1908.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 15 



horticulturists, and all interested directly or indirectly in agri- 

 culture, are earnestly requested: Communications should be 

 addressed to Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Amherst, Mass. 



Asparagus Substation, Concord. 



The work with asparagus in Concord, which is located on 

 land leased from IVIr. Charles W. Prescott, follows two distinct 

 lines : (1) in co-operation with the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 of the United States Department of Agricultiu'e, an effort to 

 breed rust-resistant types of asparagus ; (2) fertilizer experi- 

 ments under the Adams fund in the effort to throw light upon 

 the general question of the specific plant food requirements of 

 this crop. 



Breeding Experiments. — The Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 through its agents in various parts of the world, has brought 

 together a very large collection of varieties of asparagus. 

 These have been drawn from all countries where the crop is 

 grown. In most cases seed was procured. This seed was 

 sown in a hothouse in Washington early last spring, and the 

 young plants were sent in flats to Concord. This method of 

 starting the i)lants was adopted in the belief that considerable 

 time might thereby be saved. The number of varieties started 

 was 36, but seed of several varieties was obtained from a num- 

 ber of sources, and 54 lots of seedlings were handled in tliis 

 manner. The degree of success attending this method was 

 only moderately satisfactory. The results varied widely with 

 varieties, but in most cases there was a considerable percentage 

 of loss, — greater no doubt than it otherwise would have been, 

 on account of the extremely dry season. The young plants 

 which survived made a fairly good growth. In addition to 

 these varieties, our breeding plots now contain 35 other 

 varieties, which have been brought together from various 

 sources many of them having been collected by the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. Among the diflerent varieties thus brought 

 together in the same field may already be noted a very consid- 

 craljle variation in the apparent susceptibility to rust, and it 

 may confidently be hoped that the objects in view in the ex- 

 periment will ultimately, in large measure, at least, be attained. 



