The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-03-02

~ pounds, nitrogen, ~ pounds potash,
phoric acid. About 933 pounds in 1000
o1uthe shoots consist Of water. An ex-
csilent fertilizer, according to the above
phosphate rock and 10 pounds suiphate
OF potash. 1t will be noticed that nitro
gen is the most important plant food to
apply; therefore stable manure is excel
lent It nitrate Of soda is used with it.
These materials may be applied in the
1all by opening the row, or the manure
should be spread in the fall Oh level
beds and the nitrate in the spring.
The asparagus beetle and the rust have
zone much to discourage growers. The
Deetle is less than one-fourth of an inch
IN length, is yellow, red and brilliantly
biack, being very beautiful in appearance,
and attacks the tips of the shoots as soon
as tney appear through the surface of the
g ROY a.; The larva feeds upon the tender
Dark and leaves. The best mode of de-
stroyings them is to draw the hands over
the stalks from the bottom, so as to crush
them. A hen with young chicks will per
form excellent service, and busting with
i1me III the morning while the stalks are
camp with dew is also recommended.
With persistent effort the beetle can be
kept in check. The rust is more difticult
to combat. 1t is parasite fungus
growth, and is propagated by spores, Of
winch there are three stages spring.
summer and winter, the latter being con
splcuous by the darkening of the color of
the leaves. Rust, being minute plant,
aerlVes Its nourishment from the sap of
TN the asparagus plants. Experiments at
t she,1 Purdue university experiment. station
snow that asparagus affected with rust
IN the third stage has numerous dark
colored pustules, or spots, of irregular
shape, distributed over it's stems and
ieaVes. These pustules contain the win
Ter spores: These spores (really the seeds)
are round beneath the epidermis of the
r,mt1r ana as they develop push it out and
free to fall to the ground or be blown
ABOUT by the winds, while some of them
adhere to the plants during the winter.
terminating in the spring and injecting
new plants, producing the first or spring
stage, thus the life cycle being renewed
'ss1s plants again begins.
Ihe effect of rust is to cause a prema-
lure rlpening of the plants. No satisfac-
tory remedy has been found, not even
spraying with Bordeaux mixture proving
eftectual. Prevention is the only source
OF relief, and the best method is burning
the stalks as soon as they mature, not by
heapmg them in piles, but by using straw
or litter, so as to burn over every square
AAANA VI LHe Dcu IL Is important that all
growers i'll neighborhood should organ
ize and work in harmony, for should one
fail to do his duty he will injure the 9th
ers. As the. plants sometimes begin to
come through the ground almost before
winter is over it will be of advantage to
carefully observe the asparagus plot and
watch for both the beetle and rust from
start to finish. If the ground can be
worked it will pay to dig over the sur
face Of the bed to the depth of an inch,
rake up the refuse and consign to the
flames. If the bed was burned over last
fall it will do no harm to repeat the
process again at this season, as fire alone
can save the beds from destruction. In
some sections rust has completely put an
end to asparagus growing, owing to lack
Of organized effort. 1t has spread rapidly
since first reported 1880, and it will
soon make it's appearance in locations
where it is now unknown. 1t is not too
early to call attention to this danger and
to urge the Importance of all growers
combining for protection, as individual
warfare against pest that is spread far
and wide by winds will accomplish but
little.-Philadelphia Record.