PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING. 59 



" For the second difficulty I have uo remedy, because the field is so situ- 

 ated that I cannot protect it from the prevailing winds by any wind-break. 

 Had I foreseen it before making the plantation, a more protected location 

 might have been chosen. 



INSECT ENEMIES. 



"The only insect enemy of asparagus which has appeared yet in our 

 state is the cutworm. Clean and continuous culture in early spring, fol- 

 lowing autumn plowing of the surface, has reduced this pest to a minimum 

 with me. 



" That persistent enemy to the culture of this esculent, the asparagus 

 beetle, which appeared in eastern plantations as early as 1860, has not 

 reached us yet. 



ORNAMENTAL USE OF ASPARAGUS. 



" If it were not a common kind of vegetable, asparagus would take a 

 prominent place as a lawn decorative plant. Its airiness and delicacy, 

 combined with its pleasing tint of green and its perfection as a screen, 

 render it one of the most useful ornamental plants. 



" It is inexpensive, grows rapidly, and requires little care. Many an 

 unsightly corner may be made attractive by its employment, and its use- 

 fulness in the kitchen garden ought not to reduce its popularity for orna- 

 mental purposes. Altogether, asparagus is one of our most valuable 

 importations from across the sea, and while we may not rival our French 

 brethren in the quality of the product we secure from the plant, perhaps 

 our tastes are not so highly cultivated but that our own product is as satis- 

 factory for our own peoj^le." 



OTHER POINTS OF THE SUB.JECT. 



Prest. Lyon : It need not be a matter of much difficulty to get non-seed- 

 ing or male plants. This habit of asparagus is constant, and it would be 

 easy to remove non-seeding crowns, divide them, and so get a plantation 

 yielding no seed. Another trouble from the seeding, besides the weaken- 

 ing of the seed-bearing plants, is the starting of new and weak crowns from 

 seed, and the consequent spoiling of the whole. 



Dr. Owen: I have three beds, each, I think, of a distinct sort, some 

 superior to others, and not more than one plant in one hundred bears seed. 

 Five by three feet apart is too far for profit. Mr. Garfield is right about 

 the breaking off, instead of cutting, of the young shoots. I would like to 

 know if I can break up twenty-year-old crowns and replant with as good 

 results as from new seedlings. 



Prest. Lyon: Perhaps not, with such very old plants. I would not set 

 the old crowns in large pieces, but take separate roots with a crown to each 

 and let them form new crowns. Necessarily, each seed of aspargus germin- 

 ates into a new sort, because it comes of cross-fertilization; but long pro- 

 cesses of the kind have made a race, and the same is true of several other 

 plants. 



Mr. Steere : Mr. Owen can divide his old plants and have them do well, 

 but seedlings would have more vigor. 



Dr. Owen: The bunches of roots are now bigger and stronger than I 

 am. I can't get them out. Six inches is too deep for the early crop — three 

 inches bring it forward much sooner. 



