1911.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 135 



THE SOLUBLE CARBOHYDRATES IN ASPAR- 

 AGUS ROOTS. 



BY FRED W. MORSE, 



This paper is a simple statement of progress in a study of 

 the composition of the asparagus plant, and is part of an investi- 

 gation of the fertilizer requirements of asparagus now being 

 conducted at this agricultural experiment station. 



The nutrition of asparagus shoots in early spring necessarily 

 depends on the material stored in the roots, since the mode of 

 growth of the young shoots up to the time of cutting for the 

 table renders assimilation from the atmosphere nearly impossi- 

 ble. Hence, roots were selected as the first portion of the plant 

 to be studied. 



A search of the literature of asparagus failed to show any- 

 thing about the composition of the roots beyond a few scatter- 

 ing ash analyses and a brief article by Vines ^ on the reserve 

 proteins. 



Very recently, however, Wichers and Tollens - have reported 

 an extensive study of asparagus roots, and called attention to 

 similar work by Tanret," brief abstracts of whose articles had 

 been overlooked. 



Since the work has been wholly independent of that just men- 

 tioned, it is believed that this report of progress will be of value 

 at this time. 



All the material for the work here reported was prepared in 

 other divisions of the department, and consisted of finely pul- 

 verized samples of individual root systems. All of the plant 

 below the surface had been dug up, freed from earth and dried 



1 Proc. Royal Soc, 52, 130-132: Abstr. Jour. Chem. Soc., 64, 431. 



2 Jour. f. Landwirth., .58, 101-116. 



' Bui. Soc. Chem. (4), 5, 889. 893; Compt. Rend., 149,48-50; Abstr. Jour. Chem. Soc. (1909), 

 Abstr., 634; Chem. Abstr., 3, 2677. 



