3l6 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. R. H. Pendergast : I am rather an enthusiast in asparagus, 

 and with the rich culture I give it I have never heen troubled with 

 rust. I have always followed the rule of using a great deal of 

 fertilizer. I use ashes and salt and have always had asparagus. The 

 gentleman said he did not practice mulching in the fall. I make 

 it a rule to fill up my bed with stable manure at least a foot deep in 

 the fall. It decays and settles down, and the plants come 

 right up through it, and then I use a long knife to cut the asparagus. 



Mrs. Ida B. Thompson: At what season do you us(! salt? 



Mr. Pendergast : I usually use it in the spring, but you can use 

 it in the fall. I am a strong enthusiast in the use of all the ashes I 

 can get. I use it on my small fruits. 



Mr. Harrison : I think the application of salt is of rather doubt- 

 ful utility. Asparagus will stand more salt than any other vegetable, 

 perhaps for that reason it gets a good deal. Put salt on one row 

 and not on another, and I am under the impression you will not. 

 find much difiference. 



Mr. Pabody : I find a serious objection to the use of salt in that 

 it forms a crust over the ground and plants find trouble in forcing 

 their way through. 



Mr. Elliot : There are some points brought out in this paper 

 that are dififerent from the old teaching. We have always practiced 

 putting on our manure in the fall, but he has advanced the idea 

 that we ought to put it on after the close of cutting, cutting off all 

 the present year's growth and then putting on the manure to fertilize 

 the plants. I can see that this is a good thing, in that it helps to in- 

 vigorate the plants and helps the crop in the following year, whereas 

 we put the manure on in the fall, and we do not get the benefit of it 

 early in the spring, when we ought to have it, as if put on earlier 

 in the season. 



Mr. Beardsley : We practice field culture of asparagus. We 

 have our rows four feet apart in the field. We cut off all the foliage 

 in the fall. We go between the rows with a plow and turn a dead 

 furrow right on the ridge. During the winter we haul that furrow 

 full of manure, and in the spring we drag it down level. We have 

 got that manure covered up and it will feed the roots all the year. 



Mr. Bailey: I would like to ask the gentleman if cutting off 

 the plants in the fall is not a bad practice, for the reason that there 

 is nothing there to hold the snow. We grow asparagus in a commer- 

 cial way. I leave the plants standing all winter and manure the 

 ground, and in the spring I run the disc harrow over it, weighting 

 it down, and it cuts up all the foliage and helps to bring humus into 

 the soil again, and I think the plants are not so liable to rust if they 

 are well protected. 



Mr. Pabody: Do you not find that the sprouting of the seeds 

 gives you trouble? 



Mr. Bailey : Yes, the seeds sprout, but we cultivate our rows 

 right out and that destroys the sprouts and gives us no trouble. 



