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ASPARAGUS
ITS CULTURE FOR HOME USE AND FOR MARKET
A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE PLANTING, CULTIVATION, HARVESTING,
MARKETING, AND PRESERVING OF ASPARAGUS, WITH NOTES ON ITS HISTORY AND
BOTANY
BY
F. M. HEXAMER
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
1914
_Printed in U. S. A._
[Illustration: BEGINNING OF THE ASPARAGUS INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vi
I. Historical Sketch 1
II. Botany 4
III. Cultural Varieties 17
IV. Seed Growing 26
V. The Raising of Plants 30
VI. Selection of Plants 38
VII. The Soil and Its Preparation 43
VIII. Planting 49
IX. Cultivation 61
X. Fertilizers and Fertilizing 72
XI. Harvesting and Marketing 83
XII. Forcing 100
XIII. Preserving Asparagus 112
XIV. Injurious Insects 126
XV. Fungus Diseases 137
XVI. Asparagus Culture in Different Localities 145
INDEX 167
ILLUSTRATIONS
Beginning of the Asparagus Industry in California
_Frontispiece_
PAGE
Asparagus Plumosus Nanus 5
Asparagus Sprengeri 7
Asparagus Laricinus 9
Asparagus Racemosus, var. Tetragonus 11
Asparagus Sarmentosus 12
Crown, Roots, Buds, Spear 14
Stem, Leaves, Flowers, Berries 14
Flowers 15
Palmetto Asparagus 21
Pot-Grown Plant 37
Horizontal Development of Roots 51
Trenches Ready for Planting 57
Hudson's Trencher 58
Root in Proper Position for Covering 59
Cross-section of Trenches After Planting 60
Asparagus Field Ridged in Early Spring 67
Leveling the Ridges After Cutting Season 69
Fertilized Asparagus Plot 75
Unfertilized Asparagus Plot 77
Basket of Asparagus 85
Cutting and Picking Up Asparagus 86
Horse Carrier for Ten Boxes 87
Asparagus Knives 89
End and Side View of White Asparagus Bunches 90
Conover's Asparagus Buncher 91
Watt's Asparagus Buncher 92
Rack and Knives Used in New England 93
At the Bunching Table 94
Box of Giant Asparagus 97
Southern Asparagus Crate 98
Tunnel for Forcing Steam Through the Soil 107
A Long Island Asparagus Cannery 113
Sterilizing Tank 115
Sterilizing Room 117
Interior View of a California Asparagus Cannery 119
Perspective View of a California Asparagus Cannery 121
Cannery in Asparagus Fields 123
Common Asparagus Beetle 127
Asparagus Attacked by Beetles 129
Spotted Ladybird 131
Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle 134
Asparagus Stems Affected with Rust 138
Portion of Rusted Asparagus Stems 139
Asparagus Field on Bouldin Island 161
PREFACE
The cultivation of asparagus for home use as well as for market is so
rapidly increasing, and reliable information pertaining to it is so
frequently asked for, that a book on this subject is evidently needed.
While all works on vegetable culture treat more or less extensively on
its cultivation, so far there has been no book exclusively devoted to
asparagus published in America. Asparagus is one of the earliest, most
delicious, and surest products of the garden. Its position among other
vegetables is unique, and when once planted it lasts a lifetime; it may
be prepared for use in great variety, and may be canned or dried so as
to be available at any time of the year; and yet in the great majority
of farm gardens it is almost unknown. The principal reason for this
neglect is based upon the erroneous idea that asparagus culture requires
unusual skill, expense, and hard work. While this was true, in a
measure, under old-time rules, modern methods have so simplified every
detail connected with the cultivation of asparagus as to make it not
necessarily more expensive and laborious than that of any other garden
crop. To describe and make clear these improved methods, to demonstrate
how easily and inexpensively an asparagus bed may be had in every
garden, and how much pleasure, health, and profit may be derived from
the crop have been the principal inducements to writing this book.
In a popular treatise on so widely distributed a vegetable as asparagus,
the cultivation of which had been brought to a high state of development
many centuries before the Christian era, there is little opportunity for
originality. All that the author has endeavored in this little volume
has been to collect, arrange, classify, and systematize all obtainable
facts, compare them with his own many years' experience in asparagus
culture, and present his inferences in a plain and popular manner. Free
use has been made of all available literature, especially helpful among
which has been the Farmers' Bulletin No. 61 of the United States
Department of Agriculture, by R. B. Handy; also bulletins of the
Missouri, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland,
Massachusetts, and South Carolina and other experiment stations; the
files of _American Agriculturist; Gardener's Chronicle_, from which
descriptions of several ornamental species by William Watson were
condensed; Thome's "Flora von Deutschland;" "Eintraegliche
Spargelzucht," von Franz Goeschke; "Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," von
Dr. Ed. Brinckmeier; "Parks and Gardens of Paris," by William Robinson;
"Asparagus Culture," by James Barnes and William Robinson; "Les Plantes
Potageres," by Vilmorin-Andrieux; the works of Peter Henderson, Thomas
Bridgeman, J. C. Loudon, and others.
The author desires to express his grateful acknowledgments to Mr.
Herbert Myrick, editor-in-chief of _American Agriculturist_ and allied
publications, for critically reading the whole manuscript; to Prof. W.
