does not prevail, and the spores upon old brush can be destroyed by
burning the asparagus stems either as they stand in the field or by
cutting and throwing the brush into piles. By the latter method many of
the smaller branches will be broken off and scattered upon the ground,
giving a suitable place for the spores to remain over the winter. For
the same reason it is an advantage to burn the brush in autumn instead
of the spring, and thus prevent the large loss of spores that would
obtain. In other words, burn the plants as soon as they become brown
and lifeless, for any delay means the breaking up of the brittle, rusty
plants, and a heavy sowing of the spores upon the ground. If the fire
could go over the whole field of standing brush, that would be the most
effective destruction. At best, with these precautions, many of the
spores will get scattered upon the soil, and it would be well to
sprinkle a thin coat of lime upon the ground and leave it there during
the winter. If this could be followed by a turning under of the surface
soil in the spring, it would bury the spores that might still be living,
so that they would be out of reach.
_Cultivation and irrigation._--It has been observed that the injury to
asparagus plants, as a result of rust, has been confined to dry soils,
although there are places where beds in close proximity showed
remarkable differences as to infection; and that robust and vigorous
plants, even where cultivated on apparently dry soil, are capable of
resisting the summer or injurious stage of the rust.
In view of all the experiments so far made, and the experiences of
practical asparagus growers, Stone and Smith conclude that: "The best
means of controlling the rust is by thorough cultivation in order to
secure vigorous plants, and in seasons of extreme dryness plants growing
on very dry soil with little water-retaining properties should, if
possible, receive irrigation."
From a knowledge of the occurrences of the rust in Europe, and from
observations made in Massachusetts, they are led to believe that the
outbreak of the asparagus rust is of a sporadic nature, and is not
likely to cause much harm in the future, provided attention is given to
the production of vigorous plants.
ASPARAGUS LEOPARD SPOT
Attention was called to this new disease by Prof. W. G. Johnson, in
Bulletin No. 50, Maryland Experiment Station, September, 1897. It was
observed in a limited area in the asparagus growing section on the
eastern shore of Maryland. The disease belongs to the group of
anthracnoses, and is regarded by Dr. B. D. Halsted as a new species. In
some places growers have mistaken it for the work of asparagus beetles.
In general appearance it is very striking, the characteristic spots
resembling the coat of the leopard. It has, therefore, been called
"asparagus leopard spot," to distinguish it readily from rust. The
disease has been found only in a comparatively small area, but, no doubt
will be found in other places later. Asparagus growers should,
therefore, be on their guard and watch it. The remedies thus far
successfully used are the same as those for rust.
XVI
ASPARAGUS CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES
ASPARAGUS IN NEW ENGLAND
Asparagus was grown in Concord, Mass., in a limited way as early as
1825. Mr. Edmund Hosmer used to carry it to market in season on his milk
wagon. Timothy Prescott and F. R. Gourgas grew garden patches before
1840. To John B. Moore belongs the credit of growing and improving
asparagus in this section of the State. Mr. Moore selected the most
promising shoots, and by a judicious system of culture succeeded in
placing on the market a valuable variety in the shape of Moore's
Cross-bred. Most of the "giant" asparagus grown in Concord to-day could
be traced to the plants produced by his skill. A sample bunch of twelve
stalks, twelve inches long, from Moore's Cross-bred plants weighed four
pounds eight ounces. In 1872 the first bed of asparagus of any size was
set out by Mr. George D. Hubbard, who was laughed at by his neighbor
farmers, who saw only ruin for the young man. The next year Mr. Hubbard
set out more, so that for twenty years he was probably the largest
grower in Massachusetts.
Most of the leading varieties are grown in Concord, but the farmers are
looking for a rust-proof variety and hope to find one. The Palmetto has
not rusted as badly as other kinds, but has not been grown so
extensively. One-year-old roots should be set by all means, as they
start sooner, grow more vigorously, and in the end pay better. The roots
should be carefully selected from vigorous stock. A very large part of
Concord asparagus is planted on sandy soil--_i.e._, good, rich, mellow
corn land. This kind of land needs more manure, but then the crop is
more satisfactory and the labor bill is not so high. The land previous
to setting to asparagus should be well tilled and manured.
