one inch deeper when the sowing is done later. In these drills the seed should be dropped two or three inches apart. The covering may be made with a hoe, after which the soil should be well pressed down with the foot. As the seed is slow to germinate—in from four to six weeks, according to weather conditions—it is well to sow with it a few radish seeds, which will soon appear and mark the lines of the drills, so that cultivation may begin at once. Soaking the seed in luke-warm water for twenty-four hours before sowing will hasten its germination.

The cultivation of the young plants consists in keeping the soil about them light, and free from grass and weeds. Most of this work can be done with a garden cultivator, or a hoe and rake or prong hoe, but some hand weeding is generally necessary in addition. Strict attention to this will save a year in time, for if the seed-bed has been neglected, it will take two years to get the plants as large as they should be in one year if they had been properly cared for. In consequence of this very frequent neglect of proper cultivation of the seed-bed, it is a common impression that the plants must be two years old before transplanting. One pound of seed will produce about 10,000 plants, but as many of these will have to be thinned out and poor ones rejected, it is not safe to count upon more than one-half of this number of good plants. The number of plants required for an acre varies according to the manner of planting. If planted in rows three feet apart and two feet in the rows, it will require 7,260 plants per acre; if planted three by four, 3,630 per acre.

SOWING THE SEED WHERE THE PLANTS ARE TO REMAIN

Growing asparagus without transplanting is gradually finding many advocates among those who raise only the green article. It is not only a cheaper but in some respects a better method than the raising of the plants in a special seed-bed, from which they are transplanted after a year or two. "The plan is very simple," wrote Peter Henderson in American Agriculturist, "and can be followed by any one having even a slight knowledge of farming or gardening work. In the fall prepare the land by manuring, deep plowing, and harrowing, making it as level and smooth as possible for the reception of the seed. Strike out lines three feet apart and about two to three inches deep, in which sow the seed by hand or seed-drill, as is most convenient, using from five to seven pounds of seed to each acre. After sowing, and before covering, tread down the seed in the rows with the feet evenly; then draw the back of the rake lengthwise over the rows, after which roll the whole surface.

"As soon as the land is dry and fit to work in the spring, the young plants of asparagus will start through the ground, sufficient to define the rows. At once begin to cultivate with hand or horse cultivator, and stir the ground so as to destroy the embryo weeds, breaking the soil in the rows between the plants with the fingers or hand weeder for the same purpose. This must be repeated at intervals of two or three weeks during the summer, as the success of this plan is entirely dependent on keeping down the weeds, which, if allowed to grow, would soon smother the asparagus plants, that, for the first season of their growth, are weaker than most weeds. In two or three months after starting, the asparagus will have attained ten or twelve inches in hight, and it must now be thinned out, so that the plants stand nine inches apart in the rows. By fall they will be from two to three feet in hight and, if the directions for culture have been faithfully followed, strong and vigorous.

"When the stems die down (but not before) cut them off close to the ground, and cover the lines for five or six inches on each side with two or three inches of rough manure. The following spring renew cultivation, and keep down the weeds the second year exactly as was done during the first, and so on to the spring of the fourth year, when a crop will be produced that will well reward all the labor that has been expended. Sometimes, if the land is particularly suitable, a marketable crop may be secured the third year, but as a rule it will be better to wait until the fourth year before cutting much, as this would weaken the plants. To compensate for the loss of a year's time in thus growing asparagus from seed, cabbage, lettuce, onions, beets, spinach or similar crops that will be marketable before the asparagus has grown high enough to interfere with them, may be planted between the rows of asparagus the first year of its growth with but little injury to it."

GOOD CROPS TWO YEARS FROM SEED

In answer to the many inquiries as to how asparagus can be grown to weigh two and three-fourths pounds per bunch of twenty-six stalks from plants two years old from seed, as exhibited at a recent American Institute spring exhibition, George M. Hay, of Connecticut, writes in American Gardening as follows:

"Select a piece of ground where the soil is light, but of a good depth, and plow thoroughly. About the 1st of May mark off the rows three or four feet apart—for myself I prefer the latter distance as giving plenty of room for cultivation. Run a two-horse plow over the same furrow two or three times and you will have a depth of from fourteen to eighteen inches.

"Trenches having been all made, we come to the most important part—namely, manuring. In order to give the young plants a good start after germination we have to use liberal quantities of well-rotted stable manure, and in this the young plants make roots that in a short time are surprising. I use a one-horse load of manure to every seventy-five feet of drill, tramping it well down, and with a rake draw from each side of the trench soil to cover the manure to a depth of from two to three inches. The surface is raked level, and with the end of a rake or hoe a furrow one inch deep is drawn.

"We are now ready for the seed, which should have been soaked in tepid water for at least twenty-four hours. This will insure the immediate starting of the seed when the soil is moist and has not had a chance to dry out. If unsoaked seed is used and we have a dry spell for two or three weeks, the seed will be almost useless by the time it receives moisture enough to start.

"When the asparagus is two or three inches high thin out to one foot apart, being very careful not to disturb the plants left. A piece of a stick cut to the shape of a table-knife is an ideal tool for thinning out the young plants. It will be necessary to weed the rows by hand, while the plants are very small, for a distance of six inches on each side, as the cultivator, if run too close, will cover up the young plants. Keep the horse cultivator at work as often as possible to maintain moisture for the young roots.