G. Johnson, Charles V. Mapes, C. L. Allen, A. D. McNair, Superintendent
Southern Pines Experimental Farm; Prof. W. F. Massey, Robert W. Nix,
Robert Hickmott, Charles W. Prescott, Joel Borton, and all others who by
their help, suggestions, and advice have aided him in the preparation of
this work.
F. M. HEXAMER.
_New York, 1901._
ASPARAGUS
I
HISTORICAL SKETCH
The word "asparagus" is said to be of Persian origin. In middle Latin it
appears as _sparagus_; Italian, _sparajio_; old French, _esperaje_; old
English, _sperage_, _sparage_, _sperach_. The middle Latin form,
_sparagus_, was in English changed into _sparagrass_, _sparrow-grass_,
and sometimes simply _grass_, terms which were until recently in good
literary use. In modern French it is _asperge_; German, _spargel_;
Dutch, _aspergie_; Spanish, _esperrago_.
The original habitat of the edible asparagus is not positively known, as
it is now found naturalized throughout Europe, as well as in nearly all
parts of the civilized world. How long the plant was used as a vegetable
or as a medicine is likewise uncertain, but that it was known and highly
prized by the Romans at least two centuries before the Christian era is
historically recorded. According to Pliny, the Romans were already aware
of the difference in quality, that grown near Ravenna being considered
best, and was so large that three spears weighed one pound. The elder
Cato has treated the subject with still greater care. He advises the
sowing of the seed of asparagus in the beds of vine-dressers' reeds,
which are cultivated in Italy for the support of the vines, and that
they should be burned in the spring of the third year, as the ashes
would act as a manure to the future crop. He also recommends that the
plants be renewed after eight or nine years.
The usual method of preparing asparagus pursued by the Roman cooks was
to select the finest sprouts and to dry them. When wanted for the table
they were put in hot water and cooked a few minutes. To this practice is
owing one of Emperor Augustus's favorite sayings: "_Citius quam asparagi
coquentur_" (Do it quicker than you can cook asparagus).
While the indigenous asparagus has been used from time immemorial as a
medicine by Gauls, Germans, and Britons, its cultivation and use as a
vegetable was only made known to the people by the invading Roman
armies. But in the early part of the sixteenth century it was mentioned
among the cultivated garden vegetables, and Leonard Meager, in his
"English Gardener," published in 1683, informs us that in his time the
London market was well supplied with "forced" asparagus.
The medicinal virtues formerly attributed to asparagus comprise a wide
range. The roots, sprouts, and seeds were used as medicine. The fresh
roots are diuretic, perhaps owing to the immediate crystalizable
principle, "asparagine," which is said to be sedative in the dose of a
few grains. A syrup made of the young shoots and an extract of the roots
has been recommended as a sedative in heart affections, and the _species
diuretica_--a mixture of asparagus, celery, parsley, holly, and sweet
fennel--was a favorite preparation for use in dropsy and gravel. Among
the Greeks and Romans it was one of the oldest and most valued
medicines, and to which most absurd virtues were attributed. It was
believed that if a person anointed himself with a liniment made of
asparagus and oil the bees would not approach or sting him. It was also
believed that if the root be put on a tooth which aches violently it
causes it to come out without pain. The therapeutic virtues of asparagus
seem to have been held in almost as high esteem by the ancients as those
of ginseng are esteemed by the Chinese to this day.
II
BOTANY
The genus Asparagus belongs to the Lily Family. It comprises about one
hundred and fifty species, and these are spread through the temperate
and tropical regions of the Old World. One-half of these species are
indigenous to South Africa, and it is from this region that the most
ornamental of the greenhouse species have been obtained.
All the species are perennial, with generally fleshy roots or tubers.
The stems are annual in some, perennial in others, most of them being
spiny, climbing shrubs, growing to a length of from five to twenty or
even fifty feet. The true leaves are usually changed into spines, which
are situated at the base of the branches and are often stout and woody.
The false leaves, termed cladodia, are the linear or hair-like organs
which are popularly called leaves; they are in reality modified
branches. These cladodia are nearly always arranged in clusters at
intervals along the branches, and the flowers generally spring from
their axils. They usually fall off the hardy species in winter, and they
are easily affected by unfavorable conditions in all the species. Most
of them flower and fruit freely under cultivation, so that seeds are
available for propagation.
[Illustration: FIG. 2--ASPARAGUS PLUMOSUS NANUS]
ORNAMENTAL SPECIES
_A. medeoloides_ (_Myrsiphyllum asparagoides_), popularly known as
Smilax.--For many years this has been, and is yet, one of the most
commonly grown and the most serviceable of the plants used by florists
as "green." It is readily grown from seed in the greenhouse. While a few
other species of asparagus have been close rivals, it is yet unexcelled
for many purposes of floral decorations.
_A. plumosus_ (the plumy asparagus).--A very graceful climbing plant
which for finer decoration has largely taken the place of smilax, its
foliage being finer than that of the most delicate ferns, and will last
for weeks after being cut. The whole plant is of a bright, cheerful
green. Its branches spread horizontally, and branch again in such a
manner as to form a flat, frond-like arrangement, the leaves being very
numerous, in clusters of about a dozen, bright green, and one-half inch
long. A native of South Africa, where it climbs over bushes and branches
in moist situations. There are several named varieties of this, most of
which have originated in gardens. The most distinct are _A. tenuissimus_
and _A. plumosus nanus_, the fern-like appearance of which is seen in
Fig. 2.