Land for asparagus beds should be plowed late in the fall, and if stable
manure can be afforded should be applied liberally. In the spring plow
again early and harrow well. The roots should be planted in April as
soon as the ground can be worked. After determining the direction of the
rows a number of laths, four feet long, are placed in line where the
first row is to be. It is very important to get the rows straight and an
even distance apart. A good strong pair of horses and a large plow are
used, a board being so placed above the mold-board of the plow that the
loose soil will not fall back into the furrow. Drive the horses so that
the middle of the evener will just come to the lath, then change the
lath over its own length, if the rows are to be four feet apart, and
that will mark the next row. Change each lath as you come to it, and
when your first furrow is completed your second row will be all marked
out. Return in the first row to make it deeper and also to straighten
any bends. Shovel out the ends for a few feet and you will have a proper
furrow to set asparagus roots in. Proceed with the other rows in the
same manner, and you will have a good-looking plantation.
The larger growers in Concord set the plants two feet apart in the row
and have the rows four feet apart. The plants are set in the bottom of
the furrow, covered two inches, and should level up by fall so that the
crowns will be six or seven inches below the surface. The furrows may be
made very deep, so that manure can be placed in the bottom, or
fertilizer may be strewn before the plants are set or after. The roots
should be spread out carefully in the bottom of the furrow, care being
taken to have them in line. The bed should be cultivated with a
fine-tooth cultivator or weeder often enough to prevent the growth of
weeds. Keep the bed clean and do not have the trenches filled in before
the last of September. The tops should not be cut in the fall of the
first year, as the snow will be held by them, and thereby protect the
roots to some extent. Some growers spread coarse manure on their beds in
the fall to prevent the soil from being blown away and also to prevent
winter killing, which, however, is rare.
In the second year the bed may be plowed or wheel-harrowed in the spring
as early as possible. Concord growers use animal manure or chemical
fertilizers, as the case may be or as the bed may require. The bed
should be smooth harrowed just before the new shoots appear, and good
clean cultivation given during the season. After harrowing or plowing in
the third year, sow your chemicals or fertilizer broadcast and harrow
in. A good formula for asparagus is: Nitrate of soda, 300 to 400 pounds;
muriate of potash, 400 pounds; and fine ground bone, 600 pounds per
acre. The shoots will appear about May 5th, and should be cut for about
two weeks; then let them grow up and cultivate well during the season.
Home-mixing of fertilizer is practiced by some of the growers in this
vicinity, as it is cheaper and better. Any intelligent farmer can, with
a little study, purchase and mix the raw materials to advantage. Not so
much fertilizer is used as formerly by our growers, who are beginning to
think that we use more plant food than the crop needs, thus throwing
away many dollars each year. The cost of an acre of asparagus when
properly planted and manured is about two hundred dollars, varying with
the cost of help, manure, etc. The average product of asparagus beds is
about two hundred and eighty-eight dozen bunches per acre--probably less
since the rust appeared in 1897.
Asparagus is grown largely on Cape Cod. There the roots are planted in
rows six feet apart and four or five feet in the row. Seaweed is used
largely in connection with fertilizer and manure. Various grains, oats,
rye, etc., are sometimes sown to prevent the soil being blown away. The
method of culture is much the same as elsewhere.
At Concord the asparagus season opens usually about May 5th. The shoots
are cut two or three inches under ground and should be about eight
inches in length. These are laid in handfuls on the ground by the
cutter, each one cutting two rows. The product of four rows is laid in
one row, making what is called a "basket row." These "basket rows" are
gathered in baskets, boxes, or wheelbarrows, and taken to the
packing-shed. The asparagus is placed on a table and packed in racks of
uniform size, passed to the person who ties, and then to be butted off.
The bunches are then washed and set up in troughs ready for market.
Water is added in season to swell the bunch tight and it is then packed
in bushel boxes for market, going in by teams each night.
