1008. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
83 
MANURE vs. CHEMICALS FOR ASPARAGUS 
A. P. 8 , Yinehni , N. J. —With New York 
stable manure, costing ?2 per ton, would I 
not do as well to use a good commercial 
fertilizer the first year after putting out 
asparagus plants? How much to use and 
how applied? If the stable manure is used 
would it be preferable to secure now and 
compost, risking some loss by burning, or 
put on fresh in the Spring? Would not fur¬ 
row irrigation midway between the rows be 
advantageous in droughty Springs? 
Ans. —I have heard it said that aspar¬ 
agus can be grown as well with com¬ 
mercial fertilizers as it can with manure. 
I have also known it to be tried by 
several well-known growers, but I have 
yet to see a bed that did as well with 
commercial fertilizers alone as those 
beds that were manured with stable or 
yard manure, supplemented with chem¬ 
ical manures, and yet I am quite in¬ 
clined to believe that asparagus can be 
produced without any stable manure. 
In fact I know it is being done to 
some extent and successfully, too, in 
this section, but not with fertilizers 
alone, but by sowing Crimson clover 
over the field at last cultivation, and 
plowing under next Spring. Where 
the grower is cutting blanched grass and 
has to ridge his rows in order to do 
this the clover sod would be very much 
in the way, both of ridging and cutting 
for a time, and would also tend to make 
crooked spears, but where green “grass” 
only is to be cut and no ridging neces¬ 
sary, I believe the practice to be a good 
one after the first year. The only ques¬ 
tion in my judgment is that of humus. 
If we can secure a sufficient amount 
through some other source or by a 
cheaper method, and our conditions will 
warrant us doing so, let us do it. There 
are many soils here that have been and 
are being planted to asparagus, that 
are so light it is practically impossible 
to grow any very large yields from 
them without using stable manure. In 
the inquirer’s section, on that loose 
sandy soil, where it may be almost im¬ 
possible some seasons to secure a stand 
of Crimson clover, then stable manure 
must be resorted to. The disposition 
seems to be to leave off stable manure 
at every turn if possible. The trouble 
appears to come from not wanting to 
handle so much bulk, but it must be 
remembered that stable manure, even at 
$2 per ton, is cheaper than an equal 
amount of plant food contained in fer¬ 
tilizers at present prices; aside from 
that we have a quantity of humus, the 
value of which will pay for handling in 
most instances, and many times more 
than pay. On light sandy soils, as much 
of the soil is around Vineland, I would 
prefer a good dressing of manure the 
first Fall after plants had been set. I 
would rather have this application than 
almost any subsequent one. The bed 
should be plowed from the rows each 
side, and manure put into each furrow 
at the rate of 13 to 15 tons per acre. 
This can be fresh manure right from 
car or stable: plow under before Win¬ 
ter sets in. This will begin to give up 
plant food early the next Spring, and 
in time furnishes humus to feed the 
crop and hold moisture. The asparagus 
has a tendency to work its roots toward 
the surface; now by applying this dress¬ 
ing alongside of the young plants while 
the^ are small you can get it down 
deep and not injure the roots and this 
will have a decided influence in keeping 
the root system where it should be. 
This application comes at a time when 
cover crops could not be used because 
cultivation is kept up too late. There 
is not a doubt that an application of a 
half ton of commercial fertilizer to the 
acre at this time would show as good 
results the first season as would the 
manure, and that at less cost for the 
time being, but the after and lasting 
benefit to be derived from an application 
of stable manure at this time is the 
cheaper of the two. On soils of closer 
texture and rich in humus this method 
may not be best but it does work well 
here on our light sandy soils. The 
question of irrigation I know practically 
nothing about. Theoretically it would 
be a very good thing where it could be 
evenly and thoroughly done. There is 
no question that asparagus suffers some¬ 
what for want of moisture during dry 
cutting seasons. The crop is one that 
draws hard on the soil for water, and 
will soon reduce its yield when not in 
sufficient quantity; however, thorough 
cultivation controls this to a consider¬ 
able degree. c. c. hulsart. 
Use of Muck.—A good way to use 
muck is to let it lie one Winter and 
freeze and dry out, then use it in stables 
and pigpens for absorbing the liquid. 
Where cows are stabled at night all Sum¬ 
mer the manure pile can be doubled in 
bulk and value in this way. I had good 
success following directions in Dana’s 
Muck Manual. Dissolve a bushel of salt, 
slake a cask of lime with the brine, and 
mix it with three cords of muck meas¬ 
ured in the pit before digging. Work 
this over a few times and it is good for 
corn. On a trial strip in my field it made 
the stalks grow taller, with less suckers 
and about the same ears as that where 
manure was used. But it is just as well 
to bear in mind that there is much dif¬ 
ference in muck beds. At the head of a 
pond where the water runs freely 
through the deposit, the muck is coarse, 
looks red when dry, and is of little value 
as a fertilizer. In a swamp where the 
wash from the hills settles in and the 
water trickles away slowly, the muck is 
fine, will stick to the spade, often has a 
strong odor, and will look like fine soil 
when it cracks in drying. This muck 
is worth something in itself. Muck dug 
from a wet pit will shrink one-third in 
drying. _ 0 . H. L. 
WANT TO KNOW. 
Watertight I’orcii Floor.—C an some of 
the readers of The R. N.-Y. give informa¬ 
tion as to what is the best and most satis¬ 
factory covering for an overhead porch floor, 
through which rain water soaks, zinc or 
sheet lead? Is either satisfactory, and how 
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SEEDS 
