ASPARAGUS, ITS CULTURE FOR HOME USE AND FOR MARKET A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE PLANTING, CULTIVATION, HARVESTING, MARKETING, AND PRESERVING OF ASPARAGUS, WITH NOTES ON ITS HISTORY TEXT

and if it is not in the most favorable condition, under existing circumstances, it can easily be made so. The soil should be free from roots, stones, or any material that will not readily disintegrate, or that will interfere with the growth of the spears, and with the knife in cutting. Fruit or other trees, or high shrubs, must not be allowed in the asparagus bed, because of the shade they throw over the beds, and because their roots make heavy drafts upon the soil. Nor should high trees, hedges, hills, or buildings be so near as to shade the beds, because all the sunshine obtainable is needed to bring the spears quickly to the surface. Whenever practicable the asparagus bed should be protected from cold winds, and so slope that the full benefit of the sunshine will be obtained during the whole day. Brinckmeier, in his "Braunschweiger Spargelbuch," gives the following three rules for guidance in selecting a location for asparagus beds: "1. One should choose, in reference to ground characteristics, open, free-lying land, protected to the north and east [which, for American conditions, should be north and west], of gradual slope, free from trees or shrubbery. "2. The field should be exposed to the rays of the sun all day long; therefore, a southern exposure is desirable, or, if that is not obtainable, a southwesterly or southeasterly slope, because either east, west, or north exposure will cause shade during a greater or less portion of the day. "3. Standing, stagnant ground water, which cannot be drawn off by drainage, is to be avoided, the requirements of the plants indicating a somewhat damp subsoil, but not too high ground water." For commercial purposes on a large scale, and when the trucker has the choice of location, a well-drained, light, deep, sandy loam, with a light clay subsoil, is to be preferred to any other. Heavy clay soil, or land with a hard-pan subsoil, or, in fact, any soil that is cold and wet, is totally unfit for profitable asparagus growing, unless it is thoroughly underdrained and made lighter by a plentiful addition of sand and muck. Freedom from weeds is very desirable, even more so than great fertility, for the latter can be produced by heavy manuring, which the future cultivation will require; and to the end that weeds may be few, it is well that for a year or two previous to planting the land should have been occupied by some hoed crop, such as potatoes, beets, cabbage, etc. Land on which corn has been growing for two or three years is in excellent condition for an asparagus field, provided it has been heavily manured one year previous to the planting of the roots. PREPARATION OF THE GROUND Asparagus differs from most other vegetables in that it is a perennial, and when once planted properly, in suitable soil, it will continue to produce an annual crop for a generation if not for an indefinite period, while if the work is done carelessly and without consideration for the plant's requirements the plantation will never prove satisfactory and will run out entirely in the course of a few years. The establishing of an asparagus bed is naturally more expensive than the planting and raising of annual vegetables. In addition to this, the plants have to be taken care of for three years before a crop can be harvested. On the other hand, an asparagus bed is an investment for a lifetime, and the dividends derived from it increase in proportion to the care and thoroughness bestowed upon the preparation of the land. It is at once apparent, then, that nothing should be neglected to bring the soil into the best possible condition before planting. This truth was fully recognized by the gardeners of former years who practiced most extraordinary methods in order to bring the land into the most favorable condition for asparagus. Even now in some European countries, where labor is cheap, the entire ground is trenched to a depth of three or four feet, turning in at the same time all the available manure, seaweed, and other fertilizing material. A famous old-time asparagus bed in England was made in this manner: "The land was trenched three feet deep in trenches three feet wide and cast up into rough ridges, after a crop of summer peas. All decaying vegetation in the rubbish yards and corners was at the same time well sorted and turned up. Early in autumn also were added some old mushroom, melon, and cucumber bed material, a lot of manure from piggeries, cow houses, and stables, a quantity of road-grit and sand, a quantity of ditch and drain parings, turfy loam and sods, quite three feet thick. These were all turned over four times and well incorporated together, between Michaelmas and Lady Day, as one would a dungheap, the whole being left in large ridges exposed to the frost. By April this compost was in a kindly state; it