Market-Garden Craps 301 



and climate will permit. With this plant the yield and 

 market quality of the crops depend upon the number and 

 size of the shoots. In respect to quality, the demands of 

 the different markets vary. Some of them require that 

 the shoots shall be bleached and so cut as to present only 

 a green tip, the remainder being perfectly white, while 

 others demand that the shoot shall be green. But in both 

 cases, the size of the shoot determines salability, and the 

 size is largely measured by the methods observed in feed- 

 ing the plant when other conditions are favorable; that 

 is, if not injured by disease or insects. Small, spindling 

 shoots usually indicate that the crop has not been well 

 cared for, or that the plant has been imperfectly nourished. 



The root is enlarged and invigorated by the character 

 of the growth of the tops, or summer growth of the plant 

 after cutting is finished, and it is obvious that the manur- 

 ing should be such as to encourage not only a rapid growth 

 of shoots early, but a large and vigorous growth of tops 

 later, which assists the growth of the roots in which energy 

 is stored up for the production of the crop in the following 

 year. Hence, not only the character but the method of 

 fertilization is important, and it differs from that recom- 

 mended for those plants which grow from the seed in one 

 season and which must depend upon what they are able 

 to acquire during their short period of growth. 



It was formerly believed that one of the most impor- 

 tant ingredients of manures for the asparagus plant was 

 common salt, and that in any fertilization this substance 

 should occupy a prominent part. Experience has shown, 

 however, that while salt may not be harmful, there is no 

 real fertility value in it. The crop may be profitably 

 grown without its application, though it does no harm, 

 and there is no objection to its use except on the ground 



