260 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



Fig. 93. ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI. This is the most popular and most useful of 



florist's greens today. It is of easy culture and can be made to pay in houses 



that are not ideal for growing cut flowers 



CULTURE OF ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI 



We will not consider how the big fellow does, but rather how 

 the florist with limited space can bring this about. 



Start out by purchasing good 3%- or 4-in. pot plants when 

 your bedding plant season closes; if you can, plant them out on a 

 bench or solid bed, allowing not less than 12 in. of space each way. 

 You can grow them in 6 in. of soil, but 8 in. or 10 in. is better, for 

 the roots will soon go through the soil, and in a shallow bench often 

 suffer. When a bench cannot be had, boxes, 8 by 10 in. inside meas- 

 ure, or not quite so large, can be made and planted. Fit them in 

 at the sides or end of some house where there is perhaps a little 

 space going to waste. Plant three plants in a 10-in. bulb pan; or 

 as good a way as any is to plant three in a 14-in. wire hanging basket. 

 These baskets need not be hung up right away; place them in a 

 frame if no other place can be had, and leave there until September, 

 after which fasten the hangers and hang on a purlin or below some 

 gutter anywhere you can find a place, without interfering, of course, 

 with a crop below. 