Asparagus was free from pests until 1889, when the asparagus beetle made
its unwelcome appearance. Methods of fighting the beetle were unknown to
growers generally at that time, but necessity soon taught us. Chickens
and hens are used with good results, also Paris green dry was applied
with an air-gun when the dew was on the foliage. Cutworms sometimes do
the asparagus crop severe damage, but chickens and hens are a sure
remedy--in fact, hens are a decided benefit in an asparagus field,
keeping down many weeds.
After learning to control the asparagus beetle we were visited by the
rust, which has proved a stubborn foe and absorbs the sap which ought to
go to the growing plant. Appearing in July, 1897, the rust seriously
damaged many beds in eastern Massachusetts. Many remedies have been
suggested, but so far none of them have proved perfectly satisfactory.
Growers have been advised to cut the infected tops as soon as the rust
appears, but such a practice is all wrong, however good in theory. Do
not cut the tops until the sap has left the stalks. This is the advice
of a large number of asparagus growers and scientific men who are
engaged in experimental work.
CHARLES W. PRESCOTT.
_Middlesex County, Mass._
ASPARAGUS ON LONG ISLAND
The cultivation of asparagus on Long Island does not differ materially,
in most respects, from that practiced in other localities, other than in
its extent. But there is probably more to be learned about its
cultivation there than in any other section of the country, from the
fact of its being grown under such changed conditions of soil. Here it
can be shown that the character of soil is not, of itself, of great
importance, and that on soil usually considered worthless--on land that
can be bought, uncleared, at from five to ten dollars per
acre--asparagus can be made as profitable a crop as on land considered
cheap at one hundred dollars per acre.
Nearly every farm, the northern boundary of which is the Long Island
Sound, has from two to twenty acres of soil composed very largely of
fine drift sand, in all respects like quick-sand in character. This,
when mixed with light loam, as is frequently the case, is the most
favorable land for asparagus, and in such it is largely grown, being
unsuited to potatoes or cereals, and where grasses make but a feeble
struggle for existence. Within five minutes' walk to the south the soil
is from a lively to a quite heavy loam, in which corn, potatoes,
cabbage, cauliflower, and, in fact, all other crops revel. In this soil
the asparagus also finds a congenial home, but no better than in the
sand, in which but little else can be grown; neither can it be grown
here more profitably. The expense for fertilizers is a little more on
the sandy soil, but the cost in labor on the heavy soil will quite
equal the cost of extra fertilizer required on the light.
Whether away from a saline atmosphere a light soil would be as favorable
as a heavy one for the asparagus is a question that practical experiment
only can settle. But it is an important one, as it is not generally
supposed that it is possible to grow asparagus, at a profit, on such
soils as are now being devoted to this crop on Long Island.
That which has been called the barren wastes, the dwarf-pine and
scrub-oak lands of Suffolk County, can be made most profitable farming
lands may be a surprise to many, but that such is the case does not
admit of a doubt. As evidence of this, let us state what is being done
along these lines. Messrs. Hudson & Sons, leading canners of asparagus,
have bought a farm of 525 acres of as poor land as it is possible to
find on Long Island, which they are to devote exclusively to this crop.
They have already more than fifty acres planted, and are getting the
whole in readiness as rapidly as possible. This is no experiment, but
simply doing on a large scale what has profitably been done on a small
one.
On similar soils a low estimate of net profit is $100 per acre, and
there are many instances where double this profit is made. The price
paid last season by the canners was $14 per 100 bunches for first
quality, and $6 per 100 for culls, or "tips," as they are usually
called. With good cultivation, which means a liberal supply of plant
food--and there is no crop that requires more--and the surface kept
clean, free from weeds, and frequently cultivated, so that the surface
is at all times loose and fine to prevent evaporation, the average yield
is 2,500 bunches per acre. If we estimate the tips at 25 per cent. of
the crop, the gross receipts will amount to $200 per acre.
After a given acreage is ready for cutting, which is the third year
after planting, the annual cost of cultivation is not very much, if any,
more than that of a crop of potatoes. It is a question whether the
actual cost of growing and marketing an acre of asparagus is not less
than that of an acre of potatoes. Some growers assert it is three times
as much work to take care of a given acreage of asparagus as of
potatoes; admitting it, the relative cost is stated above.
