were well grown.
No. 2.--Ten stools showed above ground before May 4th, one on the
10th, and one appeared to be dead. The asparagus heads were very
fine--finer, indeed, than those of No. 1.
No. 3.--Eight stools showed above ground before May 4th, one on the
12th, and three gave no signs of life. The heads were very fine at
first, but they became bent toward the end of the year (September
15th), and were much weaker than those of No. 2.
* * * * *
_Second Year._--No. 1.--Well-grown, regular, and strong heads,
which measured on September 15th one inch in circumference.
No. 2.--Well-grown but irregular heads, somewhat weaker than those
of No. 1.
No. 3.--Only pretty well-grown heads, very irregular, some of the
stools having as many as eight or ten, but all very weak. One stool
died after growing two heads.
* * * * *
_Third Year._--No. 1.--Magnificent growths, the heads measuring on
April 10th from two inches to three and one-quarter inches in
circumference.
No. 2.--Growth passable only, but very irregular. Some of the
stools were very small. The finest of them produced heads which
from April 8th to 10th only measured two and one-half inches in
circumference.
No. 3.--Growth very poor and very irregular. Some of the stools
continued to produce small heads not much thicker than a quill pen,
the largest being from one and one-half inch to two inches in
circumference.
* * * * *
_Fourth Year._--No. 1.--Growth very remarkable. The heads began to
show on April 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. Some were from three and
one-quarter inches to four inches in circumference, and measured
four and three-quarter inches. Fifty of the heads formed a bundle
which weighed seven pounds.
No. 2.--Growth passable, but later than No. 1. The heads made their
first appearance on April 6th, 10th, and 11th. Many of them were
very small; fifty of them barely made half a bundle, and only
weighed three and three-quarter pounds.
No. 3.--Growth but poor, and somewhat late. The heads made their
appearance on April 4th, 6th, 9th, and 11th; one did not show till
the 22d. Fifty heads barely formed half a bundle and only weighed
two and one-half pounds.
To sum up, it is clear that the plants of a year old in their
fourth season--that is to say, after having been planted out for
three years--gave a bundle weighing seven pounds, while those of
two years old only gave three and three-quarter pounds, and those
of three years old only two and one-half pounds; in other words,
taking round numbers, the plantation made with the one-year-old
plants produced double the crop of the two-year-old plants and
treble that of the three-year-old plants. The reader may easily
draw his conclusions from the preceding facts.
Equally important is a careful selection of the individual plants to be
set out. A crown with four or five strong, well-developed buds is far
better than one with a dozen or more of weak and sickly ones, as the
latter will always produce thin and poor spears of poor quality. It is
therefore highly to be recommended to select only plants with not over
six buds and discard all others. The roots should be strong and of
uniform thickness, succulent and not too fibrous. Dry or withered roots
have to be cut off, and plants with many bruised or otherwise damaged
roots should be rejected entirely. The best roots are the cheapest.
MALE AND FEMALE PLANTS
It has long been observed that all of the asparagus plants in a bed do
not produce seeds, owing to the fact that the male and female flowers in
asparagus are nearly always borne on separate plants. Seed bearing is an
exhaustive process, and, as might be supposed, those plants that have
produced seed have less vigor than those that have not. In order to
determine the difference in vigor between the seed bearing and non-seed
bearing plants, Prof. William J. Green, horticulturist of the Ohio
Experiment Station, staked off fifty of each in a plantation of half an
acre. When the cuttings were made the shoots taken from male and female
plants were kept separate, and the weight of each recorded in Bulletin
No. 9, Volume III., of the Ohio Station, as follows:
"The cuttings were made at regular intervals and in the ordinary manner,
as for market purposes. The weight of shoots taken at each cutting is
not given in the table, since the facts are quite as well shown by
stating the aggregate weight for periods of ten days each. The division
into periods is made for the purpose of showing comparative earliness.