"By fall you will be surprised to learn how far the young roots have traveled and the crowns prepared for next year's crop. Cover the rows with stable manure for the winter, and in spring give a dressing of one pound of nitrate of soda to one hundred feet of drill, and you will be well repaid for the extra labor and outlay by being able to cut asparagus of extra size in two years from the time of sowing the seed, doing away with the transplanting of two-year-old roots, and then waiting two more years before the first crop can be cut."

The principal objection which has been made against this system of not transplanting is that it does not admit of a careful choice of plants, as the plants must be kept in the places where sown, while in the transplanting method we need use only the choicest plants; then, if two or three seeds come up close together, it is very difficult to thin them out, and if left they will produce an inferior growth.

POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS PLANTS

In the tests made at the Missouri Experiment Station, Prof. J. C. Whitten found that it is much better to plant the seeds in six inches of rich, sandy soil in the greenhouse or hotbed, in February or early March, than to wait two or three months for outdoor planting. Professor Whitten advises to "sow liberally, for seven-eighths of the seedlings should be discarded. When the seedlings are three inches high, select those which have the thickest, fleshiest, and most numerous stems, and pot them. They vary more than almost any other vegetable. Many that appear large and vigorous will have broad, flat, twisted, or corrugated stems. Discard them. Beware, also, of those that put out leaves close to the soil. These will all make tough, stringy, undesirable plants. The best plants are those which are cylindrical, smooth, and free from ridges. They shoot up rapidly, and attain a hight of two inches before leaves are put out. They look much like smooth needles. This matter of selecting the best plants for potting, and subsequent planting out, is of the greatest importance in asparagus culture.

"These young plants should first be put in small pots and moved into larger ones as soon as they are well rooted. They may need to be shifted twice before they are planted out-of-doors, which should be done when danger of frost is over. Started in this way they continue to grow from the time they are planted out and reach very large size the first season. In the case of nursery-grown plants, where seeds are sown directly out-of-doors, the young seedlings start very slowly, are very tender during their early growth, and if the weather is unfavorable they hardly become well established before autumn."

FIG. 13—ONE-YEAR-OLD POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS PLANT

Fig. 13 shows a one-year-old plant started in February in the greenhouse and transplanted to the field the first of May. Plants grown in this way reach as good size in one year as the nursery-grown plants usually do in three years.

VI

SELECTION OF PLANTS

hat strong, healthy, one-year-old plants are in every way to be preferred to two or three year old ones has been demonstrated by many carefully conducted experiments, and is now universally recognized by intelligent and observant asparagus growers. The most noteworthy and accurate experiments in this line were made by the famous French asparagus specialist M. Godefroy-Lebœuf, who planted twelve stools of one, two, and three years old respectively in the same soil under the same conditions and at the same time. Calling those plantings Nos. 1, 2, and 3, the following are the results obtained:

First Year.—No. 1.—All the stools came up before May 4th, and were well grown.

No. 2.—Ten stools showed above ground before May 4th, one on the 10th, and one appeared to be dead. The asparagus heads were very fine—finer, indeed, than those of No. 1.

No. 3.—Eight stools showed above ground before May 4th, one on the 12th, and three gave no signs of life. The heads were very fine at first, but they became bent toward the end of the year (September 15th), and were much weaker than those of No. 2.

Second Year.—No. 1.—Well-grown, regular, and strong heads, which measured on September 15th one inch in circumference.

No. 2.—Well-grown but irregular heads, somewhat weaker than those of No. 1.

No. 3.—Only pretty well-grown heads, very irregular, some of the stools having as many as eight or ten, but all very weak. One stool died after growing two heads.

Third Year.—No. 1.—Magnificent growths, the heads measuring on April 10th from two inches to three and one-quarter inches in circumference.

No. 2.—Growth passable only, but very irregular. Some of the stools were very small. The finest of them produced heads which from April 8th to 10th only measured two and one-half inches in circumference.

No. 3.—Growth very poor and very irregular. Some of the stools continued to produce small heads not much thicker than a quill pen, the largest being from one and one-half inch to two inches in circumference.

Fourth Year.—No. 1.—Growth very remarkable. The heads began to show on April 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. Some were from three and one-quarter inches to four inches in circumference, and measured four and three-quarter inches. Fifty of the heads formed a bundle which weighed seven pounds.

No. 2.—Growth passable, but later than No. 1. The heads made their first appearance on April 6th, 10th, and 11th. Many of them were very small; fifty of them barely made half a bundle, and only weighed three and three-quarter pounds.

No. 3.—Growth but poor, and somewhat late. The heads made their appearance on April 4th, 6th, 9th, and 11th; one did not show till the 22d. Fifty heads barely formed half a bundle and only weighed two and one-half pounds.

To sum up, it is clear that the plants of a year old in their fourth season—that is to say, after having been planted out for three years—gave a bundle weighing seven pounds, while those of two years old only gave three and three-quarter pounds, and those of three years old only two and one-half pounds; in other words, taking round numbers, the plantation made with the one-year-old plants produced double the crop of the two-year-old plants and treble that of the three-year-old plants. The reader may easily draw his conclusions from the preceding facts.

Equally important is a careful selection of the individual plants to be set out. A crown with four or five strong, well-developed buds is far better than one with a dozen or more of weak and sickly ones, as the latter will always produce thin and poor spears of poor quality. It is therefore highly to be recommended to select only plants with not over six buds and discard all others. The roots should be strong and of uniform thickness, succulent and not too fibrous. Dry or withered roots have to be cut off, and plants with many bruised or otherwise damaged roots should be rejected entirely. The best roots are the cheapest.

