CHAPTER XXIV. 

 ASPARAGUS. 



There is no crop commonly grown by market gardeners which has been 

 more uniformly profitable than the asparagus crop. This is largely due to the 

 fact that a considerable expenditure must be made and some time elapse 

 before a profitable crop can be had; hence the temporary men, who rush 

 in from time to time with their inferior crops of the annual vegetables, 

 and out again when they find such unprofitable, seldom attempt the asparagus 

 crop. The market value of the crop depends so much on the thoroughness 

 of the preparation of the soil, its suitability to the crop, and the skillful 

 treatment and handling of it, that unskilled men are soon driven out; 

 while the producers of a really fine article always find it a profitable crop, 

 North and South. Its value, when grown especially early, is such that 

 heavy transportation rates can easily be paid; while the price when those 

 rates become prohibitive, is still sufficient to make its culture a profitable 

 one near the points of consumption in the North. 



GROWING THE PLANTS. 



Asparagus plants are one of the supplies that every market gardener 

 should produce for himself. Of course, they are offered at low prices all 

 over the country, but really good plants are hard to get. Then, too, unless 

 the packing is unusually well done, there is no plant more easily damaged by 

 long shipment than asparagus roots. Cold and dryness will not hurt them, 

 but too great a bulk and too much moisture will cause them to heat in the 

 package and become worthless. Many years ago I bought from a nursery- 

 man 30,000 roots of Conover's Colossal asparagus at the time when they 

 were selling at $10 per thousand. They were transported but 50 miles, and 

 were packed in one large crockery hogshead and one tierce, and had evidently 

 been forced down with a screw press. They arrived during my absence, and 



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