American Varieties

Barr's Mammoth (Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth).--Originated with Crawford Barr, a prominent market gardener of Pennsylvania. It is one of the earliest varieties, is very productive,...

Home Gardening Asparagus
8,881 views
Botany

The genus Asparagus belongs to the Lily Family. It comprises about one hundred and fifty species, and these are spread through the temperate and tropical regions of the Old World....

Home Gardening Asparagus
8,633 views
Pot-grown Asparagus Plants

In the tests made at the Missouri Experiment Station, Prof. J. C. Whitten found that it is much better to plant the seeds in six inches of rich, sandy soil in the greenhouse or hot...

Home Gardening Asparagus
7,737 views
Historical Sketch

The word "asparagus" is said to be of Persian origin. In middle Latin it appears as sparagus; Italian, sparajio; old French, esperaje; old English, sperage, sparage, sperach. The m...

Home Gardening Asparagus
7,584 views
European Varieties

The named varieties of asparagus of European origin are very numerous, as almost every locality in which asparagus is cultivated extensively and successfully has given its name to...

Home Gardening Asparagus
7,004 views
Cultural Varieties

Although but one species of edible asparagus has found its way into general cultivation, many varieties and strains are recognized. Up to within a comparatively recent period it wa...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,190 views
Seed Growing

The asparagus plant begins to produce seed when two years old. When fully developed the stalks are from five to six feet in hight, with numerous branches upon which are produced a...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,180 views
Care During The Second Year

The treatment of the asparagus plantation during the second year does not differ materially from that of the first season after planting. The ground has to be stirred frequently an...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,106 views
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--i...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,102 views
Ornamental Species

A. medeoloides (Myrsiphyllum asparagoides), popularly known as Smilax.--For many years this has been, and is yet, one of the most commonly grown and the most serviceable of the pla...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,069 views
Edible Species

Asparagus officinalis.--While the young sprouts of a few other species may be used as food, this is the only one which has found a permanent place in cultivation. It is a branching...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,034 views
Harvesting And Marketing

The chief labor in asparagus culture is the cutting and bunching. As it is of the greatest importance that the work be done promptly and expeditiously, it is desirable to have more...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,010 views
Variety Tests

To determine the comparative effects of manuring on different varieties of asparagus, and also their comparative earliness, Prof. S. C. Mason and his assistant, W. L. Hall, of the...

Home Gardening Asparagus
5,009 views
The Soil And Its Preparation

As asparagus in its wild state is usually found growing in light and sandy soils along or near the seashore, it has long been supposed that it could not be cultivated in other loca...

Home Gardening Asparagus
4,985 views
The Raising Of Plants

Asparagus can be propagated by division of the roots, but this method gives so unsatisfactory results that it is rarely practiced. Raising the plants from seed is therefore the onl...

Home Gardening Asparagus
4,833 views
Renovating Old Asparagus Beds

The principal causes of asparagus beds running out are that in the first place ten plants are set out in a space where only one could thrive; then that the ground is not rich enoug...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,529 views
Cultivation

As generally understood, the chief object of cultivation is to kill weeds. This is an erroneous idea, however, as the appearance of weeds serves simply as Nature's reminder of the...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,506 views
Fall Treatment

The fall clearing of the plantation is an important part of asparagus culture. As soon as the berries are turning red--but not before--the stalks should be cut off even with the gr...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,457 views
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...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,383 views
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...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,367 views
Salt As A Fertilizer

Salt is but little used now by commercial asparagus growers, though it has been recommended for this crop from time immemorial. About the principal advantage to be derived from its...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,351 views
Cutting

As has been stated in a previous chapter, cutting should not begin until the plants have become strong and vigorous, which requires two or three years from the planting. In the lat...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,321 views
Placing The Roots

The proper planting of the roots is the most critical point in asparagus culture, as upon the manner in which this is performed--more than upon other detail--depends the success, y...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,318 views
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 ca...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,310 views
Sowing The Seed Where The Plants Are To Remain

Growing asparagus without transplanting is gradually finding many advocates among those who raise only the green article. It is not only a cheaper but in some respects a better met...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,303 views
The Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle

(Crioceris 12-punctata Linn) The presence of this insect in America was first detected in 1881, and it is still much rarer and consequently less injurious than the preceding specie...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,299 views
Forcing

The forcing of asparagus in various methods has been practiced for centuries, and is rapidly developing into an important industry. The forcing may be done in any place where a tem...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,296 views
Good Crops Two Years From Seed

In answer to the many inquiries as to how asparagus can be grown to weigh two and three-fourths pounds per bunch of twenty-six stalks from plants two years old from seed, as exhibi...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,293 views
Asparagus Leopard Spot

Attention was called to this new disease by Prof. W. G. Johnson, in Bulletin No. 50, Maryland Experiment Station, September, 1897. It was observed in a limited area in the asparagu...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,291 views
Care During The First Year

The cultural work in the asparagus bed during the first year consists in loosening the soil at frequent intervals, and especially as soon after rain as the ground becomes dry enoug...

Home Gardening Asparagus
3,279 views