MALE AND FEMALE PLANTS

It has long been observed that all of the asparagus plants in a bed do not produce seeds, owing to the fact that the male and female flowers in asparagus are nearly always borne on separate plants. Seed bearing is an exhaustive process, and, as might be supposed, those plants that have produced seed have less vigor than those that have not. In order to determine the difference in vigor between the seed bearing and non-seed bearing plants, Prof. William J. Green, horticulturist of the Ohio Experiment Station, staked off fifty of each in a plantation of half an acre. When the cuttings were made the shoots taken from male and female plants were kept separate, and the weight of each recorded in Bulletin No. 9, Volume III., of the Ohio Station, as follows:

"The cuttings were made at regular intervals and in the ordinary manner, as for market purposes. The weight of shoots taken at each cutting is not given in the table, since the facts are quite as well shown by stating the aggregate weight for periods of ten days each. The division into periods is made for the purpose of showing comparative earliness. This could be shown in a more marked degree by taking the first and second cuttings alone, but they were too limited in quantity to admit of conclusions being drawn from them; hence they are included with the other cuttings in the same period.

PRODUCT FROM FIFTY PLANTS EACH, MALE AND FEMALE

"This shows a gain of the male over the female plants of seventy-six per cent. for the first period, and a fraction less than fifty per cent. for the whole season. Reversing the standard of comparison, it will be seen that the female plants fall below the male forty-three per cent. for the first period, and a little more than thirty-three per cent. in the total. In no case did the female plants produce equally with the male.

"If comparative earliness is determined by the date of first cutting alone, there is no difference between the male and female plants, since the first cutting was made on both at the same date; but taking quantity of product into consideration, which is the proper method, there is a decided difference, the gain of the male over the female plants being seventy-six, fifty-two, sixty-three, and thirty-one per cent. for the four periods respectively. The difference in yield between the two was greatest at first, and diminished toward the last, which practically amounts to the same thing as the male being earlier than the female. There is a still further difference between the two in quality of product, the shoots of the female plant being smaller and inferior to those of the male.

"It is not safe to draw conclusions from such limited observations as these, further, at least, than to accept them as representing the truth approximately. Allowing a wide margin for possible error, there would still seem to be sufficient difference in productive capacity between the male and female plants to justify the selection of the former and rejection of the latter when a new plantation is to be started. If the figures given in the table are taken as a basis, the gain in the crop, if the male plants alone were used, would each season pay for all the plants rejected, and leave a handsome margin at the end of the term of years when an asparagus bed has served its period of usefulness. Male plants can be secured by division of old plants, or by selecting those that bear no seed, after they have attained the age of two years."

In summing up the results of this experiment, Professor Green states that male asparagus plants are about fifty per cent. more productive than female plants, and the shoots being larger have a greater market value.

VII

THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION

s asparagus in its wild state is usually found growing in light and sandy soils along or near the seashore, it has long been supposed that it could not be cultivated in other localities and soils. While it is true that asparagus succeeds best in a sandy, rich, and friable loam, naturally underdrained and yet not too dry, there is not another vegetable which accommodates itself more readily to as varying soils and conditions. There is hardly a State in the United States in which at present asparagus is not grown more or less extensively and profitably, and the most famous asparagus districts of France and Germany are situated at great distances from the seashore.

The question of what soil to use is, as a rule, already settled; we have to use the soil we have. Any good garden soil is suitable for asparagus, and if it is not in the most favorable condition, under existing circumstances, it can easily be made so. The soil should be free from roots, stones, or any material that will not readily disintegrate, or that will interfere with the growth of the spears, and with the knife in cutting. Fruit or other trees, or high shrubs, must not be allowed in the asparagus bed, because of the shade they throw over the beds, and because their roots make heavy drafts upon the soil. Nor should high trees, hedges, hills, or buildings be so near as to shade the beds, because all the sunshine obtainable is needed to bring the spears quickly to the surface. Whenever practicable the asparagus bed should be protected from cold winds, and so slope that the full benefit of the sunshine will be obtained during the whole day. Brinckmeier, in his "Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," gives the following three rules for guidance in selecting a location for asparagus beds:

"1. One should choose, in reference to ground characteristics, open, free-lying land, protected to the north and east [which, for American conditions, should be north and west], of gradual slope, free from trees or shrubbery.

"2. The field should be exposed to the rays of the sun all day long; therefore, a southern exposure is desirable, or, if that is not obtainable, a southwesterly or southeasterly slope, because either east, west, or north exposure will cause shade during a greater or less portion of the day.

"3. Standing, stagnant ground water, which cannot be drawn off by drainage, is to be avoided, the requirements of the plants indicating a somewhat damp subsoil, but not too high ground water."

For commercial purposes on a large scale, and when the trucker has the choice of location, a well-drained, light, deep, sandy loam, with a light clay subsoil, is to be preferred to any other. Heavy clay soil, or land with a hard-pan subsoil, or, in fact, any soil that is cold and wet, is totally unfit for profitable asparagus growing, unless it is thoroughly underdrained and made lighter by a plentiful addition of sand and muck.

Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more so than great fertility, for the latter can be produced by heavy manuring, which the future cultivation will require; and to the end that weeds may be few, it is well that for a year or two previous to planting the land should have been occupied by some hoed crop, such as potatoes, beets, cabbage, etc. Land on which corn has been growing for two or three years is in excellent condition for an asparagus field, provided it has been heavily manured one year previous to the planting of the roots.

