ASPAKAGUS. 121 



Only the latter bear seeds which will not be fertile un- 

 less the flower is impregnated by the pollen of the for- 

 mer. Thus it requires two distinct plants for the propa- 

 gation of the species. Should a variety originate by 

 chance, its flower would require the pollen of the previous 

 variety to fertilize it; and to transmit its distinctive fea- 

 tures to descendants, it must be ever afterwards exempt 

 from any altering influences of the pollen. If such breed- 

 ing of varieties was probable in dioecious plants, the 

 chances of cross-fertilization are such that varieties and 

 sub- varieties would be constantly seen. 



RAISING THE PLANTS. 



Asparagus is propagated from seed, the usual practice 

 being to raise the plants in a seed-bed, and trans- 

 fer them to the field when one or two years old, those of 

 one year being much the best. It has generally been, at 

 the South, not only the uneconomical, but from an horti- 

 cultural point of view, the objectionable custom to pur- 

 chase the plants from Northern nurseries, at from four dol- 

 lars to eight dollars per thousand, without any knowledge 

 of their previous cultivation, age, or condition. This has 

 been done when the plants could be grown much cheaper, 

 and much better at home, with the additional advantage of 

 being able to lift them carefully and fresh from the seed- 

 bed when needed; whereas, procured from a distance, they 

 are stale, roughly handled and bruised. The price of the 

 seed is usually about fifty cents per pound, containing 

 some fourteen thousand seeds, which should supply at 

 least ten thousand five hundred plants, or enough for 

 three acres. At the average price of plants, as offered 

 by the largest seed firms, the same number of plants 

 would cost twenty-one dollars. Small, spindling shoots 

 are comparatively worthless. The asparagus grower 

 should start his seed-bed with the ultimate object of pro- 

 ducing large, stout sprouts, (or " grass," in the language 

 6 



