11 
Watering between the rows with liquid manure is of great assistance 
to the young plants, which with the care indicated above should bring 
large thrifty plants ready for setting out in the beds early the next 
spring. 
SELECTION OF PLANTS. 
Much depends upon the selection of plants. A good strong ‘‘ crown” 
with few but well-developed buds and plenty of roots is essential to 
the production of large and thrifty spears. A ‘‘ crown” with numer- 
ous buds, or eyes, will be more than likely to produce numerous but 
small spears, and afford a total yield much less than the other.kind. 
As has been previously stated, 1-year-old crowns are to be preferred, 
as it has been proved that in the course of years the l-year-old will 
produce larger and more valuable crops than either 2 or 3 year olds, 
although this was not formerly the opinion of growers. Small 1-year 
crowns, while not as desirable as large ones of the same age, are pref- 
erable to larger crowns 2 years old, and at the end of a year or two 
will be as large, more vigorous, and more productive. For instance, 
Lebceuf, who planted twelve crowns each of 1, 2, and 3 years of age, 
found at the end of the third year of identical treatment, in the same 
soil, the yield was as follows: 
Pounds. 
LADS TENG 1s neal AN ER PS Se SERRA en a ee ae 7 
Renn e were eee tee eee ds wom hte eo Le oe eS 33 
Denice Re Mie Wiens aS te OLR es a Seat Oe ee eee 23 
The 1-year-old plants at the end of three years yielded almost twice 
as much as the 2-year-old and nearly three times as much as the 
3-year-old crowns. 
There is something also to be said in favor of selecting plants which 
bear only staminate flowers, for, as these do not produce seed, the 
strength which would be taken to mature the seed goes to the storage 
of nourishment in the roots, thus enabling them to produce larger, 
earlier, and better spears for the next spring’s cutting. 
Prof. W. J. Green, in a Bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station (Vol. III, No. 9, second series, 1890), reports observations 
on this point. In order to determine the difference in vigor between 
the seed-bearing and nonseed-bearing plants, fifty of each were staked 
off, and when cutting commenced the spears taken from each kind 
were kept separate and the weight of each recorded, with the follow- 
ing result: 


Product | Product 
from fifty | from fifty 
male female 
plants. plants. 


Ounces. Ounces. 
: 2 


MiPert ENEMA SAL: DOTS area alas wralPaeia Geers ockee eek chek bee kein en siecineewbwibes oc 37 
Second period of ten days..............-..- 104 68 
Mhird period of ten Gays. .....-2..-...--2.s% 266 164 
MoMA ETO OL TOR GUUS aces cite sac atie cc eee nclumeedeeeGe cee cc csbonceecenisenis 203 | 154 

ite le OMRERCOM mace tes suede cor wanna conn d caawa Aenean accbensseccneckonas 610 | 407 