PREPARATION OF THE GROUND

Asparagus differs from most other vegetables in that it is a perennial, and when once planted properly, in suitable soil, it will continue to produce an annual crop for a generation if not for an indefinite period, while if the work is done carelessly and without consideration for the plant's requirements the plantation will never prove satisfactory and will run out entirely in the course of a few years. The establishing of an asparagus bed is naturally more expensive than the planting and raising of annual vegetables. In addition to this, the plants have to be taken care of for three years before a crop can be harvested. On the other hand, an asparagus bed is an investment for a lifetime, and the dividends derived from it increase in proportion to the care and thoroughness bestowed upon the preparation of the land.

It is at once apparent, then, that nothing should be neglected to bring the soil into the best possible condition before planting. This truth was fully recognized by the gardeners of former years who practiced most extraordinary methods in order to bring the land into the most favorable condition for asparagus. Even now in some European countries, where labor is cheap, the entire ground is trenched to a depth of three or four feet, turning in at the same time all the available manure, seaweed, and other fertilizing material.

A famous old-time asparagus bed in England was made in this manner: "The land was trenched three feet deep in trenches three feet wide and cast up into rough ridges, after a crop of summer peas. All decaying vegetation in the rubbish yards and corners was at the same time well sorted and turned up. Early in autumn also were added some old mushroom, melon, and cucumber bed material, a lot of manure from piggeries, cow houses, and stables, a quantity of road-grit and sand, a quantity of ditch and drain parings, turfy loam and sods, quite three feet thick. These were all turned over four times and well incorporated together, between Michaelmas and Lady Day, as one would a dungheap, the whole being left in large ridges exposed to the frost. By April this compost was in a kindly state; it was, therefore, laid down and planted with good, clean one-year-old asparagus plants, which certainly grew in a most extraordinary way."

Another elaborate way of making an asparagus bed, formerly practiced in France, is described by Dr. Maccullogh as follows: "A pit the size of the intended plantation is dug four feet in depth, and the mold taken from it must be sifted, taking care to reject all stones, even as low in size as a filbert nut. The best part of the mold must then be laid aside before making up the beds. The materials of the bed are then to be laid in the following proportions and order: Six inches of common dunghill manure, eight inches of turf, six inches of dung as before, six inches of sifted earth, eight inches of turf, six inches of very rotten dung, eight inches of the best of earth. The last layer of earth must then be well mixed with the last of dung. The compartment must now be divided into beds five feet wide by paths constructed of turf two feet in breadth and one foot in thickness."

A bed prepared in this manner, and planted and cultivated with as much painstaking care, will no doubt produce asparagus of unsurpassed quality, and may last forever. Yet the use of modern implements and a better knowledge of the nature and requirements of the plant have demonstrated that first-class asparagus can be produced with far less expense and labor. While a deep and loose soil produces earlier and better crops than a heavy and shallow one, indiscriminate deepening of the soil by trenching or other means is not always desirable, even where the cost does not come into consideration. When the subsoil is very light and poor and deficient in humus, the placing of the better surface soil below and the infertile lower strata above, trenching would be a positive detriment. The same would be the case where the subsoil consists of heavy impervious clay.

In the fall preceding planting the land should be plowed deeply and left in the rough state during the winter. Subsoiling has often been recommended, yet practical growers but rarely make use of the subsoil plow in the preparation of asparagus plantations, although the value of subsoiling where the subsoil is heavy can not be doubted. Where stable or barnyard manure can be had cheaply, and the soil is heavy, a liberal coat spread broadcast over the surface and left to the action of the weather during winter will ameliorate the ground considerably. In most cases, however, the same object may be obtained by applying the manure in spring. Joseph Harris mentions a case in which a bed was plowed and subsoiled in the fall and the soil filled with manure, while another bed near by was planted without manure, or extra preparation of any kind, relying entirely on artificial fertilizers after planting, and the latter was by far the better bed. As early in spring as the ground is in suitable condition to be worked it has to be plowed and harrowed and brought into as perfect condition as possible.

VIII

PLANTING

hroughout the Middle and Northern States, spring, as soon as the soil can be worked to good advantage, is decidedly the most favorable time for planting asparagus. If it is not practicable to plant thus early, the work may sometimes be delayed up to the middle of June. In planting thus late, however, preparation has to be made for watering the plants in case of drouth, else failure be inevitable. It is also necessary to do the work as expeditiously as possible, so as not to expose the roots to the drying influences of the sun and wind. Fall planting is advisable only in climates where there is no danger of winter-killing of the roots.

After the ground has been plowed and harrowed, or spaded and raked over, and brought into as mellow a condition as possible, the rows for planting are to be laid out. It is usually recommended to have the rows run north and south, so as to readily admit the sunlight. When this is not practicable, however, it need not deter any one from making an asparagus bed, as it is more important to have the rows run with the slope of the land than in any particular direction of the compass, in order to provide ready surface drainage.

DISTANCE TO PLANT

As to the best distance between the rows and the plants in the rows there is a wide difference of opinion, more so than with almost any other cultivated plant. No unvarying rule can be laid down on this point, as it depends largely upon the mechanical condition, depth, and fertility of the soil. In a rich, moderately heavy soil, the roots may be planted closer than in a poor, light soil. The tendency of the present day is for giving the plants considerably more room than what formerly was thought to be ample. Intelligent observers could not fail to notice that crowded asparagus beds produce later and smaller crops, and of inferior size and quality; that they do not last as long; and that they are more liable to attacks from insects and fungi than when more room is given to the plants.