[Illustration: FIG. 3--ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI]
_A. Sprengeri._--This is one of the best and most attractive house
plants of recent introduction. It is of graceful form and habit when
grown as a pot plant, but it is equally well suited for planting in
hanging baskets. Its fronds are frequently four feet long, of a rich
shade of green, and very useful for cutting, retaining their freshness
for weeks after being cut. As a house plant it has exceeded
expectations, as it stands dry atmosphere better than the older kinds of
ornamental asparagus, and is not particular as to any special position.
It delights in a well-enriched soil, rather light in composition, with
plenty of drainage, and grows very rapidly. It is decidedly pretty when
in bloom, its little flowers being pure white on short racemes, and the
anthers are of a bright orange color. Fig. 3 gives a good idea of its
graceful habit.
_A. falcatus._--One of the most striking twining plants for a large,
temperate house. At the Kew Gardens, in London, England, is an enormous
specimen of this species which is trained against the northern
staircase, where it has formed a perfect thicket two yards through and
twenty-five feet high, of long, rope-like, intertwining, spinous,
fawn-colored stems, some of them fully fifty feet long, and clothed with
wiry, woody branches, bearing whorls of leaves from two to three inches
long and nearly one-fourth of an inch wide, falcate and bright green.
The young stems are thick and succulent and gray-green, mottled with
brown. For large conservatories, and particularly in moist, shady
corners, where ordinary climbers will not thrive, this is an ideal
plant. It is a native of the tropics of Asia and Africa, as well as the
Cape.
[Illustration: FIG. 4--ASPARAGUS LARICINUS]
_A. laricinus_ (Fig. 4).--This handsome species has been in the Kew
collection at least twenty years. It is grown in the succulent house,
where, from a vigorous root system, it sends up annual stout succulent
shoots, which grow to a length of about twelve feet, and when fully
developed are decidedly ornamental. The stems are perennial, terete,
dark brown, woody, one-half inch in diameter at the base, very spinous,
freely branched, and branches zigzag and gray, the leaves in clusters
one-fourth inch apart, hair-like, one and one-half inches long, bright
green, persistent. Flowers axillary, many in a cluster, small,
campanulate, white. Berries globose, dull red, one seeded, one-sixth of
an inch in diameter. Common in various parts of South Africa. It is an
excellent pillar plant.
_A. racemosus._--This species is spread throughout the tropics of Africa
and Asia; the Cape form of it is represented at Kew under the name of
variety _tetragonus_, as shown in Fig. 5. This is a vigorous grower,
with woody stems nine feet long, prickly at the base, fawn colored,
freely branching above, each branch having at its base a sharp spine
three-quarters of an inch long. The leaves are of a gray-green hue,
four-angled, one-quarter of an inch long. Flowers in racemes two inches
long, whitish, very fragrant. Berry red, globose, pulpy, one-seeded. An
excellent climber for rafters, pillars, etc., growing vigorously under
ordinary treatment. Its root system is a dense mass of tubers.
[Illustration: FIG. 5--ASPARAGUS RACEMOSUS, VAR. TETRAGONUS]
[Illustration: FIG. 6--ASPARAGUS SARMENTOSUS]
_A. sarmentosus_ (Fig. 6).--An elegant evergreen species from South
Africa, where it grows freely in moist situations, forming dense, brushy
stems with short prickles, and studded with white, starry, fragrant
flowers, which are followed with bright scarlet, pea-like berries; has
stems four feet high, freely branched and clothed with dark green flat
leaves three inches long. It is also grown in pots and baskets for
the Cape-house, and when in flower it is greatly admired.
_A. Broussoneti._--A beautiful hardy perennial climber from the Canary
Islands, growing ten feet high; feathery foliage and scarlet berries. In
the autumn this is very ornamental.
Among the most noteworthy of other ornamental species are: _A.
Aethiopicus_, _Africanus_, _Asiaticus_, _Cooperi_, _crispus_,
_declinatus_, _decumbens_, _lucidus_, _retrofractus_, _scandens_,
_tenuifolius_, _trichophyllus_, _umbellatus_, _verticillatus_,
_virgatus_, etc., etc.
EDIBLE SPECIES
[Illustration: FIG. 7--ASPARAGUS CROWN, ROOTS, BUDS, AND SPEAR]
[Illustration: FIG. 8--ASPARAGUS STEM, LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND BERRIES]
_Asparagus officinalis._--While the young sprouts of a few other species
may be used as food, this is the only one which has found a permanent
place in cultivation. It is a branching, herbaceous plant, reaching a
hight of from three to seven feet; the filiform branchlets, three to
seven inches long, less than one-quarter inch thick, are mostly
clustered in the axils of minute scales. The rootstock, or "crown," is
perennial, and makes a new growth each year of from one to three inches,
extending horizontally, and generally in a straight line. It may
propagate from both ends, or from only one, but in either case the older
part of root stalk becomes unproductive and finally dies. Fig. 7 shows
the new portion of the rootstock crowned with buds for the production of
new shoots, while the older portion bears the scars and dead scales of
previous growths. From the sides and the lower part of the rootstock
numerous cylindrical, fleshy roots start and extend several feet
horizontally, but do not penetrate the soil deeply. In the course of
time the older roots become hollow and inactive without becoming
detached from the rootstock. The young root formation always takes place
a little above the old roots, which circumstance explains why the
asparagus plants gradually rise above the original level, thus
necessitating the annual hilling up or the covering of the crowns with
additional soil.
