The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-03-05
THE BEST Of ASPARAGUS
Points Learned at Cornell by
Young womsn--eood Seed and
Rich Soil the Basis ~ Her e,tooass

Among those who attribute much OF
their success to the information gained
from the short course in the Agricul-
tural College of Cornell University is
a young woman who has devoted her
energies to growing asparagus for
market. She finds ready sale for all
she grows and boasts that she re-
ceives as high prices as are ever paid
Being fond of asparagus / took a
lot of trouble to raise It, and did so
well that once in while would have
some to sell 1t was not until went
to Cornell that really tried to learn
the proper way of growing t. mean
growing It to perfection.
Instead OF growing the old kind OF
asparagus, the roots of which ] had
found In neighbor's deserted garden.
! bought some imported seeds of the
French variety had heard of up at
Cornell. Instead of planting the as
paragus in just ordinarily rich earth
] saw that the ground was just about
as highly fertilized as any plant life
could stand. Now after my experience
! believe that those are the two points
absolutely essential to producing the
best grade asparagus-good seed and
plenty Of well rotted manure in the
soil.
"of course had to work out my
own salvation in a measure and while
doing 1t | made mistakes. My methods
now are what have in my experience
been proved the best in our climate
and soil
Il SOW my seed as early in the
spring as the ground can be worked.
The bed in which the seeds are sown is
as rich as | can make II with well
rotted manure, either from the stable
or the COW barns. The seed should
be sown in burrows one inch deep,
three inches apart and covered with
loose earth to the depth of about a
half inch Asparagus seeds take long
time to come up, and the bed will
need frequent and careful weddings
even before there is the slightest in
dication that the seeds have germinat-
ed.
Many asparagus growers who have
made success tell me that they plant
only two-year-old roots in their per-
manent beds. Now | plant only strong
one-year-old roots in my permanent
beds and find that they do better than
If waited year longer,
These year old roots must be
strong and covered with fine Gbres.
They are dug up in May after the
shoots appear above the ground.
dig the roots from the seed bed with a
potato fork, shake off the earth and
put them into a bucket OF liquid COW
manure. Great care should be taken
not TO dip up too many roots at a
time. They should be transplanted to
the permanent beds as soon as possi-
BILE, so as not to stop the growth.
"In preparing these permanent
beds deep and thorough ploughing is
Of the utmost Importance, After what
call the foundation ploughing is done
drive the plough twice through the
same faTow, forward and back.
THESE furTows are then shovelled
out TO depth Of eighteen inches with
hand spade in such way as to make
level bottomed trench in which the
roots are planted. The roots should
be placed lengthwise in a line on the
bottom of the trench and covered
with about two inches OF rich loose
earth.
When new and thrifty shoots indi-
cate that the roots are becoming firm
ly established in the trench layer
OF two or three inches OF fertilizer
composed of well rotted manure, sui
phate of potash and ground bone
should be spread in the trench and
this compost covered with two or
three more inches OF good loose soil.
Later In the summer, before the mid
die of July, this application of com
post with a top layer Of soil should
be repeated, and the trench will then
be on a level with the ground have
found rows six feet apart with the
roots three feet in the rows better thar
planting the roots nearer.
81 prefer one-year-old roots to those
that are a year older, because | have
found that they not only outyield
two-year-old roots in the third year
but give higher quality / have had
the difference to be as high as one
third in weight in favor of the one
year roots, no comparison in size and
tenderness.
Permanent asparagus beds should
have heavy manuring every spring
until the shoots are old enough to be
cut. When the cutting age is reached
and additional top dressing must be
given after the cutting OF that season
Is over to replenish the exhausted
Vitality OF the roots.
Il never give a top dressing in the
autumn, but instead run shallow fur
rows with a light one horse plough
on each side Of the crowns and deeper
burrows in the middle between the
rows or beds. All Of these burrows are
filled with the compost OF stable
manure, sulphate of potash and
prottnd hnna phEc L..