was, therefore, laid down and planted with good, clean one-year-old asparagus plants, which certainly grew in a most extraordinary way." Another elaborate way of making an asparagus bed, formerly practiced in France, is described by Dr. Maccullogh as follows: "A pit the size of the intended plantation is dug four feet in depth, and the mold taken from it must be sifted, taking care to reject all stones, even as low in size as a filbert nut. The best part of the mold must then be laid aside before making up the beds. The materials of the bed are then to be laid in the following proportions and order: Six inches of common dunghill manure, eight inches of turf, six inches of dung as before, six inches of sifted earth, eight inches of turf, six inches of very rotten dung, eight inches of the best of earth. The last layer of earth must then be well mixed with the last of dung. The compartment must now be divided into beds five feet wide by paths constructed of turf two feet in breadth and one foot in thickness." A bed prepared in this manner, and planted and cultivated with as much painstaking care, will no doubt produce asparagus of unsurpassed quality, and may last forever. Yet the use of modern implements and a better knowledge of the nature and requirements of the plant have demonstrated that first-class asparagus can be produced with far less expense and labor. While a deep and loose soil produces earlier and better crops than a heavy and shallow one, indiscriminate deepening of the soil by trenching or other means is not always desirable, even where the cost does not come into consideration. When the subsoil is very light and poor and deficient in humus, the placing of the better surface soil below and the infertile lower strata above, trenching would be a positive detriment. The same would be the case where the subsoil consists of heavy impervious clay. In the fall preceding planting the land should be plowed deeply and left in the rough state during the winter. Subsoiling has often been recommended, yet practical growers but rarely make use of the subsoil plow in the preparation of asparagus plantations, although the value of subsoiling where the subsoil is heavy can not be doubted. Where stable or barnyard manure can be had cheaply, and the soil is heavy, a liberal coat spread broadcast over the surface and left to the action of the weather during winter will ameliorate the ground considerably. In most cases, however, the same object may be obtained by applying the manure in spring. Joseph Harris mentions a case in which a bed was plowed and subsoiled in the fall and the soil filled with manure, while another bed near by was planted without manure, or extra preparation of any kind, relying entirely on artificial fertilizers after planting, and the latter was by far the better bed. As early in spring as the ground is in suitable condition to be worked it has to be plowed and harrowed and brought into as perfect condition as possible. VIII PLANTING Throughout the Middle and Northern States, spring, as soon as the soil can be worked to good advantage, is decidedly the most favorable time for planting asparagus. If it is not practicable to plant thus early, the work may sometimes be delayed up to the middle of June. In planting thus late, however, preparation has to be made for watering the plants in case of drouth, else failure be inevitable. It is also necessary to do the work as expeditiously as possible, so as not to expose the roots to the drying influences of the sun and wind. Fall planting is advisable only in climates where there is no danger of winter-killing of the roots. After the ground has been plowed and harrowed, or spaded and raked over, and brought into as mellow a condition as possible, the rows for planting are to be laid out. It is usually recommended to have the rows run north and south, so as to readily admit the sunlight. When this is not practicable, however, it need not deter any one from making an asparagus bed, as it is more important to have the rows run with the slope of the land than in any particular direction of the compass, in order to provide ready surface drainage. DISTANCE TO PLANT As to the best distance between the rows and the plants in the rows there is a wide difference of opinion, more so than with almost any other cultivated plant. No unvarying rule can be laid down on this point, as it depends largely upon the mechanical condition, depth, and fertility of the soil. In a rich, moderately heavy soil, the roots may be planted closer than in a poor, light soil. The tendency of the present day is for giving the plants considerably more room than what formerly was thought to be ample. Intelligent observers could not fail to notice that crowded asparagus beds produce later and smaller crops, and of inferior size and quality; that they do not last as long; and that they are more liable to attacks from insects and fungi than when more room is given to the plants. Gardeners of but a few decades ago had no