[Illustration: FIG. 9]
[Illustration: FIG. 10]
[Illustration: FIG. 11]
The asparagus flowers are mostly solitary at the nodes, of
greenish-yellow color, drooping or filiform, jointed peduncles;
perianth, six-parted, campanulate, as seen in Fig. 8. Anthers, introrse;
style, short; stigma, three-lobed; berry, red, spherical, three-celled;
cells, two-seeded. While the flowers are generally dioecious--staminate
and pistillate flowers being borne on different plants--there appear
also hermaphrodite flowers, having both pistils and fully developed
stamens in the same flower. Fig. 9 shows a pistillate, Fig. 10 a
staminate, and Fig. 11 a hermaphrodite or bisexual flower.
In one case, at least, the author has also observed that a plant which
has been barren of seed at first changed into a seed-bearing plant the
following year. Similar changes in the sexuality of strawberries have
been observed under certain conditions. These facts may explain, in a
measure, the difficulty experienced in raising permanently sterile
asparagus plants.
_Asparagus acutifolius._--A native of Southern Europe and Northern
Africa. It has a fleshy rootstock, hard, wiry, brown stems, five to
seven feet high, with rigid branches three to six inches long, thickly
closed, with tufts of gray-green, hair-like, rigid leaves, which in
exposed situations are almost spinous. Flowers yellow, a quarter of an
inch in diameter, fragrant. The young sprouts are tender, and, when
cooked, of a peculiar aromatic flavor. In their native home they are
used like the cultivated kind.
_A. aphyllus._--Indigenous to Greece, where the young shoots are
commonly used as food, especially during Lent.
III
CULTURAL VARIETIES
Although but one species of edible asparagus has found its way into
general cultivation, many varieties and strains are recognized.
Up to within a comparatively recent period it was thought that there
existed only one distinct kind, or variety, of asparagus. As late as
1869 so keen an observer as Peter Henderson believed that "the asparagus
of our gardens is confined to only one variety, and the so-called giant
can be made gigantic or otherwise, just as we will it, and the purple
top variety will become a green top whenever the composition of the soil
is not of the kind to develop the purple, and _vice versa_. All
practical gardeners know how different soils and climates change the
appearance of the same variety. Seeds of cabbage taken from the same bag
and sown at the same time, but planted out in soils of light sandy loam,
heavy clayey loam, and peat or leaf-mold, will show such marked
differences when at maturity as easily to be pronounced different sorts.
This, no doubt, is the reason why the multitude of varieties of all
vegetables, when planted side by side to test them, are so wonderfully
reduced in number."
But after inspecting an acre of ordinary asparagus and an acre of
Abraham Van Siclen's Colossal--which was afterward introduced as
Conover's Colossal--at Jamaica, L. I., N. Y., Mr. Henderson wrote: "A
thorough inspection of the roots of each lot proved that they were of
the same age when planted. The soil was next examined, and found to be
as near the same as could be, yet these two beds of asparagus showed a
difference that no longer left me a shadow of a doubt of their being
entirely different varieties."
In but few vegetables do the conditions of soil, locality, mode of
cultivation, and other circumstances affect the quality, size, and
appearance as much as in asparagus. It is therefore difficult to
distinguish fixed and permanent varieties from mere local strains and
forms secured by selection.
Through natural and artificial selection, through use of seed of strong
shoots from superior roots, there has been improvement in the size and
yield of asparagus; from the peculiar adaptability of soil and climate,
and the effect of manure and high cultivation, there have appeared
certain variations in the product of different beds which have led to
the bestowing of a new name; but the effect of this care and these
favorable conditions is not sufficiently strong to produce distinct
varieties with fixed characteristics. Therefore, with correct and
rational treatment of the plant from the time of seeding through all the
stages of culture, satisfactory results may be reached with almost any
of the varieties on the market.
AMERICAN VARIETIES
_Barr's Mammoth_ (Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth).--Originated with
Crawford Barr, a prominent market gardener of Pennsylvania. It is one of
the earliest varieties, is very productive, and grows to the largest
size. In Philadelphia it is much sought after, and brings the highest
prices.
_Conover's Colossal_ (Van Siclen's Colossal).--Originated with Abraham
Van Siclen, of Long Island, N. Y., and was introduced by S. B. Conover,
a commision merchant of West Washington Market, New York City, some
thirty years ago. The superiority of this variety over all other kinds
known at that time made it soon supplant all other varieties, and it is
to this day better and more favorably known than any other sort.
