
9 
which are satisfactory) even if seed can be bought in the open market 
for much less than the trouble of attending to the home grown may 
cost. If, however, a grower is unwilling or unable to exercise the 
necessary care in the production of seed, he would do much better not 
to attempt it, but depend upon some reliable dealer, studiously avoid- 
ing those whose claims to patronage are 
based upon cheapness of stock. Good seed : 
are worth good money; poor seed should Y 
not be accepted under any conditions. 
Since asparagus is propagated only from 
seed, the natural tendency to atavism and 
resistance to constancy and reproduction in 
form makes difficult the maintenance of a 
certain combination of desirable qualities in 
any variety. Therefore, even if the seed are 
secured from a bed which has distinguished 
itself for a large yield of fine spears, a new 
bed with like qualities is by no means in- 
sured. A careful selection should be made 
of seed-bearing shoots (fig. 2) possessing the 
desired characteristics, the seed should be 
fully developed before they are gathered, 
the young plants should receive the best 
attention, and both in planting and future 
attention the bed should receive thorough 
and rational treatment. If these are neg- 
lected it is not to be expected that the bed 
will be a success. 
Any observant grower will become aware 
of two facts connected with his bed, (1) some 
clumps each year produce larger, earlier, and 
finer spears than others, and (2) some stalks 
bear seed while others do not. In connec- 
tion with these it is ordinarily found to be 
true that the clumps producing nonseed- 
bearing stalks bear the largest spears. 
During the spring cutting of the year 
preceding that in which the seed are to be Fre. 2—Asparagus stem, leaves, 
saved, the clumps producing the largest, "¥en Meret. (Retraen 
finest, and earliest spears should be marked, Thomé’s Flora von Deutschland.. 
selecting four or five seed-bearing to one 
producing nonseed-bearing stalks; these should be as close together 
as possible, or in bunches, that the pollen may not fail to be effective. 
When spring comes, one or two of the largest and earliest stalks of each 
of the hills should be permitted to grow, cutting the later-appearing 
spears just as is done with the other spears for market. Thus these 
early stalks of both male and female plants will bloom together before 
75814— Bull. 61—09 2 


