XVI 
ASPARAGUS CULTURE IN DIFFERENT 
LOCALITIES 
ASPARAGUS IN NEW ENGLAND 
SPARAGUS was grown in Concord, Mass., in a 
limited way as early as 1825. Mr. Edmund 
Hosmer used to carry it to market in season 
on his milk wagon. ‘Timothy Prescott and 
F. R. Gourgas grew garden patches before 1840. 
To John B. Moore belongs the credit of growing and 
improving asparagus in this section of the State. Mr. 
Moore selected the most promising shoots, and by a 
judicious system of culture succeeded in placing on 
the market a valuable variety in the shape of Moore’s 
Cross-bred. Most of the ‘‘giant’’ asparagus grown 
in Concord to-day could be traced to the plants pro- 
duced by his skill. A sample bunch of twelve stalks, 
twelve inches long, from Moore’s Cross-bred plants 
weighed four pounds eight ounces. In 1872 the first 
bed of asparagus of any size was set out by Mr. George 
D. Hubbard, who was laughed at by his neighbor 
farmers, who saw only ruin for the young man. The 
next year Mr. Hubbard set out more, so that for 
twenty years he was probably the largest grower in 
Massachusetts. 
Most of the leading varieties are grown in Concord, 
but the farmers are looking for a rust-proof variety and 