_Columbian Mammoth White._--This was introduced by D. M. Ferry & Co., in
1893. The immense shoots are clear white, and, in favorable weather,
remain so until three or four inches above the surface, without earthing
up or any other artificial blanching. The crown or bud of the young
stalk is considerably smaller than the part just below it, thus further
distinguishing the variety. All but a very few of the seedlings will
produce clear white shoots, and the green ones can be readily
distinguished and rejected when planting the permanent bed.
_Donald's Elmira._--Originated by A. Donald, Elmira, N. Y., and was
first introduced by Johnson & Stokes, Philadelphia, Pa. This is
characterized by the delicate green color of its stems, different from
any other kind. Its stalks are very tender and succulent, while its size
is all that can be desired.
_Eclipse_ (Dreer's Eclipse).--A light green mammoth strain of excellent
quality and attractive appearance. The stalks, not rarely, measure two
inches in diameter, and even when twelve to fifteen inches long are
perfectly tender and of a delicate light green color.
_Hub._--Originated in New Hampshire several years ago, and was
introduced by Joseph Breck & Sons, Boston, Mass. Although not generally
catalogued, it is a distinct and valuable variety that has made a
decided record for itself in the tests of the Kansas Experiment Station,
where its yield, by weight, was greater than any other.
_Mammoth._--This is a somewhat indefinite term, as almost any prominent
seedsman and grower who has a particularly good and large strain of
asparagus suffixes it to his own name. Among the best known of these are
Vick's Mammoth, Maule's Mammoth, Prescott's Mammoth, etc.
_Moore's Cross-bred._--This originated with J. B. Moore, who for twenty
years was awarded the first prize on asparagus at the exhibitions of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, at one of which the weight of
twelve stalks was 4 pounds 6-1/4 ounces. It retains the head close until
the stalks are quite long, and is of uniform color, while for tenderness
and eating quality it is excelled by none. It is particularly
recommended for cultivation in New England.
_Palmetto._--A variety of Southern origin, but suitable for the North
also. At the South it is somewhat earlier than Conover's Colossal, but
its great advantage is that it is almost destitute of, what dealers
call, culls, nearly all shoots being of a uniform and large size. The
bunch from which the engraving (Fig. 12) was made measured twenty-two
inches in circumference, and contained forty-eight stalks of nine
inches in length and remarkably uniform in size. It was taken on March
30th from a field of fifty acres, near Charleston, S. C. But the
greatest point in its favor is its comparative security from the attacks
of rust.
[Illustration: FIG. 12--BUNCH OF PALMETTO ASPARAGUS]
_Purple Top_ and _Green Top_.--These were the only distinct sorts in
cultivation before the introduction of Conover's Colossal, but are now
almost unknown to the trade and cultivators.
EUROPEAN VARIETIES
The named varieties of asparagus of European origin are very numerous,
as almost every locality in which asparagus is cultivated extensively
and successfully has given its name to a strain more or less distinct.
Generally these varieties differ only in a single characteristic, and
these differences, for the most part, are so little that they are lost
when grown under different climatic and soil conditions. The
best-informed authorities recognize three cultivated varieties, which
have distinct commercial characteristics and whose seeds reproduce them
in the seedlings.
_German Giant._--This variety embraces most of the German and French
sorts--the Giant Dutch Purple, Ulm Giant, Giant Brunswick, Large Erfurt,
Early Darmstadt, and many others.
_Argenteuil._--Of this three sub-varieties are recognized--the early,
intermediate, and late; and these are the kinds grown almost exclusively
in the vicinity of Paris, France, where its culture and improvement have
steadily developed for centuries. Under good culture the late Argenteuil
produces stalks from three to six inches in circumference, at eight
inches below the tips.
_Yellow Burgundy._--The distinctive characteristic of this variety is
that the young shoots below the surface of the soil are light yellow
instead of white to tips, being greenish-yellow. It is also claimed to
be more rust-resisting than other European sorts.
VARIETY TESTS
To determine the comparative effects of manuring on different varieties
of asparagus, and also their comparative earliness, Prof. S. C. Mason
and his assistant, W. L. Hall, of the Kansas Experiment Station, have
made some interesting and instructive experiments, the results of which
are given in Bulletin 70, as follows:
"The seed of ten varieties of asparagus was planted. A good stand was
secured, and the young plants were cultivated during the summer in the
usual way. Early the following spring the entire patch was dug up and
the roots heeled in. The same ground was then prepared for a permanent
plantation, by plowing it deeply and marking it with furrows four feet
apart. These furrows were made as deep as possible, but after the loose
soil had run back into them they were on the bottom hardly six inches
below the level of the ground. In these furrows the roots of the
seedlings were planted (240 feet of row for each variety), making
altogether a patch of 35.25 square rods, or a little more than one-fifth
of an acre (.22 of an acre). The plants were set about a foot apart in
the row, and covered only an inch or two above the crown, leaving along
the rows depressions some two inches deep, which were gradually filled
up during the summer, by the many cultivations. During the winter the
stalks were cleared off, but nothing was done with the patch in the
spring more than to cut and note the earliest shoots, the first cutting
of which was made April 13th. The patch was cultivated during summer as
before, except that the size of the plants interfered somewhat--many of
the plants growing six feet high and correspondingly broad. During the
fall the north half of each variety was manured, at the rate of fifty
loads per acre, with strong barnyard manure, and in the spring the
effect was noted.
