240 TKANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



to-day the most valuable. Four years ago I found in the vicinity of 

 Brunswick 1,500 acres of asparagus, and 1,000 acres near Wolfenbuttel. 

 Wagon load after wagon load goes from morning till night to the cities. 

 The crop begins with the 20th of April and closes on July 24th, con- 

 sequently there are sixty-six days of yield. The cutting is done by 

 peculiar knives, and begins early in the morning, again at noon, and 

 lastly before night. That is to say, three times a day every acre is gone 

 over. I saw hundreds of men, women and children in the fields to do 

 the work. 



Twenty pounds of asparagus, from four to eight inches long, white 

 like snow, is the average product of an acre daily, or 1,320 pounds during 

 the season; or, for the 2,500 acres, 3,300,000 pounds during the season. 



I found hundreds of men and women v/orking nearly all day and 

 night in the large canning factories, and at night the post office — God 

 bless the German Government for this alone, that the post office is also the 

 express office, with the cheapest rates in the world, also the telegraph 

 office — is really barricaded with bundles, baskets and boxes for transpor- 

 tation of this vegetable to all parts of the world. Hundreds of miles of 

 fresh asparagus are sent to Austria, Italy, France and England. 



Now to the culture of asparagus: 



It wants loose sandy soil ; the land wants to be subsoiled very deep 

 in the fall; in early spring ditches one foot wide and two-and-one-half 

 feet deep and three feet apart will be made, and good cow or half-rotten 

 horse manure spread three inches deep in the bottom of the ditches cov- 

 ered two inches deep with soil, and the two-year-old plants put one foot 

 to eighteen inches apart and covered three inches with soil. In the fall 

 a little more manure is spread in the ditch and on top of the plants and 

 covered with six inches of soil. The next fall manure is spread again and 

 the land all leveled. During the first and second summer a row of cab- 

 bages or sweet potatoes may be grown on the loose soil between the rows. 



The third year the asparagus is ready to be cut, but I do not mean 

 the green tops after it has grown six inches out of the ground. This may 

 do for rabbits and goats, but not for a refined palate or stomach ; it is the 

 real fruit we want, just when it peeps out of the ground, white, clear and 

 sweet like a pear, and such will stand transportation even to New York 

 or New Orleans. Such asparagus beds or land will be good for twenty-five 

 or thirty years; it needs only a thorough cultivation twice each year. 

 The consumption of asparagus has spread greatly, and if we give our 

 people something superior, as before, there will be a market for thousands 

 of acres in our State and at a good price, and great profit to the gardener 

 and farmer. The time of hominy, corn bread and salt pork has passed 

 away, because of the intelligence of our people. Our taste and palate 

 has become more refined ; good vegetables and fruits must go step by step 

 with the American education, and we, the State Horticultural Society, 

 are responsible for it. 



May this little essay do some good. This is the wish of 

 Yours and the " People's Friend," 



DR. H. SCHRCEDER. 



