1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
683 
ASPARAGUS IN MONMOUTH COUNTY, N.J. 
The culture of asparagus has been carried on here 
since before my memory. Forty years ago a piece of 
asparagus of two acres was quite a novelty and the 
grass produced quite a contrast to what is produced 
to-day. In the early plantings of this crop most any¬ 
thing that was asparagus was considered good enough 
to plant and when once planted it was considered a 
lifelong crop, most farmers expecting to cut it 20 or 
more years. At that time and later, quantity was the 
prime consideration. As time passed and wide-awake 
growers became aware that larger and better grass was 
demanded by our city trade, distinct varieties that 
would yield a uniform product were planted. Among 
the first I remember was the Conover's Colossal. This 
was the leading variety here for years, and was only 
driven out by the appearance of the rust. 1 his disease 
attacked this variety very energetically, hence more 
rust-resistant varieties were introduced. Several were 
tried, but the one that stood the test and has been 
more extensively planted than any other is Palmetto. 
Up to the present time there are more acres of this 
variety in cultivation by far than all others combined. 
At the present time quite a few growers are planting 
Giant Argenteuil, a French variety. Not enough is 
known yet to say whether it will be largely 
planted or not. 
One of the first requisites to successful 
asparagus growing is proper seed from 
which to grow your plants. My advice is 
get this seed from a good grower or 
gather it yourself from the best bed you 
can find, never buy asparagus seed from 
seed houses. This is practical experience. 
The writer got bit on the first bed he ever 
set; it had not one crown true to name. 
Think of the loss a grower sustains in 
planting such seed. I repeat, be sure of 
your seed. If one intends purchasing plants 
to set his bed then buy only "from those 
whom you know have obtained their seed 
as advised above. We see advertised every 
Spring “strong two-year-old plants” at an 
advance in price over one-year-old, and I 
am sorry to say many buy these two-year- 
old plants hoping to gain time thereby. 
This is a serious error. Theoretically the 
larger and stronger the plant the sooner 
and more vigorous the crop; practically 
this is not so for the following reason. 
When a plant remains in the seed bed the 
second Summer it proceeds to establish a 
good root system and goes into Winter 
quarters the second Fall with several well- 
developed eyes ready to go to work when 
Spring comes. Now we dig this plant and 
in so doing must of necessity mutilate a 
great quantity of those long fleshy roots; 
these roots had stored in them a great 
quantity of plant food. This was neces¬ 
sary to send up good strong shoots from 
all those well-developed eyes. Had the 
plant been left where it was all would have 
been well, but we have cut it badly. What 
is the result? We have several well- 
developed eyes; they must grow and we 
have the root system half cut off. The 
result is there is not support enough from 
the roots to feed so many shoots from one 
crown. We have an over-balanced plant 
that never does as well as a one-year-old 
plant. Some one may say he has seen one- 
year-old roots just as large as most two-year-olds. 
So have I, but I have yet to see so many roots attached 
or more than one or two fully developed eyes, while 
two-year-old roots will have from five to seven 
fairly developed eyes. 
Some time ago in discussing the soil question with 
an old asparagus grower he remarked that no one who 
knew his business would think of setting it on anything 
else but sand. While this man has grown grass much 
longer than I, still I differ with that remark. My 
observation is that a good deep loam that is loose 
and mellow, free from stones, holds moisture fairly 
well, with no hard clayey or bakey knolls, is an ideal 
soil to plant this crop on. 
We never plant in the Fall. All asparagus beds are 
set as soon as soil can be worked in the Spring. The 
plants should be dug as soon as frost is out and ground 
settled, because shoots will soon start and if left too 
long will be over ground, then in handling many will 
be broken; this compels the plant to force another bud, 
a duty that takes time and energy. Another reason 
for not setting in the Fall is that the young plants 
may freeze during the Winter. I have seen them do 
so when left in the seed row and where too much ex¬ 
posed to severe cold. Such plants are worthless. 
In preparing to plant an asparagus bed it should be 
the thought of the planter at least a year ahead, or 
two is better, to plant such crops as can be kept clean 
and free from all weeds. The field should be thoroughly 
manured once or twice before crowns are set. Ibis 
loosens the soil and adds considerable humus. When 
ready to prepare soil for setting, open furrows 5(4 
or six feet apart as deep as a two horse plow will do 
it by going twice in each furrow throwing the soil both 
ways. A good plan is to make a back furrow between 
where each row is to be, then run out dead furrow 
straight to set plants in. c. c. hulsart. 
IMPORTANCE OF THE CLOVER CROP. 