"The following table gives results as shown by the records of ten
cuttings made the spring of 1897, from April 20th to May 19th,
inclusive; varieties averaged in order of yield:
========================================================================
VARIETIES | YIELDS IN POUNDS
240 feet of row in each, one-half manured +---------+-----------+-------
and one-half unmanured |_Manured_|_Unmanured_|_Total_
------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+-------
1 Hub | 31 | 27 | 58
2 Donald's Elmira | 29 | 29 | 58
3 Vick's New Mammoth | 26 | 20 | 47
4 Palmetto | 20 | 18 | 39
5 Moore's Cross-bred | 19 | 15 | 35
6 Conover's Colossal | 16 | 17 | 33
7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth | 17 | 16 | 33
8 Columbian Mammoth White | 18 | 13 | 32
9 Dreer's Eclipse | 16 | 14 | 30
10 Giant Purple Top | 15 | 14 | 29
+---------+-----------+-------
Totals | 207 | 183 | 394
========================================================================
"Of the two heaviest yielding varieties, Hub and Donald's Elmira, the
last named is the earliest, though Hub is also quite early. As nearly as
can be judged from the notes, the ten varieties rank for earliness about
as follows, though all kinds yielded something at the first cutting:
{10 Giant Purple Top.
{ 7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth.
{ 2 Donald's Elmira.
{ 6 Conover's Colossal.
{ 3 Vick's New Mammoth.
{ 1 The Hub.
{ 9 Dreer's Eclipse.
4 Palmetto.
5 Moore's Cross-bred.
8 Columbian Mammoth White.
"Those included within a brace have little or no difference of season.
The numbers mark their rank with regard to yield, 1 being the highest.
The ground occupied by this plantation is a rather low bottom-land,
being built up of a clay silt from the former overflow of two creeks,
mixed with vegetable mold. It is rather too compact for the best growth
of asparagus, as it contains very little sand."
IV
SEED GROWING
The asparagus plant begins to produce seed when two years old. When
fully developed the stalks are from five to six feet in hight, with
numerous branches upon which are produced a profusion of bright scarlet
berries, containing from three to six seeds each. It is not advisable,
however, to harvest seed from plants less than four years old.
To save the seed the stalks are cut close to the ground as soon as the
berries are ripe, which may be known by their changing color, from green
to scarlet, and softening somewhat. The entire stalks are then cut off,
tied in bundles, and hung up in a dry place safe from the attacks of
birds, some kinds of which are very fond of this seed. After the berries
are fully dried they are stripped off by hand, or thrashed upon a cloth
or floor, and separated from the chaff. They are then soaked in water
for a day or two to soften the skin and pulp of the berries, after which
they are rubbed between the hands, or mashed with a wooden pounder, to
break the outer shells. The separation of the pulp from the seed is
accomplished by washing. When placed in water the seeds will settle with
the pulp and the shells will readily pass away in pouring off the water.
To clean the seeds thoroughly the washing has to be repeated three or
four times. It is then spread on boards or trays to dry in the sun and
wind. After the first day it should be removed from the sun, but exposed
to the air in a dry loft, spread thin for ten days or more. When
thoroughly dried the seed is stored in linen or paper bags until needed.
When cheapness of the seed is the main consideration such promiscuous
harvesting may be permissible, but when only the best is desired careful
selection and preparation becomes necessary. Even if the parent plants
are of choice types, not all the seeds from them are equally good. The
seed, for instance, which has been gathered from a stool which has
flowered side by side with an inferior kind, and at the same time, may
be worthless, because it has been fertilized badly. Then the last heads
generally yield nothing but doubtful seed which seldom reproduces the
proper type. The seeds which grow at the end of the shoots also, as well
as those produced by the upper and lower extremities of the stem, have
the same defect.
In order to insure the production of the very best asparagus seed a
sufficient number of pistillate or seed-bearing plants, which produce
the strongest and best spears, should be selected and marked so that
they may be distinguished the following spring when the shoots appear.
These clumps should be close together and near some staminate or male
plants which have to be marked likewise, as without their presence
fertile seed can not be produced. The number of the male to the female
plants should be about one to four or five. The following spring all the
sprouts of the selected male plants are allowed to grow without cutting
any. On each hill of the female plants the two strongest and earliest
stalks are allowed to grow, cutting the later appearing spears with the
others for market or home use. Thus these early stalks of both male and
female plants bloom together before any other stalks, and the blooms on
the female plants will be fertilized with the pollen of the selected
male plants. This last is of prime importance, for on proper
fertilization depends the purity of the seed as well as the vigor of the
resultant plant. Not all seed of even a good plant properly fertilized
should be used for reproduction, as of the seeds gathered from any plant
some will be better than others. Only the largest, plumpest, and best
matured seeds should be used, for by saving these the most nearly
typical plants of the sort will be most certainly produced. The
selection of the best seed from typical plants is as essential to
success as are good soil, thorough cultivation, and heavy manuring.
The best seeds are produced from the lower part of the stalk, hence it
is well to top the plant after the seed is well set, taking off about
ten inches, and to remove the berries from the upper branches, that all
the strength may go to the full development of the more desirable
berries. If, after this has been done, there is more than sufficient
seed for the purpose desired, a second discrimination can be made
between the seed of plants which produce numerous berries and those
which are shy bearers, the latter being desirable, as this indicates a
tendency in the plant to produce stalk rather than seed, and it is as a
stalk producer that asparagus is valuable.
