WM. HENRY MAULE, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Vegetable Seeds—9 
Asparacus. 
My trade in Asparagus Roots has grown at a tremendous rate for the last 
five years. I have in mind one customer in New York State who started 
Some years ago with an order for 6,000 roots, two years afterwards he ordered 
10,000 more, the next year was followed with an order for 380,000 or 40,000, and I 
recently had another order from him for almost 60,000 roots. The reason for 
this extensive planting of asparagus is undoubtedly from the fact that there 
has been shipped into the New York market every year for the past five or six 
years almost double the quantity each year that had been shipped the previous 
|| year, and notwithstanding this enormous increase in the production, it does 
not make any difference where the market may be, whether Chicago, New 
York, Philadelphia or Boston, the price has not depreciated. In other words, 
| the growers secured in the spring of 1909 in almost every case as high prices for p} Hf H 
their increased crops as they received five years ago. This means only one {Awl —— 
thing, and that is that the consumption has increased as fast as the production, I 
and if anything the profit per acre is today larger than it was five or six years y 
ago, when @ grower who had an asparagus patch of five or ten acres was Ar f Ba f 
thought to be a big man in the business, while today a patch of anywhere from  jQMHIIH\)) SO 
HANS 
























































































| 69 to 100 acres is not uncommon. This increase has not only occurred in the 
| East; but on the Pacific Slope, especially in the Sacramento Valley, more and 
more people are every year becoming interested in growing asparagus, and are Wy / 
making big money by doing so. The thing that deters many people is the fact ia) ANAT 
that when they plant good strong one-year-old roots it takes 1 ‘ ly 
two or three years waiting before returns begin to come in; Ue 
} but when they do begin to come in they invariably pay a EG a 
big return on the money invested. In [this /connection I BARR’S PHILADELPHIA MAMMOTH. 
would say that the size and consequent market value of the stalks is influenced more by the 
amount of space allotted to each plant than by any other single circumstance, and for this reason 
I consider wide planting the only sensible and safe course for the market grower. Some of my 
most successful growers make the rows six feet apart, with three or four feet distance between 
the plants. Even then the roots completely fill the soil, and interlock between the wide rows. 
Planting at this distance admits of cultivation both ways. The least distance that should be 
given in a bed expected to yield fine, large stalks for many years, is five feet by two, requiring 
between 4,000 and 6,000 plants to the acre; nothing can be gained by planting closer. One hundred 
plants thus set in good soil will furnish an abundant supply of “grass” for a large family. 
If you desire to raise your own roots, which adds another year or two of waiting, I would say 
that one ounce of seed in drills should produce in the neighborhood of 400 plants. Theseed before 
sowing should be well soaked in water. 
The two varieties I particularly recommend are my Giant Argenteuil and Palmetto. But at 
thesame time, Barr’s Philadelphia Mammoth is also a most excellent sort, and very popular in 
the vicinity of Philadelphia; while to those desiring a white asparagus, Columbian Mammoth 
White is the most profitable sort. ; 
Palmetto. 
A great many people consider this |f 
the most profitable asparagus on the} 
market; one reason is that it seems to|# 
be disease proof, and where other vari-|f 
eties have been susceptible to the aspar- 
agus disease, Palmetto has continued to 
yield big paying crops. This variety at|& 
the New Jersey Agricultural Experte|} 
ment station proved to be the best out of 
eight varieties planted; the cash returns 
< one year being over $800 more per acre|f 
than returns from Barr’s Mammoth. It is of Southern|f 
origin, but suitable for North also. Earlier than Conover’s, 
h Pkt., 5 cents; oz., 10 cents; 4 lb., 20 cents; lb., 60 cents 
i}! ROOTS. teyear-old, 100 by mail, $1.00; 2-year-old, 
100 by mail, $2.00, postpaid. By express or freight,|— 
not prepaid, l-year-old, 75 cents per 100; $5.00 per|# 
1,000; $245.00 per 10,000; 2-year-old, $6.00 per 1,000. 
Giant Argenteuil. 
The seed which I offer is a selection from imported French 
Stock. My strain is an improvement upon the original. In 
the South it is regarded as superior to Palmetto, and I 
recommend it with great confidence to Northern growers, 
One experienced grower says that Argenteuil is as much 
larger than Palmetto as Palmetto is larger than Conover’s. | 
It has a place of its own in the New York and Boston|® 
mmarkets, and sells for $1.00 to $2.00 more per dozen bunches |f 
than the best of old sorts. The illustration herewith is taken |} 
from an average bunch prepared for selling in the market. 
Pkt., 5 cts.3 oz., 10 cts.; 14 Ib., 30 cts,; lb., $1.00. 
ROOTS. i-year-old, 100 by mail, $1.00; 2-year-old, 
100 by mail, $2.00, postpaid. By express or freight, |/ 
not prepaid, i-year-old, 75 cents per 100; $5.00 por 
1,000; $45.00 per 10,000. 2-year-old, $6.00 per 1,000, 
Barr’s Philadelphia Mammoth. 
It throws strong, well developed shoots the entire season, 
and always commands top notch prices in the discriminat- 
ing Philadelphia market. At three years old Barr’s Mam- 
moth has yielded at the rate of $500 per acre. 
Pkt., 5 cts;. oz., 10 cts.; 14 Ib., 20 cts.; Ib., 60 cts. : 
ROOTS. 1-year-old, 100 by mail, $1.00; 2-year-old, 
100 by matl, $2.00, postpaid. By express or freight, |} 
mot prepaid, l-year-old, 75 cents per 100; $5.00 per|F 
1,000; $45.00 per 10,000; 2-year-old, $6.00 per 1,000. 
Columbian Mammoth White. 
Has white shoots which stay white, but not so white as|f 
when introduced some years ago. 
Pkt., 5 cts.3 oz., 10 cts.; 4 Ib., 20 cts.3 Ih., 60 cts. : 
ROOTS. l-year-old, 100 by mail, $1.00; 22-year-old, |i 
100 by mail, $2.00, postpaid. By express or freight, |i 
not prepaid, i-year-old, 475 cents per 100; $5.00 per 
1,000; 2-year-old, $6.00 per 1,000. fi 


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































D. M. Jones, Gastonia, N. C.—I was more than pleased with the 
Out-turn of the seed ordered of you last season and have a very fina 
asparagus bed from the two-year-old roots which were shipped me at 
the same time, GIANT ARGENTEUIL ASPARAGUS, 

































