FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING 79 



ingly rich and equal to the demands which the plants 

 make upon it. 



The plan of top-dressing beds during the fall or 

 early winter is gradually giving way to the more 

 rational mode of top-dressing in the spring or summer. 

 It was believed that autumn dressing strengthened the 

 roots and enabled them to throw up stronger shoots 

 during the following spring. This is a mistake, how- 

 ever. In the Oyster Bay region formerly all manuring 

 was done in the spring, but the practice of applying 

 all fertilizers immediately after the cutting is finished 

 is rapidly increasing. The reason for this is found in 

 the fadl that, during the growth of the stalks, after the 

 cutting season is over, the crowns form the buds from 

 which the spears of next season spring, and it is prob- 

 able that it is principally during this period that the 

 roots assimilate and store up the materials which pro- 

 duce these spears. This being true, the plant food 

 added to the soil and becoming available after the 

 cessation of vegetation in the autumn can have little, 

 if any, effedt upon the spears which are cut for market 

 the following spring; it first becomes of use to the 

 plant after the crop has been cut and the stalks allowed 

 to grow. Thus the manuring of the autumn of 1901 

 will not benefit the grower materially until the spring 

 of 1903. 



Nevertheless, some highly successful asparagus 

 raisers continue to apply fertilizers in the spring, as 

 evidenced by the following diredlious given by one of 

 the most prominent growers in the Oyster Bay dis- 

 tridt : ' ' After the roots have been set in the drill, put 

 enough soil on them to cover about two inches. 



