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W. F. ALLEN, Strawberry Specialist SALISBURY, MARYLAND 



bedding, and this will furnish all the salt desirable, and 

 will give the potash too, and applied in the fall will not 

 make the shoots later, as it is apt to do when applied in 

 the spring. Planted in this way, the shoots are cut as soon 

 as the tip shows above the surface, by pulling away some 

 of the soil and cutting well down on the crown of the roots 

 with a knife made for the purpose. But when cut in this 

 way the part under ground, while white and attractive, 

 is always tough and woody, and there is a growing demand 

 for green shoots that are all tender and cut at the surface 

 of the ground. 



Where shoots of this kind are wanted, the planting is 

 made more shallow than for cutting under ground, and 

 the furrows 4 feet apart are made entirely with the plow. 

 The furrows are liberally manured and fertilized and the 

 summer cultivation is the same as for those planted deeper. 



But whichever way is adopted, there is one thing that 

 is essential. If you want big shoots of Asparagus you 

 must manure and fertilize heavily and annually, for on 

 the fertility of the soil depends the profit of the crop. 

 Five hundred pounds an acre of Kainit in the fall when 

 bedding, and 500 pounds of fish scrap or tankage and 500 

 pounds of acid phosphate harrowed in in the early spring 

 will answer where only commercial fertilizers are used. 

 Asparagus is a gross feeder, and the soil can scarcely be 

 made too rich. The life of the bed depends almost en- 

 tirely on the feeding of the plants, their distance apart in 

 the row, and the severity of the cutting. The daily yield 

 will depend very much on the weather, tor cold nights fre- 



quently check the growth of the plants. The location of 

 the bed or field should be carefully selected, the soil care- 

 fully prepared, and the plants well cultivated if maximum 

 results are expected. 



Asparagus is a plant known as dioecious, that is^ the 

 male or staminate flowers are borne on one plant and the 

 female or pistillate flowers on another. Since only the 

 pistillate plants bear seed, and the seed-making is a 

 severe tax on the plant, it will always be found that the 

 plants that make seed do not make so large shoots as 

 those that make no seed, and if it were possible to dis- 

 tinguish between them at planting it would be better to 

 plant no seed-bearing plants. Some have advised digging 

 out the seed-bearing plants as soon as noted, and re- 

 planting with two-year roots, the blooming of which has 

 been noted. I have never tried this and cannot say what 

 the benefit would be. 



Of late years the Asparagus crop in many places has 

 been attacked by a fungous disease or rust. This is shown 

 by elongated oval splotches on the shoots, and it must 

 be attacked vigorously by spraying with Bordeaux 

 mixture. This will, to a great extent, diminish the disease. 

 The Palmetto variety seems to be less liable to this disease 

 than any other. (Giant Argenteuil has also become very 

 popular during the last few years, and is considered one 

 of the best disease-resisting varieties. This variety is 

 very similar in many respects to the Palmetto, but is 

 claimed to be an improvement on that popular old va- 

 riety.— W. F. A.) 