idea of the possibility of raising a profitable crop of asparagus planted four or five feet apart, and would have looked with derision upon any one advocating so wild a scheme. The remains of run out, old-time asparagus beds are still in evidence in many old farm gardens. The rows in these were originally one foot apart and the plants in the rows even closer than this, and perhaps after every third or fourth row there was a path two feet wide. Of course, in such a bed, after a few years, the entire ground became a solid mass of roots, and the stalks became smaller and tougher from year to year. [Illustration: FIG. 14--HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD ASPARAGUS ROOT] In most asparagus sections special customs prevail, and even in these different growers have their individual preferences; but all agree that asparagus should never be planted closer than two feet in rows three feet apart. For the home garden there is no better plan than to plant but a single row, with the plants two or three feet apart, along the edge or border of the ground, but not nearer than four or five feet to other plants, and in case of grape-vines even more room should be given. Here they require but little care, and the plants have an unlimited space for the extension of their roots in search of moisture and food. Asparagus needs considerable water, and an acre of land will hold so much water and no more. The more plants there are on an acre the less water there will be for each plant, and what is true of water is also true of plant food. In field culture the distance adopted by asparagus growers varies from 3 x 3 feet (4,840 plants per acre); 3 x 4 feet (3,640 plants per acre); 4 x 4 feet (2,722 plants per acre); 4 x 5 feet (2,178 plants per acre); 5 x 6 feet (1,452 plants per acre); 6 x 6 feet (1,210 plants per acre), and even more. If the idea is to have the plants so far apart that their roots can not interlace, twenty feet each way would not be too extravagant a distance, under favorable conditions, as will readily become apparent by a glance at Fig. 14. This illustration is an exact reproduction of the root system of an asparagus plant four years from the seed. The roots spread out upon a level floor measured thirteen feet from tip to tip, the single roots averaging the thickness of a lead pencil. This root grew in Madison County, Ill., and was washed out of the ground--without having any of its roots torn--by the unusually heavy spring rains which caused the Piasa River to overflow its banks and sent a current rushing through the asparagus field in which it grew. If the plant had remained in its position a few years longer its roots would probably have extended ten feet in each direction. From this it does not follow, however, that asparagus should be planted twenty or even ten feet apart to produce the largest returns, but it plainly shows why the roots should not be planted as closely together as was customary in former years; and it obviously demonstrates that when land is cheap and manure and labor high, asparagus can not be hurt by giving it plenty of room. It should also be considered that earliness, size, and quality make a great difference with the price and profits when early and large shoots are in demand. It might be possible to get double the number of shoots per acre from thick than from thin planting, but they might be so small and spindling as not to be worth the labor and expense of cutting and marketing. DEPTH OF PLANTING Contrary to the all but universal belief, asparagus is not a deep-rooted plant. In the wild state its most frequent habitat is on the fertile marshes of the shoreline in Europe, on ground but a few inches above the tidewater which permeates the sandy subsoil. As the roots can not live in water, they naturally grow to long distances parallel with the surface and retain this habit under cultivation. The tendency of growth in the asparagus roots in this direction is obviously demonstrated in Fig. 14. The proper depth of planting asparagus roots varies somewhat, according to the character of the soil, the method of cultivation, and the kind of spears desired, whether white or green. As the new crowns rise somewhat above the old ones annually, it seems but rational that the plants should have sufficient room for the new growths before their crowns become even with the surface of the land. When the crown once comes near the level of the soil it is impossible to give proper cultivation, unless the entire bed be raised by adding soil to the whole surface. While it is true that the deeper the crowns are planted the later they will start in the spring, this is of account only during the first few years. Besides, the factor of earliness is not of nearly as much importance now as it was before northern markets were so bountifully supplied with the southern grown crops several months before the opening of the northern season. Shallow-planted asparagus sprouts earlier, but soon exhausts itself, sending up spindling, tough