Gardeners of but a few decades ago had no idea of the possibility of raising a profitable crop of asparagus planted four or five feet apart, and would have looked with derision upon any one advocating so wild a scheme. The remains of run out, old-time asparagus beds are still in evidence in many old farm gardens. The rows in these were originally one foot apart and the plants in the rows even closer than this, and perhaps after every third or fourth row there was a path two feet wide. Of course, in such a bed, after a few years, the entire ground became a solid mass of roots, and the stalks became smaller and tougher from year to year.

FIG. 14—HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD ASPARAGUS ROOT

In most asparagus sections special customs prevail, and even in these different growers have their individual preferences; but all agree that asparagus should never be planted closer than two feet in rows three feet apart. For the home garden there is no better plan than to plant but a single row, with the plants two or three feet apart, along the edge or border of the ground, but not nearer than four or five feet to other plants, and in case of grape-vines even more room should be given. Here they require but little care, and the plants have an unlimited space for the extension of their roots in search of moisture and food. Asparagus needs considerable water, and an acre of land will hold so much water and no more. The more plants there are on an acre the less water there will be for each plant, and what is true of water is also true of plant food.

In field culture the distance adopted by asparagus growers varies from 3 x 3 feet (4,840 plants per acre); 3 x 4 feet (3,640 plants per acre); 4 x 4 feet (2,722 plants per acre); 4 x 5 feet (2,178 plants per acre); 5 x 6 feet (1,452 plants per acre); 6 x 6 feet (1,210 plants per acre), and even more. If the idea is to have the plants so far apart that their roots can not interlace, twenty feet each way would not be too extravagant a distance, under favorable conditions, as will readily become apparent by a glance at Fig. 14. This illustration is an exact reproduction of the root system of an asparagus plant four years from the seed. The roots spread out upon a level floor measured thirteen feet from tip to tip, the single roots averaging the thickness of a lead pencil. This root grew in Madison County, Ill., and was washed out of the ground—without having any of its roots torn—by the unusually heavy spring rains which caused the Piasa River to overflow its banks and sent a current rushing through the asparagus field in which it grew. If the plant had remained in its position a few years longer its roots would probably have extended ten feet in each direction.

From this it does not follow, however, that asparagus should be planted twenty or even ten feet apart to produce the largest returns, but it plainly shows why the roots should not be planted as closely together as was customary in former years; and it obviously demonstrates that when land is cheap and manure and labor high, asparagus can not be hurt by giving it plenty of room. It should also be considered that earliness, size, and quality make a great difference with the price and profits when early and large shoots are in demand. It might be possible to get double the number of shoots per acre from thick than from thin planting, but they might be so small and spindling as not to be worth the labor and expense of cutting and marketing.

DEPTH OF PLANTING

Contrary to the all but universal belief, asparagus is not a deep-rooted plant. In the wild state its most frequent habitat is on the fertile marshes of the shoreline in Europe, on ground but a few inches above the tidewater which permeates the sandy subsoil. As the roots can not live in water, they naturally grow to long distances parallel with the surface and retain this habit under cultivation. The tendency of growth in the asparagus roots in this direction is obviously demonstrated in Fig. 14.

The proper depth of planting asparagus roots varies somewhat, according to the character of the soil, the method of cultivation, and the kind of spears desired, whether white or green. As the new crowns rise somewhat above the old ones annually, it seems but rational that the plants should have sufficient room for the new growths before their crowns become even with the surface of the land. When the crown once comes near the level of the soil it is impossible to give proper cultivation, unless the entire bed be raised by adding soil to the whole surface.

While it is true that the deeper the crowns are planted the later they will start in the spring, this is of account only during the first few years. Besides, the factor of earliness is not of nearly as much importance now as it was before northern markets were so bountifully supplied with the southern grown crops several months before the opening of the northern season. Shallow-planted asparagus sprouts earlier, but soon exhausts itself, sending up spindling, tough shoots, while the deeper-planted crowns produce large and succulent sprouts throughout the season. When green asparagus is desired, and there is no danger of the beetles eating the sprouts before they are fit for use, a depth of two or three inches is sufficient, but for white or blanched asparagus a depth of from eight to ten inches is necessary.

MANNER OF PLANTING

As in other details of asparagus culture, the methods of planting have undergone very material changes. The formerly usual practice of digging deep trenches was not well founded—in the light of our present experience and knowledge—and could be useful only for drainage. How little regard was paid to the nature and requirements of the plant may readily be perceived by reading the following directions for making an asparagus bed, but little over half a century ago, in Bridgeman's "Young Gardeners' Assistant":

"The ground for the asparagus bed should have a large supply of well-rotted dung, three or four inches thick, and then be regularly trenched two spades deep, and the dung buried equally in each trench twelve or fifteen inches below the surface. When this trenching is done, lay two or three inches of thoroughly rotted manure over the whole surface, and dig the ground over again eight or ten inches deep, mixing this top-dressing, and incorporating it well with the earth.

"In family gardens it is customary to divide the ground thus prepared into beds, allowing four feet for every four rows of plants, with alleys two feet and a half wide between each bed. Strain your line along the bed six inches from the edge; then with a spade cut out a small trench or drill close to the line, about six inches deep, making that side next to the line nearly upright; when one trench is opened, plant that before you open another, placing the plants upright ten or twelve inches distance in the row, and let every row be twelve inches apart.

