The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-01-25

"s %SaA2 note shaf asparagus ira. 81
ali white 20 the tip is more tender than
thht which has made "a green tip and -
only white below. while none Is - ten
der as that which il entirely green
When asparagus Is IT, be grown n
quantity. j. j. always better Z. "a 4
with the seed rather than - bnv tie
ordinary nur-ery-srrosgu roots y hen
wei grown. one wear old roots are 10
oe preferred 10 older Gnea. but the ac-
/ tual nursery grown roots are ~ thIelzlv
. crowded that most pyoHIe plant two
year old roots / prefer 20 sow the
se@d taluly on very rich soil and give
careful culture for one season. Such
roots are worth double waat crow led
txo year old roots Cf the nursery are
for any mode Of SUBSEQUENT plant ny
The preparation Of the land for asp sra-
gus Is most important matter for the
plantation l. - last many years and no
subsequent M murine az culture can
! iai'T atone for deficient preparation.
n 10 varieties, NV experience is that
J Cnc IL As good a. s~aothyr- Elne "a para
gus il wholly a matter 81 rich feeding.
can take seed from the Wild asparagus
and grow as fat stalks as frn.t any
named seed. Asparagus being a ds5eci-
Gus plant, and being crown entirely
from seed, purely distinct variety *
,
asparagus plantation should be light
and war n. for earlncss IS Of prime i'm
poTtance. Above all il should be deep
and rich. No ordinary farm land can
1T once be put in condition TO grow the
best asparagus, no matter how we NAV
| fertliize It. Therefore / prefer to use
land that has been Cor years cultivated
and manured for market garden pur-
poses, and which has been thoroughly
and deeply worked. Having such q
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
feet apart, by going several times in
/ 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 Il liberal dress
| ing Of fine compost in these trenches
and work it in with a bull tongue or Il
One-hOrse subSOilcr.
Now set the roots. spreading them
out in their natural position. Draw IN
Just enough fine soil to cover the crowns
an inch or 50. and tramp or roll tight
with d 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
Sced-bearin% plants to mature seed
This not only weakens the plant. but
will give trouble from seeding plants.
The second season cultivate as the
first season, having given a heavy ma
nuring broadcast, or in the absence of
manure, not less than 1000 to 1900
pounds of high grade ammOniated fer
tilizer. The follown Autumn give a
dressing of half ton per acre of Izainit
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 III sharp ridges over the
rows and cleaning out the dead burrows
between 50 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 as
| soon as the shoots crack the ground, by
running d 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, aud we can pro
duce asparagus at ali earlier date in the
season because the roots are nearer the
surface. Our practice is as follows: We
SOW the seed thiclzly, preferably in Au-
tumn. The land being well prepared,
lines are marked out on the level sur
face, and the young plants are trans
| planted with Il dibBie. 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. | 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 year ahead
of roots setin trenches. These roots all
ramifV 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 ma
chine, making uniform punches, and it
is unnecessary to describe it here. But
many growers iniure the sale of their
asparagus by using poor ties of Irvine or
old rags. Always use fat ties of bass
bark or Raffia, and always put two ties
on "a bunch. Cut the butts square and
pack in crates just deep enough to stand
the punches or a bed of fresh moss or
grass.--W. f. MASSEY, n. G. Ag1icul-
I trral Exrar.ipoapt G+ottoo