44 ASPARAGUS 



the beds, because all the sunshine obtainable is needed 

 to bring the spears quickly to the surface. Whenever 

 pradlicable the asparagus bed should be protedled from 

 cold winds, and so slope that the full benefit of the 

 sunshine will be obtained during the whole daj-. 

 Brinckmeier, in his " Braunschweiger Sparge!buch," 

 gives the following three rules for guidance in seledl- 

 ing a location for asparagus beds : 



" I . One should choose, in reference to ground char- 

 adleristics, open, free-lying land, protedled to the north 

 and east [which, for American conditions, should be 

 north and west] , of gradual slope, free from trees or 

 shrubbery. 



"2. The field should be exposed to the raj's of the 

 sun all day long; therefore, a southern exposure is 

 desirable, or, if that is not obtainable, a southwesterly 

 or southeasterly slope, because either east, west, or 

 north exposure will cause shade during a greater or 

 less portion of the day. 



"3. Standing, stagnant ground water, which can- 

 not be drawn off by drainage, is to be avoided, the 

 requirements of the plants indicating a somewhat damp 

 subsoil, but not too high ground water." 



For commercial purposes on a large scale, and when 

 the trucker has the choice of location, a well-drained, 

 light, deep, sandy loam, with a light clay subsoil, is to 

 be preferred to any other. Heavy clay soil, or land 

 with a hard-pan subsoil, or, in fadl, any soil that is 

 cold and wet, is totally unfit for profitable asparagus 

 growing, unless it is thoroughly underdrained and 

 made lighter by a plentiful addition of sand and muck. 



Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more 