"The plants must not be placed flat in the bottom of the trench, but nearly upright against the back of it, and so that the crown of the plants must also stand upright, and two or three inches below the surface of the ground, spreading their roots somewhat regularly against the back of the trench, and at the same time drawing a little earth up against them with the hand as you place them, just to fix the plants in their due position until the row is planted; when one row is thus placed, with a rake or hoe draw the earth into the trench over the plants, and then proceed to open another drill or trench, as before directed, and fill and cover it in the same manner, and so on until the whole is planted; then let the surface of the beds be raked smooth and clear from stones, etc.

"Some gardeners, with a view to having extra large heads, place their plants sixteen inches apart in the rows instead of twelve, and by planting them in the quincunx manner—that is, by commencing the second row eight inches from the end of the first and the fourth even with the second—the plants will form rhomboidal squares instead of rectangular ones, and every plant will thus have room to expand its roots and leaves luxuriantly."

In diametrical contradistinction, and as an example of the very plainest and simplest of modern methods, Joseph Harris wrote: "If you are going to plant a small bed in the garden, stretch a line not less than four feet from any other plant, and with a hoe make holes along the line, eighteen inches or three feet apart, four inches deep, and large enough to hold the plants when the roots are spread out horizontally. Do not make deep holes straight down in the ground and stick the roots in as you would a cabbage, but spread out the roots. After the roots are set out cover them with fine soil, and that is all there is to it. Then move the line three feet from the first row and repeat the planting until the bed is finished. In the field make the rows with a common corn-marker, three feet apart each way, and set out a plant where the rows cross. It is but little more work to plant an acre of asparagus than an acre of potatoes."

Between these extreme methods many different directions for planting asparagus have been given and practiced. Modern methods have not only greatly simplified the planting, but have also materially reduced the expense, increased the crop, and improved the quality of the product.

FIG. 15—TRENCHES READY FOR PLANTING

After the ground has been properly prepared, it is marked off in parallel rows from three to five or more feet apart, according to the preferences of the grower. The easiest way to open these trenches is by plowing a furrow each way, and, if necessary, going over the ground a sufficient number of times to make the furrows from eight to ten inches deep. After this the loose soil is thrown out with a shovel or a wide hoe, so as to leave the trenches at a uniform depth of ten to twelve inches and of the same width at the bottom, as seen in Fig. 15. By rigging a piece of board on the mold-board of the plow more soil is thrown out, so that usually it will not be necessary to go over the ground oftener than twice. The Messrs. Hudson & Son, of Long Island, have devised for their own use a "trencher" (Fig. 16), which with a good team opens the trench to the desired depth in one operation and at a great saving of labor.

FIG. 16—HUDSON'S TRENCHER

If the entire ground has been heavily fertilized, plowing manure in the trenches will not be necessary, yet many experienced asparagus growers think that it pays to scatter some fertilizing material into the trenches before planting. A favorite plan with Long Island growers is to mix half a ton of ground bone, or fish scrap, with one hundred pounds of nitrate of soda per acre, and thoroughly incorporate this mixture with the soil to a depth of three inches before setting the plants. Others prefer thoroughly decomposed manure spread over the bottom of the furrow, to a depth of about three inches, before setting the plants. Others prefer thoroughly decomposed manure spread over the bottom of the furrow, to a depth of about three inches, and covering it with two inches of fine soil. If the roots are to be planted four or more feet apart it will be sufficient to throw a shovelful of manure where the roots are to be placed. This is then spread out so as to make a layer of about three inches, which is then covered with soil.

PLACING THE ROOTS

The proper planting of the roots is the most critical point in asparagus culture, as upon the manner in which this is performed—more than upon other detail—depends the success, yield, duration, and profit of the plantation. Almost any other neglect can be remedied by after-treatment, but careless and faulty planting, never. Whatever care and personal attention the grower may give to this work will be repaid manyfold in future returns.

FIG. 17—ASPARAGUS ROOT IN PROPER POSITION FOR COVERING

As stated before, only strong, healthy one-year-old plants with three or four strong buds should be used, so as to insure an even growth over the entire field, and at every stage of the work great care must be taken not to expose the roots to the drying influences of sun and winds. When everything is in readiness for planting, the roots are placed in the trench, the crown in the center and the rootlets spread out evenly and horizontally, like the spokes of a wheel, and at once covered with three inches of fine, mellow soil, which is pressed around them. If the ground is dry at planting-time it should be pressed down quite firmly about the roots, so as to prevent their drying out, and to hasten their growth.

FIG. 18—CROSS-SECTION OF ASPARAGUS BED AFTER PLANTING

To still more insure success it is an excellent plan to draw up little hills of soil in the bottom of the trench over which to place the roots with the crowns resting on the top, thus raising the crowns a few inches above the extremities of the roots and providing for them a position similar to what they stood in before transplanting, as seen in Fig. 17.

The subsequent covering of the roots can usually be done with a one-horse plow, from which the mold-board has been removed, passing down the sides of the row. This leaves the plants in a depression, the soil thrown out in opening the rows forming a ridge on each side, as shown in Fig. 18. This depression will gradually become filled during the process of cultivation the succeeding summer.

