52 ASPARAGUS 



extension of their roots in search of moisture and food. 

 Asparagus needs considerable water, and an acre of 

 land will hold so much water and no more. The more 

 plants there are on an acre the less water there will be 

 for each plant, and what is true of water is also true 

 of plant food. 



In field culture the distance adopted b}' asparagus 

 growers varies from 3x3 feet (4,840 plants per acre); 

 3x4 feet (3,640 plants per acre) ; 4x4 feet (2,722 

 plants per acre); 4x5 feet (2,178 plants per acre); 

 5x6 feet (1,452 plants per acre); 6x6 feet (1,210 

 plants per acre), and even more. If the idea is to 

 have the plants so far apart that their roots can not 

 interlace, twenty feet each way would not be too ex- 

 travagant a distance, under favorable conditions, as 

 will readily become apparent by a glance at Fig. 14. 

 This illustration is an exadt reproduction of the root 

 system of an asparagus plant four years from the 

 seed. The roots spread out upon a level floor meas- 

 ured thirteen feet from tip to tip, the single roots 

 averaging the thickness of a lead pencil. This root 

 grew in Madison County, 111., and was w^ashed out of 

 the ground — without having any of its roots torn — by 

 the unusually heavy spring rains which caused the Piasa 

 River to overflow its banks and sent a current rushing 

 through the asparagus field in which it grew. If the 

 plant had remained in its position a few years longer 

 its roots would probably have extended ten feet in each 

 direction. 



From this it does not follow, however, that aspara- 

 gus should be planted twenty or even ten feet apart to 

 produce the largest returns, but it plainl}- shows why 



