The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-01-16
cuLruRE OF ASPARAGUS.

There is no one matter in gardening
in which an amateur more commonly
fails than In setting an asparagus bed,
unless il be in his attempts to grow
mushrooms-while both are perfectly
easy, when done properly. While an
asparagus root in the dormant condi
ton can hardly be killed by cold, wet
or drought, my experien 20 is that there
is no plant gotten from nurseries that
ia more commonly injured in transpor-
tation by careless packing. When
once the roots are heated In a close
package, they are worthless for plant
ing. I once lost a shipment Of 10000
Conover's Colossal roots, when they
were worth SO per 1000 through the
reckless packing Of them en- masse in
large tiercee. If asparagus roots are
20 be bought from a nursery, always
buy FROM some M who has a reputa-
ton to sustain for careful packing, and
get them as close to home as possible.
But the most perfect roots are often
lost by inexperienced people in plant
ing. They have read that asparagus
roots must be set deep in the ground,
and thereupon deep down in the
ground they bury their yearling roots,
and are astonished to see that only
here and there a feeble shoot ever
reaches sunlight. In my boyhood, the
planting of an asparagus bed was one
of the grand mysteries of the old negro
gardener. He excavated the soil as
carefully as an old Scotchman would
ia planting a grapery under glass, and
always paved the bottom with brick
bats, stone or oyster shells. Why he
did so no one aver knew, but ''dats de
waytogroW sparrergrass !" and he grew
il too, for his excavated bed was filled
with the highest and richest of com
post, and the paved bottom never hin
dered the shoots from growing up
wards. But with the development of
the great market gardening interests
in various parts of the country, came
more economical and business like
methods. For many years all markets
demanded blanched asparagus, and
many places still do, while other places
want green and tender shoots. The
toughness of the blanched shoots has
led buyers in many markets of late
years to seek green asparagus, and we
will give our mode of growing both
the bleached and green. The gardener
roTH1& N% nOyTWCo nRn M RI cIITt hTC M -
ket. If it demands white asparagus,
he must grow it white, of course, and
we would note that asparagus that is
all white to the tip is more tender than
that which has made a green tip and is
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, n year old roots are to
be preferred to older ones, but the &C
tual nursery-grown roots are so thick
ly crowded that most people plant two
year old roots. I prefer to SOW the
seed thinly on very rich soil and give
careful culture for n season. Such
roots are worth double what crowded
two year old roots of the nursery are
for any mode of subsequently planting.
The preparation of the land for aspar-
agus is a most important matter, for
the plantation is to last many years
and no subsequent manuring or cul-
ture can fully atone for deficient prep
aration. AS to varieties, my expert
enc is that n is as good as another.
Fine asparagus is wholly a matter of
rich feeding. 1 can take seed from the
wild asparagus and grow as fat stalks
as from any named seed. Asparagus
being a dioecious plant, and being
grown entirely from seed, a purely dis
tinct variety is usually imaginary. The
land for an asparagus plantation should
be light and warm, for earliness is of
prime Importance. 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 fertilize it. Therefore 1
prefer to use land that has been for
years cultivated and MANFRED for
market garden purposes, and which
has been thoroughly and deeply
worked. Having such a soil and
plenty Of old, rotten manure we may
proceed to plant for blanched aspara-
gus 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
nhn-oI ThSn rnrnnh hn dnnn DO nnmlr ~ 10