134 ~ REProRT OF THE BOTANIST OF THD 
runs through the latter and joins the larger stream. Part of the 
field had once been a swamp which had been drained and loamed 
before setting to asparagus. In fact one portion of this field 
showed a clay loam, another stiff clay, another clay with shale 
and cobble stones intermixed and still another was black muck 
loamed on the surface. No portion of the field is over eight feet 
above the water-table and over most of the field water could be 
reached within five feet. On this field there were growing nine 
rows of Palmetto and thirteen rows of Moore’s Hybrid, the re- 
maining rows being unknown varieties. 
| Only slight differences in the amount of rust on any of the 
above vareties were noticeable, the best portions showing the 
yellow-brown color of a badly rusted field. Both stages of sini 
rust were found here. 
A member of the Company, Mr. Hinds, kindly drove me to 
another field of fifteen acres located on higher ground. This 
field, consisting of Moore’s Hybrid and Conover’s Colossal, is 
situated on a side hill, the top being about eighty feet and the 
base fifty feet above the creek. The rows of asparagus are long 
and straight, not following the contour of the hill. The soil is 
a sandy loam with some clay and enough humus to make a black 
sandy loam. Apparently the soil is the same in all parts of the 
field. Abowt one-third of the field consists of a new bed which 
had been set two years but had not come into cutting. This new 
portion is on the lowest part of the field, near the base of the hill. 
The remaining two-thirds of the field are older beds which had 
been cut for four or five years and at the same time had received 
liberal applications of stable manure, 15 to 20 loads per acre 
each year. This older portion covers the crest and upper half 
of the side of the knoll. Aside from manuring, the whole field 
had received the same cultivation the past year. 
The asparagus on the top of this hill was so free from the rust 
that we had to search some time before finding an infested stalk. 
Following down the rows we soon came to a belt of yellowish- 
green plants; here the rust was plentiful. <A little further down, 
the plants were all brown, with little foliage left, and still further 
