Part 3 (1/2)

No. 2.--Well-grown but irregular heads, somewhat weaker than those of No. 1.

No. 3.--Only pretty well-grown heads, very irregular, some of the stools having as many as eight or ten, but all very weak. One stool died after growing two heads.

_Third Year._--No. 1.--Magnificent growths, the heads measuring on April 10th from two inches to three and one-quarter inches in circ.u.mference.

No. 2.--Growth pa.s.sable only, but very irregular. Some of the stools were very small. The finest of them produced heads which from April 8th to 10th only measured two and one-half inches in circ.u.mference.

No. 3.--Growth very poor and very irregular. Some of the stools continued to produce small heads not much thicker than a quill pen, the largest being from one and one-half inch to two inches in circ.u.mference.

_Fourth Year._--No. 1.--Growth very remarkable. The heads began to show on April 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. Some were from three and one-quarter inches to four inches in circ.u.mference, and measured four and three-quarter inches. Fifty of the heads formed a bundle which weighed seven pounds.

No. 2.--Growth pa.s.sable, but later than No. 1. The heads made their first appearance on April 6th, 10th, and 11th. Many of them were very small; fifty of them barely made half a bundle, and only weighed three and three-quarter pounds.

No. 3.--Growth but poor, and somewhat late. The heads made their appearance on April 4th, 6th, 9th, and 11th; one did not show till the 22d. Fifty heads barely formed half a bundle and only weighed two and one-half pounds.

To sum up, it is clear that the plants of a year old in their fourth season--that is to say, after having been planted out for three years--gave a bundle weighing seven pounds, while those of two years old only gave three and three-quarter pounds, and those of three years old only two and one-half pounds; in other words, taking round numbers, the plantation made with the one-year-old plants produced double the crop of the two-year-old plants and treble that of the three-year-old plants. The reader may easily draw his conclusions from the preceding facts.

Equally important is a careful selection of the individual plants to be set out. A crown with four or five strong, well-developed buds is far better than one with a dozen or more of weak and sickly ones, as the latter will always produce thin and poor spears of poor quality. It is therefore highly to be recommended to select only plants with not over six buds and discard all others. The roots should be strong and of uniform thickness, succulent and not too fibrous. Dry or withered roots have to be cut off, and plants with many bruised or otherwise damaged roots should be rejected entirely. The best roots are the cheapest.

MALE AND FEMALE PLANTS

It has long been observed that all of the asparagus plants in a bed do not produce seeds, owing to the fact that the male and female flowers in asparagus are nearly always borne on separate plants. Seed bearing is an exhaustive process, and, as might be supposed, those plants that have produced seed have less vigor than those that have not. In order to determine the difference in vigor between the seed bearing and non-seed bearing plants, Prof. William J. Green, horticulturist of the Ohio Experiment Station, staked off fifty of each in a plantation of half an acre. When the cuttings were made the shoots taken from male and female plants were kept separate, and the weight of each recorded in Bulletin No. 9, Volume III., of the Ohio Station, as follows:

”The cuttings were made at regular intervals and in the ordinary manner, as for market purposes. The weight of shoots taken at each cutting is not given in the table, since the facts are quite as well shown by stating the aggregate weight for periods of ten days each. The division into periods is made for the purpose of showing comparative earliness.

This could be shown in a more marked degree by taking the first and second cuttings alone, but they were too limited in quant.i.ty to admit of conclusions being drawn from them; hence they are included with the other cuttings in the same period.

PRODUCT FROM FIFTY PLANTS EACH, MALE AND FEMALE

+========================+=============+============+

_Product from

_Product from

fifty male

fifty female

plants_

plants_ +------------------------+-------------+------------+

_Ounces_

_Ounces_ First period, 10 days

37

21 Second period, 10 days

104

68 Third period, 10 days

266

164 Fourth period, 10 days

203

154 +-------------+------------+ Total for the season