Harvesting, cleaning, and preserving the seed is, of course, to be done
carefully; the separation of the heavy and the light seeds can be
accomplished by means of water, while the larger can be selected from
the resultant mass by the use of a properly meshed sieve.
V
THE RAISING OF PLANTS
Asparagus can be propagated by division of the roots, but this method
gives so unsatisfactory results that it is rarely practiced. Raising the
plants from seed is therefore the only method worth considering. The
seed may be sown either in the fall or spring. But far more important
than the time for sowing is the quality of the seed. While asparagus
seed retains its vitality for two or more years, it is not safe to use
seed older than one year. Fresh seed may be recognized by its glossy
black color and uniform smooth surface, while old seed has a smutty gray
color and its surface is generally rough and wrinkled. Yet even with
this as a guide it is not easy to distinguish bad from good seed, and
still more difficult, if not impossible, is it to distinguish the seed
of different varieties. It is therefore advisable to procure seed only
from dealers of undoubted reliability and pay a fair price for it rather
than to accept poor seed as a gift. A uniformity of the individual
plants in the asparagus bed or field is a matter of prime importance;
only large, fully developed seeds should be used, screening out and
rejecting all small and inferior ones.
In northern latitudes spring sowing is preferable to fall sowing. The
ground of the seed-bed should be well drained and fairly retentive of
moisture. As soon as the soil admits of working it should be well
pulverized and enriched with decomposed manure. On a small scale a
spading-fork is the best implement for preparing soil for nursery rows
of asparagus plants.
Straight lines should be marked about fifteen inches apart and drills
made about an inch deep when the sowing is done very early in the
season, and one-half to one inch deeper when the sowing is done later.
In these drills the seed should be dropped two or three inches apart.
The covering may be made with a hoe, after which the soil should be well
pressed down with the foot. As the seed is slow to germinate--in from
four to six weeks, according to weather conditions--it is well to sow
with it a few radish seeds, which will soon appear and mark the lines of
the drills, so that cultivation may begin at once. Soaking the seed in
luke-warm water for twenty-four hours before sowing will hasten its
germination.
The cultivation of the young plants consists in keeping the soil about
them light, and free from grass and weeds. Most of this work can be done
with a garden cultivator, or a hoe and rake or prong hoe, but some hand
weeding is generally necessary in addition. Strict attention to this
will save a year in time, for if the seed-bed has been neglected, it
will take two years to get the plants as large as they should be in one
year if they had been properly cared for. In consequence of this very
frequent neglect of proper cultivation of the seed-bed, it is a common
impression that the plants must be two years old before transplanting.
One pound of seed will produce about 10,000 plants, but as many of these
will have to be thinned out and poor ones rejected, it is not safe to
count upon more than one-half of this number of good plants. The number
of plants required for an acre varies according to the manner of
planting. If planted in rows three feet apart and two feet in the rows,
it will require 7,260 plants per acre; if planted three by four, 3,630
per acre.
SOWING THE SEED WHERE THE PLANTS ARE TO REMAIN
Growing asparagus without transplanting is gradually finding many
advocates among those who raise only the green article. It is not only a
cheaper but in some respects a better method than the raising of the
plants in a special seed-bed, from which they are transplanted after a
year or two. "The plan is very simple," wrote Peter Henderson in
_American Agriculturist_, "and can be followed by any one having even a
slight knowledge of farming or gardening work. In the fall prepare the
land by manuring, deep plowing, and harrowing, making it as level and
smooth as possible for the reception of the seed. Strike out lines three
feet apart and about two to three inches deep, in which sow the seed by
hand or seed-drill, as is most convenient, using from five to seven
pounds of seed to each acre. After sowing, and before covering, tread
down the seed in the rows with the feet evenly; then draw the back of
the rake lengthwise over the rows, after which roll the whole surface.
"As soon as the land is dry and fit to work in the spring, the young
plants of asparagus will start through the ground, sufficient to define
the rows. At once begin to cultivate with hand or horse cultivator, and
stir the ground so as to destroy the embryo weeds, breaking the soil in
the rows between the plants with the fingers or hand weeder for the same
purpose. This must be repeated at intervals of two or three weeks during
the summer, as the success of this plan is entirely dependent on keeping
down the weeds, which, if allowed to grow, would soon smother the
asparagus plants, that, for the first season of their growth, are weaker
than most weeds. In two or three months after starting, the asparagus
will have attained ten or twelve inches in hight, and it must now be
thinned out, so that the plants stand nine inches apart in the rows. By
fall they will be from two to three feet in hight and, if the directions
for culture have been faithfully followed, strong and vigorous.
"When the stems die down (but not before) cut them off close to the
ground, and cover the lines for five or six inches on each side with two
or three inches of rough manure. The following spring renew cultivation,
and keep down the weeds the second year exactly as was done during the
first, and so on to the spring of the fourth year, when a crop will be
produced that will well reward all the labor that has been expended.
