A FERTILIZER EXPERIMENT WITH ASPARAGUS. 247 



COMMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS. 



WM. P. BROOKS. 



Asparagus is an important garden crop in this State, its culture being 

 centered, however, largely in two or three sections: one, and the most 

 important, in Middlesex County, with Concord the most important town; 

 another in Barnstable County, in a number of Cape Cod towTis with soils 

 for the most part Hght; and in several smaller centers, one being on the 

 plain land in Hampden and Hampshire Counties, with the product 

 marketed for the most part in the cities of the Connecticut valley. 



My appreciation of the desirability of careful investigations as to the 

 fertihzer needs of the crop, although of earlier date, was stimulated greatly 

 by the outbreak of rust, particularly in the Middlesex and Barnstable 

 sections. The disease was carefully investigated by Dr. George E. Stone, 

 at that time a member of the station staff, and discussed in a number of 

 our pubhcations.i 



The culture of asparagus in the locahties mentioned had, previous to 

 the destructive outbreak of rust in 1897 and 1899, as a rule, been highly 

 profitable, and success, while requiring careful and appropriate attention 

 to details, had not been difficult. The outbreak of rust in this State — 

 a disease which appeared nearly simultaneously in some other parts of the 

 country, and which had been known in Europe for a good many years — 

 seemed for a time to threaten the industry. Fortunately the adoption 

 of improved methods — perhaps most important the introduction of 

 more rust-resistant varieties — has greatly reduced the amount of damage 

 from rust, but the increasing difficulties experienced by even the most 

 skillful growers after the serious rust outbreaks of 1897 and 1899 made 

 apparent the need of investigation in the effort to discover methods of 

 prevention or lessening the severity of attacks. Accordingly, by means 

 of visits and correspondence, I sought to learn in considerable detail what 

 were the most usually accepted and followed methods of the best growers. 



This effort had been preceded, however, by observations and chemical 

 work based upon results obtained in my home garden. The total weight 

 of shoots of the old variety, Moore's, cut in a good bed 85 feet in length 

 and 6 feet in width, two rows having been set, was at the rate of 15,061 

 pounds per acre, while the weight of the tops grown after the cutting 

 season, which ended June 18, was at the rate of 14,875 pounds per acre. 

 Both classes of material were carefully sampled and analyzed under the 

 direction of the late Dr. C. A. Goessmann. The shoots were cut from 

 May 2 to June 18, 1901; the tops, just after the first severe frosts, Nov. 



1 For a list of these publications, see the bibliography at the end of this bulletin. 