shoots, while the deeper-planted crowns produce large and succulent sprouts throughout the season. When green asparagus is desired, and there is no danger of the beetles eating the sprouts before they are fit for use, a depth of two or three inches is sufficient, but for white or blanched asparagus a depth of from eight to ten inches is necessary. MANNER OF PLANTING As in other details of asparagus culture, the methods of planting have undergone very material changes. The formerly usual practice of digging deep trenches was not well founded--in the light of our present experience and knowledge--and could be useful only for drainage. How little regard was paid to the nature and requirements of the plant may readily be perceived by reading the following directions for making an asparagus bed, but little over half a century ago, in Bridgeman's "Young Gardeners' Assistant": "The ground for the asparagus bed should have a large supply of well-rotted dung, three or four inches thick, and then be regularly trenched two spades deep, and the dung buried equally in each trench twelve or fifteen inches below the surface. When this trenching is done, lay two or three inches of thoroughly rotted manure over the whole surface, and dig the ground over again eight or ten inches deep, mixing this top-dressing, and incorporating it well with the earth. "In family gardens it is customary to divide the ground thus prepared into beds, allowing four feet for every four rows of plants, with alleys two feet and a half wide between each bed. Strain your line along the bed six inches from the edge; then with a spade cut out a small trench or drill close to the line, about six inches deep, making that side next to the line nearly upright; when one trench is opened, plant that before you open another, placing the plants upright ten or twelve inches distance in the row, and let every row be twelve inches apart. "The plants must not be placed flat in the bottom of the trench, but nearly upright against the back of it, and so that the crown of the plants must also stand upright, and two or three inches below the surface of the ground, spreading their roots somewhat regularly against the back of the trench, and at the same time drawing a little earth up against them with the hand as you place them, just to fix the plants in their due position until the row is planted; when one row is thus placed, with a rake or hoe draw the earth into the trench over the plants, and then proceed to open another drill or trench, as before directed, and fill and cover it in the same manner, and so on until the whole is planted; then let the surface of the beds be raked smooth and clear from stones, etc. "Some gardeners, with a view to having extra large heads, place their plants sixteen inches apart in the rows instead of twelve, and by planting them in the quincunx manner--that is, by commencing the second row eight inches from the end of the first and the fourth even with the second--the plants will form rhomboidal squares instead of rectangular ones, and every plant will thus have room to expand its roots and leaves luxuriantly." In diametrical contradistinction, and as an example of the very plainest and simplest of modern methods, Joseph Harris wrote: "If you are going to plant a small bed in the garden, stretch a line not less than four feet from any other plant, and with a hoe make holes along the line, eighteen inches or three feet apart, four inches deep, and large enough to hold the plants when the roots are spread out horizontally. Do not make deep holes straight down in the ground and stick the roots in as you would a cabbage, but spread out the roots. After the roots are set out cover them with fine soil, and that is all there is to it. Then move the line three feet from the first row and repeat the planting until the bed is finished. In the field make the rows with a common corn-marker, three feet apart each way, and set out a plant where the rows cross. It is but little more work to plant an acre of asparagus than an acre of potatoes." Between these extreme methods many different directions for planting asparagus have been given and practiced. Modern methods have not only greatly simplified the planting, but have also materially reduced the expense, increased the crop, and improved the quality of the product. [Illustration: FIG. 15--TRENCHES READY FOR PLANTING] After the ground has been properly prepared, it is marked off in parallel rows from three to five or more feet apart, according to the preferences of the grower. The easiest way to open these trenches is by plowing a furrow each way, and, if necessary, going over the ground a sufficient number of times to make the furrows from eight to ten inches deep. After this the loose soil is thrown out with a shovel or a wide hoe, so as to leave the trenches at a uniform depth of ten to twelve inches and of the same width at the bottom, as seen in Fig. 15. By rigging a piece of board on the mold-board of the plow more soil is