76 



ASPARAGUS 



The following table gives the amounts of different 

 fertilizer materials necessary to give the desired quan- 

 tity of each element : 



Element 



Nitrogen 



Pounds of different materials for one acre 

 \ 800 to 1,000 lbs. cottonseed-meal; or 

 J 350 to 400 " nitrate of soda; or 

 I 275 to 300 " sulphate of ammonia; or 

 1^400 to 600 " dried blood. 



Potash 



j 300 to 500 lbs. kainit; or 

 \ 150 lbs. muriate of potash; or 

 150 to 300 lbs. sulphate of potash 



Phosphoric acid 



\ 750 to 1,000 lbs. acid phosphate; or 

 i 600 to 800 " dissolved bone. 



"Asparagus requires very heavy manuring, and 

 yet its composition would not indicate it," writes Mr. 

 Charles V. Mapes. " The explanation is found in the 

 fadl that it must grow ver>^ rapidly, otherwise it is 

 tough, stringy and flavorless, the same as with radishes. 

 If it had a long season to grow in, like timothy hay, it 

 might grow successfully in very poor soil. A half ton 

 of timothy haj^ contains about as much plant food, and 

 in similar proportions, as two thousand bunches of 

 asparagus, or five thousand quarts of strawberries, and 

 yet while this quantity of hay will grow on an acre of 

 almost any poor soil, the strawberries or asparagfus for 

 a fair crop per acre require a rich garden soil. If the 

 hay were obliged to make as rapid growth as the 

 asparagus, then it also would require rich soil. With 

 the strawberry there is but the lapse of a few weeks 