C. L. ALLEN.
_Nassau County, N. Y._
ASPARAGUS IN NEW JERSEY
An important point in asparagus culture is to remove the top growth in
the fall of the year. For this purpose I use a mowing-machine, then rake
up the brush and burn it on the bed. After this I top-dress heavy with
manure, leaving it lie on the land until spring.
Just as soon as the ground is fit to work at all I put on a disk-harrow,
and cut it about four times each way until it is thoroughly pulverized.
Then with a smoothing-harrow I level it, and repeat the smoothing-harrow
operation about once a week to keep down all weeds coming through. Then
we let it go as long as we can, possibly two weeks, and at the
appearance of weeds we take an ordinary sweet-potato ridger having a
plow on either side and run it astride the row, covering everything in
the row. Doing this on Saturday afternoon holds the asparagus back over
the following day. Then we take the middle out with a one-horse
cultivator. This is done probably three times during the cutting season,
which is eight weeks. With the help of one of these weeders, which we
use at least once a week, we keep the bed quite clean of all weeds, and
this I consider very essential. The cultivation should continue after
cutting until the top growth becomes so large as to protect the ground,
and then there will be but little trouble late in the season about
weeds. It doesn't pay to grow them anywhere, and especially not in
asparagus beds.
In planting, the ground should be well prepared and furrowed out eight
inches in depth, four and one-half feet apart, and the plants two and
one-half feet in the row, with a little fine manure in bottom of row;
put about two inches of soil on the plants to cover. Then as the sprouts
come up, keep on filling the furrows by cultivation.
I have been using some commercial manures the past two years, applying
at the rate of one ton to the acre about the rows in the spring; then
nearly a ton of salt to the acre applied at any time. It helps keep
weeds down and gives the asparagus a good flavor. Above all, do not
forget to apply the fertilizer, and Plenty, with a big "P," of
it--either stable manure or commercial fertilizers. Probably there will
be less weeds by using the latter, but there needs to be a great deal of
the former in the beginning for several years, to give the bed a good
body of rich earth, from which the plants feed. It appears to me this
is the secret of success.
Much depends upon how asparagus is put up for the market, making it look
attractive, in nice, clean, new crates and neatly prepared bunches, and
the stalks must be large, tender, and of good flavor. Grass from a
strong bed grown in twenty-four hours is much more tender and better in
every way than grass grown in forty-eight hours from a poor bed. We are
compelled to cut every twenty-four hours, or the asparagus would waste,
and the gathering is accomplished in about three and one-half hours each
day, early in the morning.
JOEL BORTON.
_Salem County, N. J._
ASPARAGUS IN THE SOUTH
There is no crop grown by the Southern trucker that has paid better than
asparagus year after year. With many of the other truck crops sent North
the growers have to contend with a host of planters who rush in at times
to plant certain crops like early potatoes, peas, and beans, and whose
inferior crops often glut the market and make the season unprofitable
all around. These men drop out after a season that their particular
venture did not pay, and the regular truckers, being well aware that
they would do so, always redouble their efforts the year after a bad
season with any particular crop, knowing from experience that then it
would be certain to be profitable.
But the asparagus crop is one into which the temporary growers can not
jump in and out of, for the crop requires special preparation of the
soil and patient waiting and culture pending the time for reaping a
harvest, and the men who are always ready to jump into the annual crops
always wish to realize at once, and do not generally have the capital to
put into a crop that requires several years before realizing. Hence the
asparagus crop has been left to the regular market gardeners, and has
been uniformly profitable when well managed.
As regards soil for asparagus in the South, it should be deep, light,
warm, and well drained, either naturally or artificially. The level
sandy soils that abound in all the South Atlantic Coast region, having a
compact subsoil of reddish clay under it at a moderate depth, makes the
ideal soil for the early asparagus.
In preparing such a soil for the crop, it is well to be thorough in the
matter, for the crop is to remain there indefinitely, and if success is
to be expected the previous preparation should be of the most thorough
character. Hence, as the soils best adapted to the growth of the plant
are commonly deficient in vegetable matter, which desirable
characteristic can only be found in abundance on the lands too low and
moist for the asparagus crop, some preparatory culture should be used
that will tend to increase the amount of organic decay in the soil.
