84 GARDENING WITH BRAINS 



you will carefully heed the information I am 

 giving in this chapter. Allen French devotes 

 twenty useful pages of his Book of Vegetables 

 to asparagus, but he does not refer to the abso- 

 lute necessity of exterminating all female plants. 

 Unless that is done, no lasting success is pos- 

 sible. It is chiefly because they don't know that, 

 that most farmers and commuters have no 

 asparagus beds in their gardens. 



For the most valuable advice we are indebted 

 to Prof. J. C. Whitten of the Missouri Experi- 

 ment Station. It was he who advised sowing 

 liberally and discarding seven-eighths of the 

 seedlings. 



When the seedlings are three inches high [he says] 

 select those which have the thickest, fleshiest, and most 

 numerous stems, and pot them. They vary more than 

 almost any other vegetable. Many that appear large 

 and vigorous will have broad, flat, twisted, or corrugated 

 stems. Discard them. Beware also of those that put 

 out leaves close to the soil. These will all make tough, 

 stringy, undesirable plants. The best plants are those 

 which are cylindrical, smooth, and free from ridges. 

 They shoot up rapidly and attain a height of two inches 

 before leaves are put out. They look much like smooth 

 needles. The matter of selecting the best plants for 

 potting and subsequent planting out is of the greatest 

 importance in asparagus culture. 



Another extremely important hint, which 

 alone is worth ten times the price of Hexamer's 

 book, from which I have quoted the foregoing 



