ASPARACxUS FACTS. 



SPAKAGUS has been in cul- 

 tivation for over two thousand 

 years, but its successful and 

 extensive culture does not date 

 back more than one hundred 

 and fifty years. One of the 

 reasons for its importance is 



that it comes on the market at 

 a time when there is "much meat and little vege- 

 table," and there is nothing that can take its 

 place. The crop is always salable at some figure, 

 and probably the reason why the market has never 

 been glutted, is on account of the time required to 

 get a bed started on a paying basis. 



Soil. — Henderson says a deep and rather sandy loam, 

 or in other words, alluvial soil such as for celery, is 

 best. Vilmorin Andrieux says light, sandy soil. Greiner 

 gives the first choice as sandy loam, and for a second 

 clay loam. A clay soil would not seem advisable, as 

 the soil should act and drain quickly after spring opens ; 

 but as an asparagus bed should last from eighteen to 

 twenty-five years, a sandy soil would not be found the 

 perfect one. It must be a soil that will hold its own. 

 A well-drained clay-loam would seem to fill the condi- 

 tions as well as any. Yet asparagus may be profitably 

 and successfully grown on other classes of soils. In 

 preparations for your bed, if the subsoil is not porous, 

 make it so by subsoiling. 



Fertilizers. — Asparagus is a coarse and ravenous 

 feeder. From the fact that it is a salt-water plant, salt 

 is by many supposed to be one of the best fertilizers 

 that can be applied. The truth of the matter is that it 

 will stand great quantities without damage, but it is 

 not true that the plant is partial to it. Its greatest 

 value is in killing the weeds on the bed. 



A number of growers strongly recommend top dress- 

 ings of nitrate of soda in the spring. The first one 

 should be applied just as soon as the buds begin to start 

 in the spring. Undoubtedly stable manure should hold 

 the first place as a fertilizer. It may profitably be 

 applied in the fall, thus also serving as a mulch. Mulch- 

 ing is not necessary for protection, but advisable as a 

 means of inducing earlier crops. In the spring the finer 

 parts of the mulch should be worked into the ground. 

 It might be well to loosen the soil a little before apply- 

 ing the mulch in the fall, so as to easily take in what 

 might otherwise be washed away. In cases of special 

 danger of leaching, it would doubtless be better to make 

 this mulch of some cheaper material, and then apply 

 the manure in the spring. In New Jersey it is common 

 to plow a wide furrow in the center between the rows, 

 fill with compost and turn a back furrow. 



Pl.'Vnts and pL.^NTING. — New plants can be obtained 

 by dividing the crown or from the seed, the latter being 

 the most desirable way. Or you can buy your plants, 

 one or two years old, direct from nurserymen. In 

 growing from seed, sow in drills, which are one foot 

 apart and two or three inches deep in the drills Thin 

 the plants to about three inches. Give them thorough 

 and careful cultivation for two years. Under very 

 favorable conditions, one-year plants will do for 

 transplanting. Lift the roots carefully, and expose 

 them as little as possible. No plant feels hurt in the 

 root more keenly. If the soil for your permanent 

 plantation is in fairly good condition, do not waste 

 manure by applying it the first year. Wait until the 

 plants can use it. 



he sure to set the plants deep, and give them plenty 

 of space, so as to allow top cultivation and room for 

 the extensive root systems. In the old directions, the 

 distance advised to set the plants was from twelve to 

 eighteen inches; but now, for lasting beds, four to six 

 feet is recommended. Greiner says that with rows six 

 feet apart, the roots will soon interlock. In clay lands 

 six inches, and in sandy land nine inches would be 

 regarded as deep planting. After your ground has been 

 thoroughly prepared, plow a furrow the required depth 

 across your field. Where the plants should come, put 

 one or two shovelfuls of compost. Place the plant in 

 the bottom of the furrow, spreading out the roots, and 

 cover about three inches with earth. Be particular to 

 fill the furrow gradually as the plant becomes estab- 

 lished. 



Plantations from Seed. — Growing permanent beds 

 without transplanting is finding many advocates at the 

 present time. It is cheaper, and possibly better Sow 

 about six pounds of seed per acre in three-inch-deep 

 drills, which are three feet apart, the place for the drills 

 having been previously hollowed out somewhat. The 

 plants should stand at least nine inches apart, or even 

 more. Everything depends upon the culture. Aspara- 

 gus is weaker than the weeds, and it will be easily 

 smothered out. 



With good culture a crop may be cut the third year. 

 During the first and second year a crop can be grown 

 between the rows, but they must not be allowed to 

 take the manure from the asparagus. This method is 

 advocated mainly by Henderson. Greiner recommends 

 for amateurs and those that desire extra fine and large 

 stalks, to use instead of soil in filling furrows, light 

 porous compost composed of fresh horse droppings, 

 wood dirt, leaf mould, etc. This covering absorbs heat 

 readily, and also is sufficient protection. He suggests 

 that it might pay for marketing In this case, it would 

 be much better to pull or break off the stalks than to 



