PERENNIAL VEGETABLE PROJECTS 269 



8. Combating insects and diseases. 



9. Maintaining fertility. 



10. Harvesting and marketing. 



1. Why grow asparagus ? — Asparagus is considered one of the 

 most profitable of the vegetable crops, wherever satisfactory 

 markets are available. It is a crop, too, that responds well to 

 scientific treatment, thus enabhng thoughtful and careful growers 

 to make splendid returns. 



The growing of asparagus does not appeal at first to gardeners 

 of little experience who are anxious to realize profits at the earliest 

 possible date, but to those who are willing to wait a few years 

 for returns it offers excellent business opportunities. Well-man- 

 aged plantations will produce profitable crops for fifteen years 

 or even longer, if the market does not object too seriously to 

 the diminishing size of the shoots, which is likely to occur after 

 the plantations are eight to ten years old. 



When strong roots are planted in rich soil and given the best 

 treatment, they should produce about $50 worth of asparagus to 

 the acre the second season, without causing any harm to the 

 plants. The third year probably $200 an acre can be cut without 

 any devitalizing effect on the plants, and $300 to $500 thereafter, 

 depending on the size of the crop and condition of the market. 



1. Will it pay you to undertake the growing of asparagus as a 



business proposition ? W-VG : 223. 



2. What should be the gross returns over a period often years? The 



net profits? W-VG : 223. 



3. What is known about the history of asparagus? 



W-VG: 202. C : 113. H:l. 



2. Selecting location. — W:271. The best plantations of as- 

 paragus are found in deep, rich, sandy loams. If the white or 



