A8PABAGUS FOR THE HOME GARDEN. 315 



be supplied with this most dehghtful and wholesome vegetable. 

 It is hardly to be doubted that a diffusion of knowledge concerning 

 the later and improved methods of culture, with their reduced cost 

 and lightened work, would do much to increase the popularity of this 

 vegetable and bring about its cultivation in gardens where it has 

 never found a place, but where its introduction would add greatly 

 to the present diet of the family." 



The President : I would like to ask Mr. Pabody whether he was 

 able to discover any difference between Barr's Mammoth and Pal- 

 metto ? 



Mr. Pabody : I can hardly tell the difference when they come 

 on the table. 



Mr. Elliot : Is there any difference in growth, or in the amount 

 of stalks you get from a bed ? 



Mr. Pabody : I have not been able to see any difference. The 

 Barr's Mammoth was planted in richer soil. Really I do not think 

 I could see any difference. 



Mr. Taylor: Did you ever cover your bed with manure in the 

 fall of the year? 



Mr. Pabody : No, sir, only in June when I cultivate. I never 

 put it on in the fall. It is said covering in the fall is really an 

 injury. 



Mr. Baldwin : Have you ever had any experience with rot 

 and blight? It weakens our beds. So far we have not found a 

 remedy. 



Mr. Pabody : No, sir, we have never been troubled with blight 

 or lost a crop from any cause. 



Mr. Baldwin : I find it is very extensive throughout the state, 

 and our beds are very badly affected. 



Rev. C. S. Harrison (Neb.) : This rust or blight we get all over 

 the country. It struck the sand hills in Nebraska. From my obser- 

 vation I really think it is starvation. I notice that very highly fer- 

 tilized beds escape, whereas on poor ground they are almost entirely 

 killed; so I judge that has something to do with it. There 

 are some kinds that are immune. The White Columbia does not 

 rust at all. I was at Boston at the horticultural meeting, and I saw 

 some there as large as a hoe handle. I asked the man how he grew 

 it, and he said he dug his ground deep and put on all the strong 

 manure he could put on. I got a quarter of an acre of ground, and 

 I put On eight loads of strong manure, and I got it as big as a hoC: 

 handle, and I believe I can get it as big as a fork handle. People do 

 not understand what it is. A gray head came along one day and 

 asked me, "Do you folks ever eat that stuff?" I said, "O, yes, do 

 you eat green peas?" He said, "Yes." "Well," I said, "it is just 

 like green peas, only more so, and it comes earlier in the spring." 

 Those who grow asparagus know that it is a rank feeder. If the 

 rust threatens to wipe you out get this Palmetto and White Colum- 

 bia, which will not rust, put it in a well fertilized bed. and you will 

 not be troubled with rust. d 



Mr. Baldwin: Is not the Columbia a very poor yielder? 



Mr. Harrison : Well, it is not so large, but it yields fairly weJA . 