IX

CULTIVATION

s generally understood, the chief object of cultivation is to kill weeds. This is an erroneous idea, however, as the appearance of weeds serves simply as Nature's reminder of the necessity of immediate cultivation. On ground cultivated as thoroughly as it should be for the best development of the crop there will rarely be any weeds to kill, as their germs have been destroyed by the process of cultivation before they could make their appearance above the ground.

CARE DURING THE FIRST YEAR

The cultural work in the asparagus bed during the first year consists in loosening the soil at frequent intervals, and especially as soon after rain as the ground becomes dry enough for cultivation. Frequent and thorough cultivation is necessary not only to keep down the weeds, but also to prevent the formation of a crust on the soil after rain, and to provide a mulch of loose earth for the retention of moisture. In field culture the work is best done with a one-horse cultivator or a wheel-hoe, and on a small scale with a scuffle-hoe and a rake. As the sprouts grow up small quantities of fine soil should be drawn into the trenches from time to time, but during the early part of the season great care must be exercised not to cover the crowns too deeply.

Some growers advise to work the soil away instead of toward the plants, considering the four inches of soil with which the roots are covered at planting sufficient for the first year. While this may be true in a wet or moderately moist summer, in a season of drouth the additional mulch of mellow soil can not but be beneficial to the young and tender plants. Especial care is required when working around the young sprouts, so as not to cover, break, or in any way injure any of them.

In the garden bed it pays to stake the canes when they are but a foot high, so as to prevent the wind from disturbing the stools in the soil by swaying the shoots backward and forward. Careful gardeners insert stakes for this purpose at the time of planting, before the roots are covered with soil, so as to guard against the danger of injuring any of them. The best material for this tying is raffia, or Cuban bast. In field culture staking is usually not practicable, partly on account of the cost, and also because where there are many plants growing close together they furnish some mutual protection to one another. The same end may also be accomplished—partly, at least—by throwing up a furrow on each side of the rows of plants. Precautions of this kind are important in localities exposed to high winds, as their neglect may often cause greater loss than it would have cost to provide proper protection.

Another important work in the asparagus bed during the first year is to keep close and constant watch over the asparagus beetle, and at its first appearance to apply the remedies recommended in the chapter on injurious insects. Plants deprived of their foliage at this early stage of their life have but a poor chance to recover from the loss.

If it is found that some of the plants have not started by the middle of June, it is best to replace them with growing plants of the same age, which should have been kept in a reserve bed for this purpose. If this replanting is done carefully, so as not to mutilate any of the roots, and on a cloudy day, it is best not to cut back the tops very severely. Unless a copious rain sets in soon after planting, the roots have to be heavily watered, after which they will keep on growing at once without suffering any setback.

The formerly all but universal practice was to cover the roots with manure after the stalks had been removed in the fall for fear of frost injuring or killing the roots. In sections where winters are very severe this may still be desirable, as may be seen from the statement of so keen an observer as Professor J. C. Whitten, of the Missouri Experiment Station: "Most writers advise applying dressing of old fine manure during the growing season when the plants can use it. In our soil better results are obtained by applying it in winter. It prevents the soil from running together and hardening, and also prevents the sprouts from coming through, as they otherwise often do, too early in spring, and becoming weakened by subsequent severe freezing."

As the reverse of this plan, M. Godefroy-Lebœuf, the famous French authority, recommends "to clear out of the trenches the soil which has fallen into them from the sides of the mounds, and also remove from above the stools a portion of that with which they were covered at the time they were planted—say, to a depth of one and one-half inches—so that the action of the frost may open the soil and that the rain may penetrate and improve it; also that during the first fine days of spring the sun may warm the surface of the soil and penetrate as far as the stools. There is no fear that the action of the frost should hurt the plants. Asparagus will never freeze as long as the stool is covered with a layer of soil one and one-half to one and three-fourth inches in depth."

If the rows are not less than four feet apart a crop of some other vegetables may be raised between them. Beans, dwarf peas, lettuce, beets, or any kinds which do not spread much, are suitable for the purpose. These by-products will help considerably toward paying the cost of cultivating the main crop, besides having a tendency to keep the soil cool and moist, a condition of no little importance to the asparagus.

CARE DURING THE SECOND YEAR

The treatment of the asparagus plantation during the second year does not differ materially from that of the first season after planting. The ground has to be stirred frequently and kept scrupulously clean, and a sharp lookout must be kept for the advent of injurious insects. As soon as berries appear on the tops they should be stripped off and destroyed, as the ripening seed absorbs a large share of the nourishment which ought to go to the development and strengthening of the crowns which are to produce the following year's crop.

Even with the best of care, some plants will die out from time to time, although the more thoroughly the ground has been prepared at the time of planting, and the better the quality of the roots planted, the fewer failures of this kind will occur. These blank spaces are not only constant eyesores to the methodical gardener, but in the course of several years the aggregate shortage of crops will be considerable, while the amount of labor and fertilizer will be the same as in a fully stocked plantation. Therefore, such vacancies should be filled in the spring, not only of the second year, but whenever they occur in future seasons.

The best way to replant these dead or dying roots is to go over the rows each fall, before the ground freezes, and drive a stake wherever there is a plant missing, as in the spring, before the plants have started, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to indicate the blank spaces. For replanting in the second year good strong two-year-old roots should be used. For the third and future years it is best to raise and keep a supply of a sufficient number of reserve plants for this special purpose in a similar manner as is done for forcing. As early in spring as the season permits these clumps should be carefully lifted and transferred to the permanent plantation. For three-year and older beds good strong three-year-old roots should be used, as younger ones would have but a poor chance between two older and well-established clumps.

