70 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



the formation and development of buds is necessary for 

 a crop the following year. We grow much of the apple 

 crop the year before we pick it. Food is stored in the 

 twigs, so that the blossoms and fruit can have an avail- 

 able supply for growth in the following season. 



One of the sure ways to kill any weed is to keep it cut 

 off, so that it cannot have green leaves for starch forma- 

 tion. It will eventually exhaust the stored food in the 

 roots and starve to death. 



The asparagus crop is grown from food that was stored 

 in the roots the preceding year. Many growers of aspara- 

 gus fertilize the crop in the spring, thinking that it helps 

 that year's crop. But, since the plant is not allowed to 

 produce enough green top to prepare food, the fertilizer 

 can bring no good results the year that it is applied. 

 Field experiments have verified this conclusion. An 

 asparagus bed was divided into two plots of one-half 

 acre each. One-half was fertilized in the early spring 

 and one-half was not. The fertilized area yielded 460 

 pounds, and the unfertilized 448. l But, when the crop 

 of the following year was measured, the fertilizer showed 

 a marked result. The time to fertilize the asparagus crop 

 is when cutting ceases, unless some material is used that 

 needs time to decay. The crop is grown and stored in 

 the roots the year before we harvest it. 



Many plants are killed or seriously weakened by the 

 formation of seed. Rye is sometimes pastured during the 

 first summer, and allowed to go to seed during the second 

 year. But, if allowed to form seed the first year, it dies 

 as the seed ripens. Red clover is much weakened by form- 



1 Delaware Report 1902, p. 90. 