Sometimes, if the land is particularly suitable, a marketable crop may
be secured the third year, but as a rule it will be better to wait until
the fourth year before cutting much, as this would weaken the plants. To
compensate for the loss of a year's time in thus growing asparagus from
seed, cabbage, lettuce, onions, beets, spinach or similar crops that
will be marketable before the asparagus has grown high enough to
interfere with them, may be planted between the rows of asparagus the
first year of its growth with but little injury to it."
GOOD CROPS TWO YEARS FROM SEED
In answer to the many inquiries as to how asparagus can be grown to
weigh two and three-fourths pounds per bunch of twenty-six stalks from
plants two years old from seed, as exhibited at a recent American
Institute spring exhibition, George M. Hay, of Connecticut, writes in
_American Gardening_ as follows:
"Select a piece of ground where the soil is light, but of a good depth,
and plow thoroughly. About the 1st of May mark off the rows three or
four feet apart--for myself I prefer the latter distance as giving
plenty of room for cultivation. Run a two-horse plow over the same
furrow two or three times and you will have a depth of from fourteen to
eighteen inches.
"Trenches having been all made, we come to the most important
part--namely, manuring. In order to give the young plants a good start
after germination we have to use liberal quantities of well-rotted
stable manure, and in this the young plants make roots that in a short
time are surprising. I use a one-horse load of manure to every
seventy-five feet of drill, tramping it well down, and with a rake draw
from each side of the trench soil to cover the manure to a depth of from
two to three inches. The surface is raked level, and with the end of a
rake or hoe a furrow one inch deep is drawn.
"We are now ready for the seed, which should have been soaked in tepid
water for at least twenty-four hours. This will insure the immediate
starting of the seed when the soil is moist and has not had a chance to
dry out. If unsoaked seed is used and we have a dry spell for two or
three weeks, the seed will be almost useless by the time it receives
moisture enough to start.
"When the asparagus is two or three inches high thin out to one foot
apart, being very careful not to disturb the plants left. A piece of a
stick cut to the shape of a table-knife is an ideal tool for thinning
out the young plants. It will be necessary to weed the rows by hand,
while the plants are very small, for a distance of six inches on each
side, as the cultivator, if run too close, will cover up the young
plants. Keep the horse cultivator at work as often as possible to
maintain moisture for the young roots.
"By fall you will be surprised to learn how far the young roots have
traveled and the crowns prepared for next year's crop. Cover the rows
with stable manure for the winter, and in spring give a dressing of one
pound of nitrate of soda to one hundred feet of drill, and you will be
well repaid for the extra labor and outlay by being able to cut
asparagus of extra size in two years from the time of sowing the seed,
doing away with the transplanting of two-year-old roots, and then
waiting two more years before the first crop can be cut."
The principal objection which has been made against this system of not
transplanting is that it does not admit of a careful choice of plants,
as the plants must be kept in the places where sown, while in the
transplanting method we need use only the choicest plants; then, if two
or three seeds come up close together, it is very difficult to thin
them out, and if left they will produce an inferior growth.
POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS PLANTS
In the tests made at the Missouri Experiment Station, Prof. J. C.
Whitten found that it is much better to plant the seeds in six inches of
rich, sandy soil in the greenhouse or hotbed, in February or early
March, than to wait two or three months for outdoor planting. Professor
Whitten advises to "sow liberally, for seven-eighths of the seedlings
should be discarded. When the seedlings are three inches high, select
those which have the thickest, fleshiest, and most numerous stems, and
pot them. They vary more than almost any other vegetable. Many that
appear large and vigorous will have broad, flat, twisted, or corrugated
stems. Discard them. Beware, also, of those that put out leaves close to
the soil. These will all make tough, stringy, undesirable plants. The
best plants are those which are cylindrical, smooth, and free from
ridges. They shoot up rapidly, and attain a hight of two inches before
leaves are put out. They look much like smooth needles. This matter of
selecting the best plants for potting, and subsequent planting out, is
of the greatest importance in asparagus culture.
"These young plants should first be put in small pots and moved into
larger ones as soon as they are well rooted. They may need to be shifted
twice before they are planted out-of-doors, which should be done when
danger of frost is over. Started in this way they continue to grow from
the time they are planted out and reach very large size the first
season. In the case of nursery-grown plants, where seeds are sown
directly out-of-doors, the young seedlings start very slowly, are very
tender during their early growth, and if the weather is unfavorable they
hardly become well established before autumn."
[Illustration: FIG. 13--ONE-YEAR-OLD POT-GROWN ASPARAGUS PLANT]
Fig. 13 shows a one-year-old plant started in February in the greenhouse
and transplanted to the field the first of May. Plants grown in this way
reach as good size in one year as the nursery-grown plants usually do in
three years.
VI
SELECTION OF PLANTS
That strong, healthy, one-year-old plants are in every way to be
preferred to two or three year old ones has been demonstrated by many
carefully conducted experiments, and is now universally recognized by
intelligent and observant asparagus growers. The most noteworthy and
accurate experiments in this line were made by the famous French
asparagus specialist M. Godefroy-Leboeuf, who planted twelve stools of
one, two, and three years old respectively in the same soil under the
same conditions and at the same time. Calling those plantings Nos. 1, 2,
and 3, the following are the results obtained: