242 Notes and Gleanings. 



Asparagus. — We commend to the attention of such of our readers as con- 

 template making a plantation of asparagus the following experiment, made for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the relative value of old and young roots for plant- 

 ing. The result seems to prove most conclusively the great superiority of plants 

 of the growth of one year over those of more ; and answers, if it does not settle, 

 a question often raised and much discussed. F. B. 



Relative Success with Plants of One, Two, and Three Years Old. — There 

 are still many persons who think, that, in planting roots that are two or three years 

 old, they will gather asparagus sooner than if they plant those which are but one 

 year old. To disabuse them of this idea, we shall put under their eyes the re- 

 sults of several experiments which we have made. We planted (No. i) twelve 

 roots of a year old, (No. 2) twelve of two years old, and (No. 3) twelve of 

 three years old. The results were as follow : — 



First Year. — Of No. i, all had made growth before May 4, and the vegeta- 

 tion was fine. No. 2, ten plants started before May 4, one on the loth, and the 

 other failed. The shoots were a little stronger than those of No. i. No. 3, 

 eight plants started before May 4, one on May 12, and the other three failed; 

 and although, at first, the shoots looked well, they afterwards declined ; and on 

 Sept. 15 they were feebler than those of No. 2. 



Second Year. — No. i, fine vegetation ; shoots strong and regular on the 15th 

 of September. No. 2, good growth, shoots irregular, and a little feebler than 

 those of No. I. No. 3, growth mediocre; shoots very irregular, some roots 

 having eight or ten, but all feeble : another plant died after having produced 

 two stems. 



Third Year. — No. i, growth magnificent ; stems measuring on the loth of 

 May from two inches to three and a half inches in circumference. No. 2, growth 

 passable, but irregular ; some tufts small and weak ; the finest had shoots on 

 the loth of May not more than two and a half inches in circumference. No. 3, 

 growth very middling and irregular ; some tufts gave off shoots no bigger than 

 quills, and the best reached little beyond an inch and a half in circumference. 



Fourth Year. — No. i, growth remarkable ; the shoots appeared from the 3d 

 to the loth of April, some as many as four inches in circumference ; they afforded 

 fifty shoots, which formed a bunch weighing more than six and a half pounds. 

 No. 2, growth passable, hut a little later than that of No. i, and with plenty of 

 small shoots ; fifty made a half-bunch, weighing little more than the half of that 

 cut from No. i. No. 3, vegetation poor, one plant not starting till the 22d of 

 April ; fifty shoots formed only half a bunch, and did not weigh more than two 

 and a half pounds. 



To resume, we have seen that the plantation formed with plants a year old 

 has given at its fourth starting, or at the end of three years of plantation, a 

 bunch of asparagus twice as large as that of either of the others. In other 

 terms, the plantation made with plants a year old produced double that of the 

 one where two-year-old plants were used, and nearly treble that made with 

 plants of three years old. The conclusions are easy to form. — V. F. L., in 

 " The Field." 



