CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 
205 
strain was developed from a cross of a female plant of 
Reading - Giant with a male plant from a lot of New 
American, of unknown origin, that had shown itself to 
be a wonderful plant in transmitting vigor and rust re- 
sistance to its offspring. Martha Washington aspara- 
gus is rust resistant, and has a desirable type of growth. 
It is rather late and thus seems to avoid spring frosts. 
The Mary Washington strain is not as rust resistant 
as Martha Washington but suffers no appreciable loss 
under severe rust conditions. The shoots are large, with 
a tendency to be oval in cross section, and branch very 
high, it being possible to cut shoots with buds still tight 
as much as two feet long. This strain is early and prolific. 
The “Washington Stock” asparagus seed is described 
by Professor J. B. Norton, formerly of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, as follows: “Seed and crowns sent out under this 
name have come from plants in some pedigreed test 
fields where the progeny of numerous select females 
crossed with Washington have been planted. Usually 
a large percentage of these came from Martha Washing- 
ton plants which are used as checks in our tests. The 
name ‘Washington Asparagus’ is applied to second gen- 
eration plants where Washington is the sire or grandsire 
of all the plants in the held used for seed purposes.” 
It is now generally accepted that Palmetto, Bon- 
valette’s Giant, Conover’s Colossal, and Argenteuil 
are identical varieties though they have been listed sep- 
arately by seedsmen for years. These four were the 
most largely planted varieties previous to the introduc- 
tion of the Washington strains, and are still popular. 
270. Climatic requirements. — The asparagus plant 
seems to be well adapted to all temperate regions. While 
the most extensive plantations are usually at low alti- 
tudes and near large rivers or large bodies of water, their 
success is probably due more to favorable soil conditions 