This could be shown in a more marked degree by taking the first and
second cuttings alone, but they were too limited in quantity to admit of
conclusions being drawn from them; hence they are included with the
other cuttings in the same period.
PRODUCT FROM FIFTY PLANTS EACH, MALE AND FEMALE
+========================+=============+============+
|_Product from|_Product from
| fifty male | fifty female
| plants_ | plants_
+------------------------+-------------+------------+
| _Ounces_ | _Ounces_
First period, 10 days | 37 | 21
Second period, 10 days | 104 | 68
Third period, 10 days | 266 | 164
Fourth period, 10 days | 203 | 154
+-------------+------------+
Total for the season | 610 | 407
+========================+=============+============+
"This shows a gain of the male over the female plants of seventy-six per
cent. for the first period, and a fraction less than fifty per cent. for
the whole season. Reversing the standard of comparison, it will be seen
that the female plants fall below the male forty-three per cent. for the
first period, and a little more than thirty-three per cent. in the
total. In no case did the female plants produce equally with the male.
"If comparative earliness is determined by the date of first cutting
alone, there is no difference between the male and female plants, since
the first cutting was made on both at the same date; but taking quantity
of product into consideration, which is the proper method, there is a
decided difference, the gain of the male over the female plants being
seventy-six, fifty-two, sixty-three, and thirty-one per cent. for the
four periods respectively. The difference in yield between the two was
greatest at first, and diminished toward the last, which practically
amounts to the same thing as the male being earlier than the female.
There is a still further difference between the two in quality of
product, the shoots of the female plant being smaller and inferior to
those of the male.
"It is not safe to draw conclusions from such limited observations as
these, further, at least, than to accept them as representing the truth
approximately. Allowing a wide margin for possible error, there would
still seem to be sufficient difference in productive capacity between
the male and female plants to justify the selection of the former and
rejection of the latter when a new plantation is to be started. If the
figures given in the table are taken as a basis, the gain in the crop,
if the male plants alone were used, would each season pay for all the
plants rejected, and leave a handsome margin at the end of the term of
years when an asparagus bed has served its period of usefulness. Male
plants can be secured by division of old plants, or by selecting those
that bear no seed, after they have attained the age of two years."
In summing up the results of this experiment, Professor Green states
that male asparagus plants are about fifty per cent. more productive
than female plants, and the shoots being larger have a greater market
value.
VII
THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION
As asparagus in its wild state is usually found growing in light and
sandy soils along or near the seashore, it has long been supposed that
it could not be cultivated in other localities and soils. While it is
true that asparagus succeeds best in a sandy, rich, and friable loam,
naturally underdrained and yet not too dry, there is not another
vegetable which accommodates itself more readily to as varying soils and
conditions. There is hardly a State in the United States in which at
present asparagus is not grown more or less extensively and profitably,
and the most famous asparagus districts of France and Germany are
situated at great distances from the seashore.
The question of what soil to use is, as a rule, already settled; we have
to use the soil we have. Any good garden soil is suitable for asparagus,
and if it is not in the most favorable condition, under existing
circumstances, it can easily be made so. The soil should be free from
roots, stones, or any material that will not readily disintegrate, or
that will interfere with the growth of the spears, and with the knife in
cutting. Fruit or other trees, or high shrubs, must not be allowed in
the asparagus bed, because of the shade they throw over the beds, and
because their roots make heavy drafts upon the soil. Nor should high
trees, hedges, hills, or buildings be so near as to shade the beds,
because all the sunshine obtainable is needed to bring the spears
quickly to the surface. Whenever practicable the asparagus bed should be
protected from cold winds, and so slope that the full benefit of the
sunshine will be obtained during the whole day. Brinckmeier, in his
"Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," gives the following three rules for
guidance in selecting a location for asparagus beds:
"1. One should choose, in reference to ground characteristics, open,
free-lying land, protected to the north and east [which, for American
conditions, should be north and west], of gradual slope, free from trees
or shrubbery.
"2. The field should be exposed to the rays of the sun all day long;
therefore, a southern exposure is desirable, or, if that is not
obtainable, a southwesterly or southeasterly slope, because either east,
west, or north exposure will cause shade during a greater or less
portion of the day.
"3. Standing, stagnant ground water, which cannot be drawn off by
drainage, is to be avoided, the requirements of the plants indicating a
somewhat damp subsoil, but not too high ground water."
For commercial purposes on a large scale, and when the trucker has the
choice of location, a well-drained, light, deep, sandy loam, with a
light clay subsoil, is to be preferred to any other. Heavy clay soil, or
land with a hard-pan subsoil, or, in fact, any soil that is cold and
wet, is totally unfit for profitable asparagus growing, unless it is
thoroughly underdrained and made lighter by a plentiful addition of sand
and muck.
Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more so than great
fertility, for the latter can be produced by heavy manuring, which the
future cultivation will require; and to the end that weeds may be few,
it is well that for a year or two previous to planting the land should
have been occupied by some hoed crop, such as potatoes, beets, cabbage,
etc. Land on which corn has been growing for two or three years is in
excellent condition for an asparagus field, provided it has been heavily
manured one year previous to the planting of the roots.
PREPARATION OF THE GROUND
Asparagus differs from most other vegetables in that it is a perennial,
and when once planted properly, in suitable soil, it will continue to
produce an annual crop for a generation if not for an indefinite period,
while if the work is done carelessly and without consideration for the
plant's requirements the plantation will never prove satisfactory and
will run out entirely in the course of a few years. The establishing of
an asparagus bed is naturally more expensive than the planting and
raising of annual vegetables. In addition to this, the plants have to be
taken care of for three years before a crop can be harvested. On the
other hand, an asparagus bed is an investment for a lifetime, and the
dividends derived from it increase in proportion to the care and
thoroughness bestowed upon the preparation of the land.
It is at once apparent, then, that nothing should be neglected to bring
the soil into the best possible condition before planting. This truth
was fully recognized by the gardeners of former years who practiced
most extraordinary methods in order to bring the land into the most
favorable condition for asparagus. Even now in some European countries,
where labor is cheap, the entire ground is trenched to a depth of three
or four feet, turning in at the same time all the available manure,
seaweed, and other fertilizing material.
A famous old-time asparagus bed in England was made in this manner: "The
land was trenched three feet deep in trenches three feet wide and cast
up into rough ridges, after a crop of summer peas. All decaying
vegetation in the rubbish yards and corners was at the same time well
sorted and turned up. Early in autumn also were added some old mushroom,
melon, and cucumber bed material, a lot of manure from piggeries, cow
houses, and stables, a quantity of road-grit and sand, a quantity of
ditch and drain parings, turfy loam and sods, quite three feet thick.
These were all turned over four times and well incorporated together,
between Michaelmas and Lady Day, as one would a dungheap, the whole
being left in large ridges exposed to the frost. By April this compost
was in a kindly state; it was, therefore, laid down and planted with
good, clean one-year-old asparagus plants, which certainly grew in a
most extraordinary way."
Another elaborate way of making an asparagus bed, formerly practiced in
France, is described by Dr. Maccullogh as follows: "A pit the size of
the intended plantation is dug four feet in depth, and the mold taken
from it must be sifted, taking care to reject all stones, even as low in
size as a filbert nut. The best part of the mold must then be laid aside
before making up the beds. The materials of the bed are then to be laid
in the following proportions and order: Six inches of common dunghill
manure, eight inches of turf, six inches of dung as before, six inches
of sifted earth, eight inches of turf, six inches of very rotten dung,
eight inches of the best of earth. The last layer of earth must then be
well mixed with the last of dung. The compartment must now be divided
into beds five feet wide by paths constructed of turf two feet in
breadth and one foot in thickness."
