8P8 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 26, 1910 
WEEKLY, Si.00 PER YEAR 
GROWING ASPARAGUS ON LONG ISLAND. 
Asparagus is to-day coming to be one of the fore¬ 
most vegetables from a commercial standpoint. A 
generation ago our mothers looked each Spring for a 
handful of the tender shoots in the corner of the gar¬ 
den, where it grew unhindered but uncultivated. To¬ 
day our city markets demand case after case of this, 
the forerunner of the Summer’s varied abundance of 
vegetable wealth. And so about many of our larger 
cities there are men who find it profitable to devote 
acre after acre of their soil to its cultivation. Mr. 
John Husing, at the east end of Long Island, has 
planted 22 acres of his friable sandy loam with this 
vegetable, and his eminent success makes a review of 
his methods well worth while. 
Mr. Husing grows his own plants from seed. They 
are much more vigorous and hardy than ordinary 
stock, and only the best need be planted. Recent ex¬ 
CUTTING TIIE ASPARAGUS. Fio. 79, 
periments show that it pays to reject as many as half 
the crowns as taken from the seed row. The yearling 
crowns are set at 18-inch spaces in rows six feet 
apart. The soil at the time of setting, in May, has 
been worked up into the finest condition, and is well 
filled with humus. A thousand pounds per acre of a 
fertilizer, analyzing nitrogen, five per cent, phosphoric 
acid, eight per cent, and potash 8-10 per cent, is ap¬ 
plied at the time of setting. The first cutting is made 
the second year, though sometimes not until the third. 
The bed is not severely cut the first season, but every 
effort is made to build up a strong, vigorous plant, 
with a widely spreading root system. The raw ma¬ 
terial of the soil cannot be made into the crop—the 
finished product of the farm—without 'the help of sun¬ 
light working by means of the green leaves. Early 
in the Spring, when the crop is demanded, the aspara¬ 
gus plant has no leaves, nor is it allowed to develop 
them. For this reason, the material for a season’s 
yield must be prepared during the previous Summer 
and stored in the root system of the plant. Hence, 
after cutting has ceased in July, the ridges are 
leveled, the soil is heavily fed with vegetable matter 
and commercial fertilizer, and the leafy shoots are en¬ 
couraged to do their best in laying by a store of ma¬ 
terial for the next Spring’s cutting. The root of the 
asparagus is admirably adapted to this purpose. A 
single plant of about average size was dug out, and 
the total length of the root was estimated to be about 
12 feet. 
Mr. Husing derives his supply of humus from 
manure and seaweed. The former is brought from 
STARTING THE ASPARAGUS BUNCH. Fig. 80. 
New York at a cost of $1.10 per ton, delivered at the 
siding, and it is usually disked into the soil just before 
growth begins in the Spring. The seaweed is gathered 
from the beach nearby and is composted, being ap¬ 
plied just after the close of the cutting season. At 
FINISHING THE ASPARAGUS BUNCH Fig. 81. 
the same time, a half ton of the fertilizer mentioned 
above is applied to each acre. Thorough tillage is 
kept up from early Spring until late Fall. As soon 
as the first shoots appear in the Spring, Mr. Husing, 
who prefers to grow white or blanched asparagus, 
ridges the rows, making the mound about 18 inches 
wide and 12 high. A special implement, drawn by 
two horses, and equipped with two blades set at an 
angle of about 45 degrees with the row, draws in 
the soil and forms it into an even ridge. The rows 
must be gone over with this implement every two 
or three weeks, always just after cutting. 
Before long the shoots begin to appear on the 
■surface of the mound, and cutting begins. The field 
must be gone over three or four times a week, and 
a tip seldom. grows an inch and a half above the 
ground before it is cut. The cutting is done with a 
tool consisting of a handle, a shank eight or 10 inches 
long, and a chisel-like blade an inch and a quarter 
wide and three or four inches long. This is thrust 
into the soil near the shoot and the cut is made six 
or eight inches below the surface. The “greenhorn” 
usually finds some difficulty in successful probing, 
especially if the shoot happens to take an abrupt 
turn an inch or two under the surface. The shoots 
are laid in order in baskets as they are cut, and are 
TRAP ROW FOR BEETLES, Fig. 82. 
taken to the packing shed, where they are washed and 
bunched, as illustrated in Fig. 80. When the buncher 
is filled, the jaws are drawn together by means of a 
lever, the shoots are tied tightly together with raffia, 
and trimmed to 7 x /> inches. In preparing the vege¬ 
table for market three grades are made, prime, 
seconds, and culls. The best two grades are packed 
two dozen to a crate and shipped to New York, while 
the culls are sent to the cannery nearby. In 1908, 
the asparagus that was shipped averaged 16 cents per 
bunch, while the cannery paid six cents for the culls. 
An average yield would be about a thousand bunches 
per acre, though this is often exceeded. The most 
serious pests are the rust fungus, and asparagus bee¬ 
tles. But little can be done against the former. The 
variety Palmetto is preferred because it seems to be 
somewhat rust-resistant. The removal and burning of 
all rubbish from the field in the Fall is considered 
of value. The beetles are controlled by letting a 
row here and there through the field go uncut. Here 
the little rascals congregate and are treated to a 
dinner of Paris green. 
Asparagus is one of our most delicate and delicious 
vegetables, and it offers us almost the first taste of 
outdoor greenery in the Spring—our first relief from 
the shriveled store of the cellar. And yet in many 
localities it is little known. Often when it does appear 
. 
