I50 ASPARAGUS 



ASPARAGUS OX LONG ISLAND 



The cultivation of asparagus on Long Island does 

 not differ materially, in most respecls, from that 

 pradliced in other localities, other than in its extent. 

 But there is probably more to be learned about its 

 cultivation there than in an)' other section of the 

 countrj^ from the fadl of its being grown under 

 such changed conditions of soil. Here it can be 

 shown that the characfler of soil is not, of itself, 

 of great importance, and that on soil usually con- 

 sidered worthless — on land that can be bought, 

 uncleared, at from five to ten dollars per acre — aspara- 

 gus can be made as profitable a crop as on land con- 

 sidered cheap at one hundred dollars per acre. 



Nearly every farm, the northern boundar}' of 

 which is the Long Island Sound, has from two to 

 twenty acres of soil composed ver}' largely of fine 

 drift sand, in all respedls like quick-sand in charadler. 

 This, when mixed with light loam, as is frequently 

 the case, is the most favorable land for asparagus, and 

 in such it is largely grown, being unsuited to potatoes 

 or cereals, and where grasses make but a feeble 

 struggle for existence. Within five minutes' walk to 

 the south the soil is from a lively to a quite heav}' 

 loam, in which corn, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, 

 and, in fact, all other crops revel. In this soil the 

 asparagus also finds a congenial home, but no better 

 than in the sand, in which but little else can be grown; 

 neither can it be grown here more profitabl)'. The 

 expense for fertilizers is a little more on the sandy 

 soil, but the cost in labor on the heavy soil will quite 



