76 ASPARAGUS 
The following table gives the amounts of different 
fertilizer materials necessary to give the desired quan- 
tity of each element : 
Element Pounds of different materials for one acre 
( 800 to 1,000 Ibs. cottonseed-meal; or 
Nitrogen ; J 350to 400 ‘‘ nitrate of soda; or 
275to 300 ‘‘ sulphate of ammonia; or 
Bes to 600 ‘‘ dried blood. 
kes to 500 lbs. kainit; or 
Potash: . ae 150 lbs. muriate of potash; or 
[| 150 to 300 lbs. sulphate of potash 
750 to 1,000 lbs. acid phosphate; or 
600 to 800 ‘‘ dissolved bone. 
Phosphoric acid . 1 
‘“Asparagus requires very heavy manuring, and 
yet its composition would not indicate it,’’ writes Mr. 
Charles V. Mapes. ‘‘ The explanation is found in the 
fact that it must grow very rapidly, otherwise it is 
tough, stringy and flavorless, the same as with radishes. 
If it had a long season to grow in, like timothy hay, it 
might grow successfully in very poor soil. A half ton 
of timothy hay contains about as much plant food, and 
in similar proportions, as two thousand bunches of 
asparagus, or five thousand quarts of strawberries, and 
yet while this quantity of hay will grow on an acre of 
almost any poor soil, the strawberries or asparagus for 
a fair crop per acre require a rich garden soil. If the 
hay were obliged to make as rapid growth as the 
asparagus, then it also would require rich soil. With 
the strawberry there is but the lapse of a few weeks 