A bed prepared in this manner, and planted and cultivated with as much
painstaking care, will no doubt produce asparagus of unsurpassed
quality, and may last forever. Yet the use of modern implements and a
better knowledge of the nature and requirements of the plant have
demonstrated that first-class asparagus can be produced with far less
expense and labor. While a deep and loose soil produces earlier and
better crops than a heavy and shallow one, indiscriminate deepening of
the soil by trenching or other means is not always desirable, even where
the cost does not come into consideration. When the subsoil is very
light and poor and deficient in humus, the placing of the better surface
soil below and the infertile lower strata above, trenching would be a
positive detriment. The same would be the case where the subsoil
consists of heavy impervious clay.
In the fall preceding planting the land should be plowed deeply and left
in the rough state during the winter. Subsoiling has often been
recommended, yet practical growers but rarely make use of the subsoil
plow in the preparation of asparagus plantations, although the value of
subsoiling where the subsoil is heavy can not be doubted. Where stable
or barnyard manure can be had cheaply, and the soil is heavy, a liberal
coat spread broadcast over the surface and left to the action of the
weather during winter will ameliorate the ground considerably. In most
cases, however, the same object may be obtained by applying the manure
in spring. Joseph Harris mentions a case in which a bed was plowed and
subsoiled in the fall and the soil filled with manure, while another bed
near by was planted without manure, or extra preparation of any kind,
relying entirely on artificial fertilizers after planting, and the
latter was by far the better bed. As early in spring as the ground is in
suitable condition to be worked it has to be plowed and harrowed and
brought into as perfect condition as possible.
VIII
PLANTING
Throughout the Middle and Northern States, spring, as soon as the soil
can be worked to good advantage, is decidedly the most favorable time
for planting asparagus. If it is not practicable to plant thus early,
the work may sometimes be delayed up to the middle of June. In planting
thus late, however, preparation has to be made for watering the plants
in case of drouth, else failure be inevitable. It is also necessary to
do the work as expeditiously as possible, so as not to expose the roots
to the drying influences of the sun and wind. Fall planting is advisable
only in climates where there is no danger of winter-killing of the
roots.
After the ground has been plowed and harrowed, or spaded and raked over,
and brought into as mellow a condition as possible, the rows for
planting are to be laid out. It is usually recommended to have the rows
run north and south, so as to readily admit the sunlight. When this is
not practicable, however, it need not deter any one from making an
asparagus bed, as it is more important to have the rows run with the
slope of the land than in any particular direction of the compass, in
order to provide ready surface drainage.
DISTANCE TO PLANT
As to the best distance between the rows and the plants in the rows
there is a wide difference of opinion, more so than with almost any
other cultivated plant. No unvarying rule can be laid down on this
point, as it depends largely upon the mechanical condition, depth, and
fertility of the soil. In a rich, moderately heavy soil, the roots may
be planted closer than in a poor, light soil. The tendency of the
present day is for giving the plants considerably more room than what
formerly was thought to be ample. Intelligent observers could not fail
to notice that crowded asparagus beds produce later and smaller crops,
and of inferior size and quality; that they do not last as long; and
that they are more liable to attacks from insects and fungi than when
more room is given to the plants.
Gardeners of but a few decades ago had no idea of the possibility of
raising a profitable crop of asparagus planted four or five feet apart,
and would have looked with derision upon any one advocating so wild a
scheme. The remains of run out, old-time asparagus beds are still in
evidence in many old farm gardens. The rows in these were originally one
foot apart and the plants in the rows even closer than this, and perhaps
after every third or fourth row there was a path two feet wide. Of
course, in such a bed, after a few years, the entire ground became a
solid mass of roots, and the stalks became smaller and tougher from year
to year.
[Illustration: FIG. 14--HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD
ASPARAGUS ROOT]
In most asparagus sections special customs prevail, and even in these
different growers have their individual preferences; but all agree that
asparagus should never be planted closer than two feet in rows three
feet apart. For the home garden there is no better plan than to plant
but a single row, with the plants two or three feet apart, along the
edge or border of the ground, but not nearer than four or five feet to
other plants, and in case of grape-vines even more room should be given.
