The Cairo bulletin., 1909-08-31
ASPARAGUS CULTURE.
Selecting the Plants and the Care Of
the Bed.

One of the best and easiest grown
of our garden perennials is the as
paragus plant 1t can be started
either from seed or from plants II
one wishes 10 raise plants to sell. 1t
is better, of course, to plant the seed,
, but if asparagus is wanted for home
or market use. in the shortest time
| possible, it is better to set out year.
/ ling seedlings. says a writer in the
Country Gentleman.
| 1t is important, in laying out the
! asparagus plantation, to select place
where it can remain permanently, for,
if taken proper care of, the plantation
will last for 20 years. The old idea
| was the asparagus bed" the new is
to plant in rows the same as corn,
etc, so that for the market garden the
cultivation can be done by horse The
land selected should be deep, rich fer
tile, moist and cool soil, having
warm exposure, gradual southern
slope being preferred. If the laud is
originally hard and coarse, it should
be worked year or two in advance
by the raising of some titled crop,
using as much manure as possible in
the process.
Late, deep fall blowing Is preferable,
turning under a thick covering OF
well-rotted manure. When the frost
is out of the ground, pillow burrows
from six TO 10 inches deep and four
feet apart. If the soil is not of the
best quality, two or three inches of
well-rotted manure should be placed
in the bottom of each trench, and on
this add a couple Of inches Of loose
soil, Then, place the plants in the
trench three feet apart Cover with
three inches of earth; it is not well TO
cover deeper. as it takes too long for
the young shoots to push their way
through. AS the shoots grow, the
rest of the earth can be filled in
around them by after cultivation
| When filled in, the crowns of the
plants should be about six inches be-
low the surface of the ground, for If
planted much less the roots will push
up to the surface and interfere with
cultivation.
If asparagus seed Is to be planted
it should not be more than one year
old, as the terminating per cent of
,II tJ,n I'D
several hours in warm water enables
termination to take place sooner, as
Iordinarily it takes about six weeks
for the plants TO come up. The seed
is planted by the garden drill, In rows
about Is inches apart, When the
plants are up, thin out to about four
inches in the row. 1t is we'll to sow
radish seed with asparagus, as the
radish will come up much quicker
than the asparagus and enable one to
detect the rows for wedding. The
radishes can be pulled without inter-
fering with the asparagus, as they
can be matured before the asparagus,
reaches any height. The seedlings are
| SET OUT the next year.
AS the asparagus is gross feeder,
it is well to mulch in the fall with
more or less well-rotted manure. al
though straw and leaves will do Be-
fore mulching, the old stalks should
be cut and carried away, and, IL af
fected with rust, should be burned.
In early spring, the straw and unde-
| cayed leaves should be removed and
good coating of well-rotted manure
and cultivate in. Very little cutting
should be done until two years after
setting out. and then the cutting
should not be carried on later than
July /, as the plants need to grow
in order to store up food supply for
the next years growth. In cutting the
asparagus for use. a sharp. square
pointed knife should be used, and a
straight, downward cut made just I'M
derneath the surface of the ground,
care being taken not to iniure the UNI
seen shoots
Where plants are affected with rust,
spray with soap bordeaux mixture
which is made,up of four pounds of
copper sulphate, four pounds of fresh
stone lime, to 40 gallons of water,
adding fur pounds of dissolved laun-
dry soap. AS a preventive, destroy all
stray plants affected with rust in the
vicinity Asparagus can be forced in
winter In cellars or hot beds, by us
ing the roots of old plants; but these
generally die after this kind of treat
nrent 1t is advisable only to use
plants from an old field which is to