For this purpose there is nothing better than the Southern field or cow
pea. The land should be prepared by giving it a heavy dressing of acid
phosphate and potash; and putting it in peas sown broadcast at the rate
of a bushel or more per acre. With a heavy dressing of the mineral
fertilizers the pea crop will be heavy, and should be allowed to fully
ripen and decay on the land, to be plowed under, and the process
repeated the following year. In the mean time the seed should be sown
for the growth of the roots for setting the land.
Two crops of cow-peas allowed to die on the land and turned under will
give a store of vegetable matter that would be hard to get in any other
manner. While heavy manuring with stable manures is very desirable where
the material can be had at a reasonable cost, the larger part, and, in
fact, nearly all of the Southern asparagus, must be grown by the aid of
chemical fertilizers, and the storing up of humus in the land from the
decaying peas is an important factor in the placing of the soil in a
condition to render the chemical fertilizers of more use, since the
moisture-retaining nature of the organic matter plays an important part
in the solution of matters in the soil. Aside from this, there will be a
large increase in the nitrogen contents of the soil through the
nitrification of this organic matter.
The second crop of peas should be plowed under in late fall when
perfectly ripe and dead, so that the land can be gotten into condition
for planting in early spring. The land should be thoroughly plowed, and
if the clay subsoil comes near the surface it should be loosened with
the subsoil plow. Furrows are then run out four and a half to five feet
apart, going twice in the furrow, and then cleaning out with shovels
till there is a trench a foot deep. In the bottom of this trench place a
good coat of black earth from the forest, or, if well-rotted manure can
be had, use that of course. Set the plants twenty inches apart in the
furrow, and by means of hand-rakes pull in enough earth to barely cover
the crowns.
As growth begins, the soil is to be gradually worked in around the
advancing shoots till the soil is level. Now give a dressing of 1,000
pounds per acre, alongside the rows, of a mixture of 900 pounds of acid
phosphate, 500 pounds of fish scrap, 200 pounds of nitrate of soda, and
400 pounds of muriate of potash, and keep the plants cultivated
shallowly and flat with an ordinary cultivator till the tops are mature.
An application of salt may be useful if applied in the fall in making
some matters in the soil available, but salt in itself is of no use
whatever to the plants. We would never apply salt in the spring, as it
has a tendency to lessen nitrification and to retard the earliness of
the shoots.
The annual dressing of the fertilizer named should now be increased to a
ton per acre, and it should be applied not later than February 1st in
each year. After the tops have been cut in the fall it is a good plan to
plow furrows from each side over the rows and to plow out the middles,
for the shoots will always start earlier in an elevated ridge, which
warms up earlier in the spring.
The second year after planting cutting may begin, and the shoots must be
cut as fast as they show, care being taken to cut down near the crown of
the roots, but not to injure the other shoots that may be starting.
After cutting is over--and the length of time the bed should be cut is
of little importance in the South, for the price at the point where it
is shipped will always tell you when to stop--the soil should be again
worked down flat, and if the growth has not been as satisfactory as
could be wished, a dressing of 100 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda at
this time will usually pay very well. Asparagus should always be bunched
in a machine made for that purpose. The bunches are packed in crates
just deep enough to hold the bunches set upright on a bed of moss, and a
cover of the same damp moss should be placed on top.
Where there is a demand for green asparagus the planting should be done
more shallowly in a simple furrow, and the entire culture should be flat
and shallow. The shoots are cut at the surface of the ground after they
have attained the proper length. One thing is to be observed in either
method, and this is that during the cutting season everything long
enough must be cut daily, and that the little shoots be not allowed to
run up and branch out. Cull the shoots after they are all out and bunch
accordingly. Green shoots should be bunched by themselves and not mixed
with the blanched ones. None but new, light crates should be used, for a
clean and neat package will always favor its contents in the selling.
W. F. MASSEY.
_North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station._
ASPARAGUS CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA