CHAPTER XIII. 

 ASPARAGUS. 



Asparagus. Asparagus Officinalis. 



French, asperge; German, spargel; Flemish and Dutch, 

 aspersie ; Danish, asparges ; Italian, sparagio ; Spanish, 

 esparrago ; Portuguese, espargo. 



Asparagus is a leading winter vegetable in California 

 and is produced as a field crop for local sale, for canning, 

 and for Eastern shipment. It is not grown, however, as a 

 garden crop for home use as widely as it should be. This 

 is probably to be accounted for in part by the fact that in 

 nearly all towns it can be cheaply bought during the late 

 winter and spring : in part, also, to an exaggerated notion 

 of the difficulty of making and caring for an asparagus 

 bed. On the drier lands of the interior, even with irriga- 

 tion, it is apt to be stringy and tough, but on interior, 

 moist lowlands, it is grand and is largely grown on such 

 lands both for canning and shipment fresh. In almost all 

 parts of the State it is not difficult for the attentive gard- 

 ener to secure crop and quality which will amply repay 

 his effort. Regions open to Coast influences either directly 

 or through gaps in the Coast Range, or regions where at- 

 mospheric humidity is increased somewhat by evaporation 

 from moist soil or wide water surface, as is the case in 

 interior river bottoms, have superior conditions for the 

 growth of the plant which is maritime in its origin and 

 nature. On the peat lands of Orange county asparagus 

 established itself as an escape from cultivation and it is 

 stated that this demonstration of its choice of situation 

 suggested the larger plantings for distant shipment which 

 have been made. 



Soil. The low peat lands of Orange county just men- 



