No. 4.] MARKET GARDENING. 37 



broad. It weighed 18% ounces. I couldn't keep the stalk, 

 but I have a plaster cast of it. 



Question. What variety was it ? 



Mr. Wheeler. I suppose it was what is called Moore's 

 Crossbred, but it was saved by my uncle from a special plant 

 grown in the field. I would advise everybody not to sow any 

 of our American asparagus seed, but sow the French, as it is 

 much more resistant. The Argenteuil and the Palmetto, I 

 suppose, stand to raise more than any other two. 



It has been stated that organization gets very much more 

 attention from the experiment station than one or two farm- 

 ers. Two years ago we farmers thought there ought to be 

 something done for the asparagus rust, and three of us went 

 ahead and applied to Secretary Ellsworth, the Experiment 

 Station at Amherst and the national government at Washing- 

 ton, asking that they investigate the matter, and they took it 

 up without any urging; so now we have a special station that 

 perhaps in ten years will show a strain of asparagus that will 

 stand the rust better than anything we now have. 



Mr. Howard. Wliat per cent of cauliflower do you con- 

 sider ought to head under favorable conditions ? What is the 

 per cent of a thousand plants, if you have that many planted ? 

 Fall growth. 



Professor Hall. I saw one crop this fall that headed ap- 

 proximately 850 plants out of a thousand. In other cases 

 cauliflower may not head over GO per cent, due to various 

 causes, but with good seed we ought to head 900 or 950 per 

 1,000 in a good season under favorable conditions. 



Mr. Howard. How about lettuce troubled with the white 

 feather ? 



Professor Hall. I am unable to give you the cause of this 

 irregular condition of the lettuce, but I should say, if the 

 soil and everything were uniform, it might be due to the seed. 

 I have often seen lettuce plants growing in a greenhouse where 

 some were much stronger than others, and some had little black 

 spots on the leaf, and in some cases this has been traced to 

 poor or immature seed. When the lettuce seed was gathered, 

 the tips were allowed to seed when standing in the field, and 