CARE DURING THE THIRD AND FUTURE YEARS

The third year cutting may begin in a moderate way, but too much should not be attempted. If all the conditions of growth have been favorable half a crop may be cut without injuring the roots, but under no circumstances should cutting in the third year be continued for more than three weeks. The general care of the bed during the third year is similar to that of the second, with the exception that the soil is worked more toward the rows, ridging them slightly.

In the spring of the third and each succeeding year, as soon as the ground can be worked it should be plowed between the rows, turning the soil toward and over the crowns, leaving a dead furrow between the rows, as seen in Fig. 19. If bleached asparagus is desired, these ridges over the rows should be twelve inches higher than the bottom of the dead furrows between the rows, and when the soil is very light and sandy a hight of fifteen inches is preferable. For green asparagus the ridges are left lower, and the shoots are allowed to grow several inches above the ground before cutting, provided the asparagus beetle does not appropriate them sooner.

FIG. 19—PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF AN ASPARAGUS FIELD PROPERLY RIDGED IN EARLY SPRING MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

After the furrows are plowed out between the rows a home-made ridger is used to smooth the ridges and complete the work. This is formed of two heavy oak boards shod with tire iron, sloping upward and backward, attached to a pair of cultivator wheels. This requires a good team, one horse walking on either side of the row. On the light soils of Long Island this implement works to perfection, but on stiff lands a two-horse disk-wheel cultivator, with two disks on each side, going astride of each row and throwing up fresh soil upon the ridge, proves more effective. The same implements are used for renewing the ridges during the cutting season, which will be required about once a week, as the rains beat them down and the sun bakes a crust upon the top.

Immediately after the cutting season is over the ridges are leveled, by plowing a furrow from each side of the center (Fig. 20), after which the land is harrowed crosswise until the surface is level and smooth. As long as practical, surface cultivation should be given, especially after rains, but usually at this time the plants make such rapid and vigorous growth that there will be little time for the work. Their tops and branches soon fill the entire space and quickly shade the ground so densely as to keep down weed growth. Of course, whatever tall weeds may spring up here and there have to be pulled out by hand.

FALL TREATMENT

The fall clearing of the plantation is an important part of asparagus culture. As soon as the berries are turning red—but not before—the stalks should be cut off even with the ground. If left longer the berries will drop off, their seeds will soon become embedded in the ground and fill the soil with seedling asparagus plants, which are about the most obstinate weed in the asparagus bed. If cut sooner they are not sufficiently matured, and the roots are deprived of their nourishment. All the brush should be removed at once to an open field and burned, so as not to provide lodging-places for injurious insects and fungi. Some recommend leaving the seedless plants as a mulch during the winter, but the possible benefit of this is so insignificant that it is not worth while to leave them for a second cleaning in spring, when time is far more valuable.

FIG. 20—LEVELING THE RIDGES AFTER THE CUTTING SEASON

RENOVATING OLD ASPARAGUS BEDS

The principal causes of asparagus beds running out are that in the first place ten plants are set out in a space where only one could thrive; then that the ground is not rich enough and had no proper cultivation; and last, but not least, that the cutting of the stalks has been carried to excess. What to do with the old bed is sometimes a perplexing question, especially when a place changes hands and the new proprietor has more progressive ideas than the former one had.

Let the old bed stay, and set out a new one according to rational methods. Some years ago the writer came into possession of an asparagus bed which was known to be forty years old, and may have been much older. It was a solid mass of roots without any distinguishable rows. The spears produced were so small and tough that the first impulse was to dig up the roots. But as this proved to be a more formidable task than was anticipated, another plan was pursued. In autumn the bed was thickly covered with fine yard manure. The following spring the bed was marked out into strips of two feet in width. When the sprouts appeared those in every alternate strip were cut clean off during the entire summer, and the others allowed to grow. In the autumn of the year another heavy application of manure was given to the entire bed. The following year but few shoots appeared in the strips which had been cut all through the summer. These were treated the same as before, and in the third year not a sprout appeared in the alleys. The stalks left for use improved greatly during the first year and the third year were of good serviceable size and quality, so that even after the new bed, which had been planted at the time this experiment was commenced, came into bearing, the old one was retained for several years longer. Probably if the vacant strips had been made three or four feet wide the result would have been still better. This experience suggests the idea that the easiest and least expensive way of exterminating an old asparagus bed is to persistently mow down all the shoots for a season or two.

X

FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING

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 nourishing and readily available food. The earliness, tenderness, size, and commercial value of the product depends principally on the rapidity of its growth, and, as this is materially promoted by the richness of the soil, it is evident that the plants should receive all the food they can assimilate during the growing season.

There is a wide difference of opinion among growers as to which is the best kind of manure to use. Whatever the individual preferences may be, there is this satisfaction to know that no kind of plant food can come amiss on the asparagus bed, although the use of some kinds and combinations may be more economical than others. Formerly animal manures only were thought to be of any use for asparagus, and there are still some growers who cling to this opinion. In recent years, however, there has been a decided reaction in this regard in some of the principal asparagus sections. The objections made against stable manure are that it is more expensive to handle, that it is apt to get the land full of weeds, and that it does not contain sufficient phosphoric acid and potash. At present many growers use commercial fertilizers exclusively, convinced that asparagus needs liberal feeding of potash and more nitrogen than is generally supposed to be required.

The composition of 1,000 parts of fresh asparagus sprouts is, according to Wolff: