HARVESTING ASPARAGUS 151 



Quite free use of common salt is desirable for asparagus pro- 

 viding the land is not naturally saline as is the case in some regions 

 where it is largely grown. Cheap, refuse salt answers well, and in 

 garden practice the use of any old brine from the pickle or pork 

 barrel. An application of five to ten tons of stable manure or one 

 ton of a complete commercial fertilizer per acre can be frequently 

 used. On the best peat lands the crop is grown for several years 

 without fertilization. 



The surface application of all manures at the beginning of the 

 rainy season seems best to suit California conditions. 



Harvesting. Growers agree in advising very little, if any, cut- 

 ting the second year in the field. The third season should be very 

 productive if the plants have been generously treated, and thence 

 onward independently, if the strength of the soil can be kept up. 

 An average product is about two tons of marketable shoots to the 

 acre, while three and even four tons are occasionally secured. Much 

 evidently depends on the land and the care of the plantation. 



Mr. Murdock's suggestions on policies in cutting are as fol- 

 lows : 



Cut all the shoots clean at each cutting during the season, whether they 

 are large enough to use or not, for if part of stalks are allowed to grow they 

 will prevent other buds from throwing up stalks, and make the season's 

 cutting short. Keep the ground well cleaned during the harvesting period, 

 and if you have been liberal with your fertilizers and have kept your ground 

 moist, your crop will last as long as a profitable demand is likely to exist. 

 Yet, beware of prolonging the harvesting period too late, so as to weaken 

 the next year's crop as the nature of the crop requires that, to reproduce 

 annually its crop of shoots, something must be left to grow so as to foster 

 the formation of new roots and a new set of buds. If your season com- 

 mences early you should lay by the knife later on to correspond ; then let 

 all the tops grow and do not cull out the large shoots afterward. The time 

 that should elapse between cuttings varies in different soils, some being 

 warmer and consequently quicker than others ; then again, much depends on 

 the weather ; some years we will have warm days in February, which will 

 necessitate cutting twice each week, and it may be followed by cold days in 

 March, when the cuttings will be meager once a week ; and again in the 

 warm days of May it may require three cuttings per week to prevent the 

 heads from bursting, which spoils it for market. 



Some cut with a long-handled gouge which does less injury to 

 roots by side-cutting, others use a long butcher knife. 



There is variation in the demand for color in the product. The 

 local demand runs largely for green ; the canning demand is for 

 white. To produce good, tender, white asparagus it is necessary to 