Here they require but little care, and the plants have an unlimited
space for the extension of their roots in search of moisture and food.
Asparagus needs considerable water, and an acre of land will hold so
much water and no more. The more plants there are on an acre the less
water there will be for each plant, and what is true of water is also
true of plant food.
In field culture the distance adopted by asparagus growers varies from 3
x 3 feet (4,840 plants per acre); 3 x 4 feet (3,640 plants per acre); 4
x 4 feet (2,722 plants per acre); 4 x 5 feet (2,178 plants per acre); 5
x 6 feet (1,452 plants per acre); 6 x 6 feet (1,210 plants per acre),
and even more. If the idea is to have the plants so far apart that their
roots can not interlace, twenty feet each way would not be too
extravagant a distance, under favorable conditions, as will readily
become apparent by a glance at Fig. 14. This illustration is an exact
reproduction of the root system of an asparagus plant four years from
the seed. The roots spread out upon a level floor measured thirteen feet
from tip to tip, the single roots averaging the thickness of a lead
pencil. This root grew in Madison County, Ill., and was washed out of
the ground--without having any of its roots torn--by the unusually heavy
spring rains which caused the Piasa River to overflow its banks and sent
a current rushing through the asparagus field in which it grew. If the
plant had remained in its position a few years longer its roots would
probably have extended ten feet in each direction.
From this it does not follow, however, that asparagus should be planted
twenty or even ten feet apart to produce the largest returns, but it
plainly shows why the roots should not be planted as closely together
as was customary in former years; and it obviously demonstrates that
when land is cheap and manure and labor high, asparagus can not be hurt
by giving it plenty of room. It should also be considered that
earliness, size, and quality make a great difference with the price and
profits when early and large shoots are in demand. It might be possible
to get double the number of shoots per acre from thick than from thin
planting, but they might be so small and spindling as not to be worth
the labor and expense of cutting and marketing.
DEPTH OF PLANTING
Contrary to the all but universal belief, asparagus is not a deep-rooted
plant. In the wild state its most frequent habitat is on the fertile
marshes of the shoreline in Europe, on ground but a few inches above the
tidewater which permeates the sandy subsoil. As the roots can not live
in water, they naturally grow to long distances parallel with the
surface and retain this habit under cultivation. The tendency of growth
in the asparagus roots in this direction is obviously demonstrated in
Fig. 14.
The proper depth of planting asparagus roots varies somewhat, according
to the character of the soil, the method of cultivation, and the kind of
spears desired, whether white or green. As the new crowns rise somewhat
above the old ones annually, it seems but rational that the plants
should have sufficient room for the new growths before their crowns
become even with the surface of the land. When the crown once comes near
the level of the soil it is impossible to give proper cultivation,
unless the entire bed be raised by adding soil to the whole surface.
While it is true that the deeper the crowns are planted the later they
will start in the spring, this is of account only during the first few
years. Besides, the factor of earliness is not of nearly as much
importance now as it was before northern markets were so bountifully
supplied with the southern grown crops several months before the opening
of the northern season. Shallow-planted asparagus sprouts earlier, but
soon exhausts itself, sending up spindling, tough shoots, while the
deeper-planted crowns produce large and succulent sprouts throughout the
season. When green asparagus is desired, and there is no danger of the
beetles eating the sprouts before they are fit for use, a depth of two
or three inches is sufficient, but for white or blanched asparagus a
depth of from eight to ten inches is necessary.
MANNER OF PLANTING
As in other details of asparagus culture, the methods of planting have
undergone very material changes. The formerly usual practice of digging
deep trenches was not well founded--in the light of our present
experience and knowledge--and could be useful only for drainage. How
little regard was paid to the nature and requirements of the plant may
readily be perceived by reading the following directions for making an
asparagus bed, but little over half a century ago, in Bridgeman's "Young
Gardeners' Assistant":