The failure of clover is becoming continually a more 
serious matter with farmers. Each year the failures 
seem to be more frequent and general. I am familiar 
with quite a large section of farming country where 
the farmers make a systematic effort to grow clover as 
regularly as other crops in rotation. This Summer I 
know of only one small field of clover that is worth 
while cutting for hay. So far as I know this Spring’s 
sowing has been a success, but the hardest struggle 
probably is ahead when the wheat comes off and it is 
exposed to dry weather and the hot sun. Then when 
Winter comes there is exposure to sharp freezes and 
cr ick thawings. These are gauntlets that the crop must 
other mishaps that come to the crop as noted above 
can be guarded against. When clover is given the 
same care and attention the grain crops get I think 
there will be little complaint of failure. As it is we 
grow wheat and corn and rye, and expect clover to 
give them all a “boost” and at the same time make its 
start on the leavings of the other crops. Let some of 
the farmers that fail with clover under these conditions 
try sowing clover alone on well prepared land and see 
if they do not succeed better. Clover does not need a 
nurse crop to protect it against the blighting effects 
of the Summer sun and wind. On the contrary it is a 
warm weather plant and revels in these things when it 
has the land alone—but they are more than likely to 
prove its death when it starts with wheat or other 
small grain crops that are taken off and leave it 
suddenly exposed to these elements. John m. jamison. 
A 12-YEAR SACALINE PLANT. Fig. 336. See Ruralisms, page 686. 
HOW TO SELECT SEEDLING GRAPES. 
In testing seedling grape vines, I have not considered 
long or short jointed wood. There is a popular pre¬ 
judice in favor of short joints; yet the leading grape 
of the country (Concord) and the Rogers group have 
long-jointed wood. We have several seedlings, with 
clean glossy and pointed foliage, which have never 
borne a grape; and in that I have not been 
disappointed; but I cannot tell why, no 
more than a shepherd can explain why he 
calls his sheep by name. 
We have never sown any grape seeds, 
but vines spring up in our nursery and 
several have been encouraged to bear fruit. 
Two seedlings had bunches so closely re¬ 
sembling the Worden, that they would 
have passed for that variety in any exhibi¬ 
tion. Do you remember that the Isabella 
and the Concord were pronounced to be 
identical, when the latter was first ex¬ 
hibited, and that was in Boston? 
A distinguished fruit grower in a pomo- 
logical congress at Rochester is reported 
to have said, “Why plant the Worden 
grape, since it is only another name for 
the Concord?” 
“That Worden grape you sold me,” said 
an amateur, “proves to be a very nice 
Concord.” 
“Do you think it is really the Concord?” 
I inquired. 
“It is a little earlier; a trifle larger and 
of better quality,” was his answer. 
I doubt if the size or shape of the leaf 
will forecast the value of the fruit, though 
leaves will often aid in determining the 
names of standard varieties. Excepting 
the Delaware, nearly all of the grapes’ 
grown for market have large and coarse 
leaves, which in greater degree, resist mil¬ 
dew and sun-scald and thus give vigor to 
the vine. That point may be decided while 
the seedlings are quite young and all weak 
plants can be rooted out, without long 
years of trial. j. w. adams. 
LIGHTNING ON HAY CARRIER. 
In Hope Farm Notes, July 27, I read the 
remarks on the liability of windmills and 
hay carrier tracks made of steeel being 
struck by lightning, and Mr. Woodward 
says he never heard of a case where they 
had been struck. It isn’t likely that a 
run and no farmer can avoid them following the pres¬ 
ent system of farming. Farmers feel the loss of the 
crop more than they used to and consequently more 
is said about it. The land is lacking in humus to a 
greater extent than it used to be; and we have shorter 
rotations. The small grain crops with which clover is 
in the main sown to start it become gradually heavier, 
and the draft on the moisture in the soil greater, mak¬ 
ing it more difficult for clover to survive during a 
drouth. All these points tend towards failure of the 
crop. Our fields are more exposed to the winds than 
formerly which adds to the strength of the frost and 
the famishing force of drouths. 
It is a failing of the American farmer when a blade 
of grass or a stem of clover makes a strong showing 
to try to turn it into beef, mutton or pork. In this 
effort to utilize it he entirely forgets that the plant 
may need a little Winter protection. He does not 
understand how little is often sufficient to save the 
plant from frost destruction. Where the clover is not 
pastured it is often allowed to perfect its seed, which 
is as fatal to the crop next year as the Winter freez¬ 
ing; clipping would save the crop where it is so 
forward as to bloom and perfect seed. 
Last April nearly the whole of the one-year-old clover 
crop was killed by the continued hard sharp freezing; 
this the skill of no farmer could counteract. But many 
steel windmill and tower or a steel track would show 
the effects if they were struck as a rule. But I know 
one case where a steel track in a hay shed was struck 
and below is a rough diagram of the course the light¬ 
ning followed, zigzag lines marking the course. 
There was a cattle shed on each side of the hay 
mow and a rolling door to close each shed, also with 
steep track. The track showed no effects of the light¬ 
ning that I could see. But the boards down the center 
of the front shed were slivered and the mow door 
where hay was taken in nearly split in two. The cor¬ 
ner posts at the ends of track of each cattle shed door 
were slivered some, showing that these tracks had 
drawn part of the electric fluid. Part followed the 
steel hay fork track to farther end of shed and ran 
down, marking the boards at that end which I could 
not show in the diagram. There was no hay in the 
shed at the time or possibly the shed would have been 
burned. W. s. smith. 
Illinois. •. • 
