The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-12-28


only white below, while none is so ten
der as that which is entirely green.
When asparagus is to be grown in
quantity, it is always better to start
with the seed rather than to buy the
ordinary nursery-grown roots. When
well grown, one year old roots are to
be preferred to older ones, but the ac-
tual nursery-grown roots are so thickly
crowded that most people plant two
year old roots. / prefer to sow the
seed thinly on very rich soil and give
careful culture for one season. Such
roots are worth double what crowded
two year old roots of the nursery are
for any mode of subsequent planting.
The preparation of the land for aSpara-
gus is most important matter, for the
plantation is to last many years and no
subsequent manuring or culture can
fully atone for deficient preparation.
AS to varieties, my experience is that
one is as good as another. Fine aspara-
gus is wholly a matter of rich feeding.
can take seed from the wild asparagus
and grow as fat stalks as from any
named seed. Asparagus being dieci-
Gus plant, and being grown entirely
from seed, purely distinct variety is
usually imaginary. The land for an
asparagus plantation should be light
and warm, for earliness is of prime i'm
portance. Above all it should be deep
and rich. No ordinary farm land can
at once be put in condition to grow the
best asparagus, no matter how we may
fertilizc it. Therefore l prefer to use
land that has been for years cultivated
and MANFRED for market garden pur-
poses and which has been thoroughly
and deeply worked. Having such
soil and plenty of old, rotten manure
we may proceed to plant for blanched
asparagus as follows: Run out deep
burrows in the well prepared land, five
60 ~ -a1
this furrow and then cleaning out with
a shovel. This must be done as early
as possible in Spring, or, in this lati-
tude late Autumn Put liberal dress
ing of fine compost in these trenches
and work it in with a bull tongue or a
one-horse SubSoiler.
Now set the roots, spreading them
out in their natural position. Draw in
just enough fine soil to cover the crowns
an inch or SO, and tramp or roll tight
with a broad-tired wheel. When the
shoots grow, gradually work the soil
into the trenches until finally the soil
is level. We prefer to cultivate no
crops at all between the rows. We
should have said that two feet should
be allowed between plants in the row.
Cultivate clean all the season and fiat.
Clean off the dead tips at end of season,
and at no stage of growth allow any
seed-bearing plants to mature seed.
will give trouble from seeding plants.
The second season cultivate as the
first season, having given heavy ma
nuring broadcast, or in the absence of
manure, not less than 1000 to 1900
pounds of high grade ammoniated fer
tilizer. The followin Autumn give
dressing of half ton per acre of lxainit,
and manure again in late Winter or
early Spring. AS this season cutting
will begin, the first culture, before any
growth begins, should consist in plow-
ing the land in sharp ridges over the
rows and cleaning out the dead burrows
between so as to drain all water away.
These ridges warm up more quickly
than the fiat land and cause earlier
growth. The cutting should be done az
soon as the shoots crack the ground, by
running long asparagus knife down
near the crown of the root and cutting
without hurting the adjacent shoots,
cutting none that cannot be long enough
for the regular punching machine. The
French growers pull the soil away by
hand and pull the shoots without cut
ting, and then return the soil.
To grow green asparagus, we do not
plant in deep trenches, and we can pro-
duce asparagus at an earlier date in the
season because the roots are nearer the
surface. Our practice is as follows: We
sow the seed thickly, preferably in Au-
lines are marked out on the level sur
face, and the young plants are trans
planted with a dibble, as soon as they
are about as long as ones finger. These
young plants can be set very rapidly
and they live and grow off as readily as
any other Spring plants. We set them
rather closer in the row than when
planting roots in trenches, say Is to 20
inches apart. Cultivation is perfectly
flat. l once had asparagus fit to cut the
next season by this method, but it is
better to defer any cutting until the sec
ond year, and this will be a year ahead.
of roots set in trenches These roots all
ramify near the surface and start very
early in Spring. The cutting, too, is
more simple, because the entire growth,
or nearly all, is above ground, only
slight ridge being made in Spring over
the rows. The stalks are cut off just
below the surface. To my taste, this is
by far the best asparagus, and wherever
buyers get accustomed to it they no
longer want the blanched article. The
planting of such bed is matter of far
less cost than the old method. Of course,
the punching is always done by a ma
chine, making uniform lunches, and it
is unnecessary to describe it here. But
many growers iniure the sale of their
asparagus Dy using poor CleS OF IWlne or
old rags. Always use fiat ties of bass
bark or Raffia, and always put two ties
on bunch. Cut the butts square and
pack in crates just deep enough to stand
the bunche., on bed of fresh moss or
grassy. f. MASSEY, Il. c. Agricul-
tilral Experiment Station.
QUESTION: AND REPLIES.
The Station will be glad to receive
my questions on agricultural topics
any one may desire to send. Address
all questions to the ''N. C. Agricultural
Experiment Station, Raleigh, n. c."
Replies will be written as early as pos
sible by the member of the Station
staff most competent to do so, and,
when of general interest, they will also
appear in these columns. The Station
expects, in this way, to enlarge its
sphere of usefulness and render great
assistance to practical farmers.
Use of Lime and Salt in the Compost.
viii you please write me IL it will pay to
sprinkle copperas in the compost heap, where
only dirt and leaves are used; also will com
merc1a1 saltpetre grow cotton. potatoes and
Fegeta bleS better than guano, and what guam
t1ty per acre is required ii. W. H, Wilton,
N G.
answered by II. B. Battle. Director n. c. Ex-
pertinent Station)