338 MASS. EXI'B;R1MENT STATKiN BULLETIN 247 



DEPARTMENT OF VEGETABLE GARDENING 



(Market Garden Field Station, Waltham) 



F. A. Waugh in Charge 



Conditions Affecting the Production and Vegetative Propagation of 

 Washington Asparagus. (V. A. Tiedjens). Roots of various ages have 

 been used for establishing high producing clonal varieties of staniinate 

 and pistillate asparagus varieties. Considerable difficulty has been ex- 

 perienced in propagating plants whose buds have reached their niaxiinuni 

 size. Crowns having small or immature buds may be propagated with 

 much less difficulty. One-year roots may be divided into one to eight 

 pieces, depending on their size, and produce suitable roots. Attempts 

 have been made to jirojiagate i)arts of the jilants other than the crowns 

 but with no success. On old jilants only immature crown tissue can be 

 used. The practice of propagating old roots is attended with uncertain 

 success, because of the age of some of the tissue. Clones from old 

 roots vary in their ability to recover from the injury to the buds caused 

 by the separation of the crowns into smaller sections. All tlie cuttings will 

 grow from some roots, while none will grow on others. Some crowns 

 on old i)lants producing small buds will readily divide into many pieces 

 without the use of a knife, while on others the buds are so closely knit 

 together that it is impossible to divide them into two pieces without 

 cutting through the Viuds. The former are more readily propagated be- 

 cause of less interference with the buds when the cuttings are made. 



It is imjjortant that the cutting be done ])arallel to the j)lane of the 

 buds, if clusters of buds must be divided. New buds originate at the 

 base of growing stalks. Well grown, one-year-old crowns have buds 

 ranging in size from very small to the largest. The cuttings from the 

 small buds do not produce as large roots as the cuttings with the large 

 buds, and the roots in a clone vary in size. The variation in size, how- 

 ever, is soon overcome. This is probably a growth relationship, — the 

 small buds being a surplus in the cycle of development of the crown. 



Because of the ease with which clones may be developed from one-year- 

 old roots, an attemiit has been made to grow the seedlings so that the 

 genetic potentialities may be shown at the end of the first season's growth. 

 The practice is to plant the seed rather thickly in drills, from the first 

 to the middle of August, and mulch the small seedlings heavily to protect 

 them from winterkilling. The following spring they are transplanted equal 

 distances apart and used for propagating material a year later. The 

 distribution of buds on the crown, — their size and size of the crown, — 

 make it possible to select tyjies which are best suited for propagation 

 purposes. 



Progenies from individual plant selections are grown by the above meth- 

 od and decided differences in vigor transmitting (]ualities have been 

 found. It emphasizes the relation of genetics to the vigor of the plants, 

 a fact that has an important bearing on the efficacy and commercial value 

 of the vegetative propagation of asparagus. 



A propagating frame has been devised, comprising ten hotbed sash 

 with a hot water heater to warm the soil by means of pipes buried twelve 

 inches below the surface. When cuttings are made in the spring, the 

 crown tissue will decay if the soil is not warm enough for growth. In 

 cold weather the mortality is very high so that cuttings must be started in 

 the propagating frame. They are either divided again or transplanted in 

 the field after growth has started. Conditions suitable for nroDagatiop 



