ASFARAGtrS. 35 



year to year one hears the same question asked by 

 the consumers of Asparagus, "Why is it that this vege- 

 table is not more generally cultivated ? The area 

 devoted to its culture has been increased very much, 

 but not enough to keep pace with the likewise grow- 

 ing demand. 



During the last twenty years I have been en- 

 gaged, more or less each year, in raising vegetables 

 for market, and, at different times I have known 

 each and every kind of vegetable, grown to any ex- 

 tent for market, become a " drug," with the single 

 exception of Asparagus, which, thus far, has al- 

 ways been in good demand, and that, too, at paying 

 prices. 



There are few persons who have b len engaged 

 on an extensive scale in "trucking," ^^'ho have not 

 been compelled, in " bad seasons," to sell a part or 

 the whole of a crop for less money than it cost to 

 produce it. This would apply to the whole list of 

 vegetables, leaving out Asparagus, which, during such 

 dull seasons and poor markets, is generally made use 

 of by those who grow it to work off other kinds of 

 vegetables — that is, in case a grocer wants two or 

 more dozen of Asparagus ; to get it he would be 

 obliged to buy a portion of whatever the grower had 

 in his wagon at the time. In this wsij the gardener 

 who had an abundance of Asparagus woidd not lose 

 as much in the sale of his crops in dull seasons as he 

 who was not so situated. 



"Within the past ten years more attention has been 

 given to the culture of Asparagus. It is not rare, 

 now, to find fields of fronj two to ^even acres, in dif- 



