i8g5. 



GARDENING. 



The Vegetable Garden. 



flSPflRflGUS. 



(Ti-owing asparagus from seed results, 

 as with all plants so grown, in a consid- 

 erable variation. It is true that varieties 

 more or less fixed in their characters arc 

 propagated from seed; indeed I am not 

 aware of any other method generally 

 practiced, if at all. Birds seem tobe fond 

 of ripe asparagus berries; and from seed 

 apparently so distributed many plants 

 have grown up during the past thirty 

 years uponmyold "home place." Usually 

 there has been nothing special about 

 these volunteer plants, except some diffi- 

 culty in eradicating them, to attract at- 

 tention. But some six or seven years 

 ago a monstrous volunteer plant ap- 

 peared, growing in thick grass, yet yield- 

 ing stalks a full inch in diameter. I have 

 never heard of dividing asparagus plants 

 as a method or means of propagation, 

 either for domestic use or commercially; 

 but so many visitors have remarked this 

 "crow-bar looking" specimen that some 

 little time since I had it dug up. This 

 was no small job, for the roots, though 

 cut close with a nursery spade, made a 

 mass scarcely smaller than an old fash- 

 ioned molasses hogshead. Saws and 

 sharp spades were brought into service 

 for its sub-division, with smaller tools 

 for dividing bud from bud; and these frag- 

 ments were set in rows in the garden. 

 They are growing very well for the first 

 season; but before expending much more 

 effort in this direction I should like to 

 know whether this way of propagating 

 asparagus has ever been practiced among 

 market gardeners. It would appear to 

 be the only way to propagate a distinct 

 variety, as seedlings would certainly vary 

 widely, and probably might i)rove, for 

 the most part, if not wholly, unlike the 

 parent. I am almost alar\ned to t 

 of the size which heads of this jilant 

 would present imder clean culture a 

 heavy manuring. Yet perhaps now 

 has been removed from its birthplace it 

 may not recover its original vigor. But 

 if it should do so and propagatio 

 sub-division prove a success it might 

 really become the parent of a new and de 

 sirable strain of this useful vegetable 



T. H. HosKiNS. 



There is nothing new in propagating; 

 asparagus by division; we have done it 

 ourselves and seen it done several times 

 by others. In the case of such fine vari- 

 eties as the one you have secured bv 

 division is the proper method of mcreasi 

 But don't wait till the plants get so I u 

 and old as your one was before dnidiiu 

 them; there is a risk of losing some of th 

 middle cuts in such large root stocks 

 Take an ordinary asparagus field (raising 

 asparagus for market is the principal 

 money crop of the farmers around Doso 

 ris, for we are in the thick of the 0> ster 

 Bay asparagus district, with its bro-id 

 acres of "grass," and several canning lac 

 tories) and mark the number of distintt 

 varieties of "grass" one can gtt in it 

 some are pale green, some rise almost 

 white; some are deep green, others have 

 a purplish tinge; some rise u]) s<.\"ral 

 inches above ground without feathering 

 othei-s begin to feather almost at once 

 some have verj' large "grass," others 

 more slender stems; and some Ixtonic 

 loaded with berries, while others appcir 

 to be perfectly sterile. At the sami. tunc 

 the general average of the fiel 1 is the 

 same. Then why don't we hold iiid V-r 

 [continued on page 31C> I 



