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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 AND
BOTANY


BY

F. M. HEXAMER


_ILLUSTRATED_


NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
1914




_Printed in U. S. A._


[Illustration: BEGINNING OF THE ASPARAGUS INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA]




TABLE OF CONTENTS


                                                 PAGE

      PREFACE                                      vi
   I. Historical Sketch                             1
  II. Botany                                        4
 III. Cultural Varieties                           17
  IV. Seed Growing                                 26
   V. The Raising of Plants                        30
  VI. Selection of Plants                          38
 VII. The Soil and Its Preparation                 43
VIII. Planting                                     49
  IX. Cultivation                                  61
   X. Fertilizers and Fertilizing                  72
  XI. Harvesting and Marketing                     83
 XII. Forcing                                     100
XIII. Preserving Asparagus                        112
 XIV. Injurious Insects                           126
  XV. Fungus Diseases                             137
 XVI. Asparagus Culture in Different Localities   145
      INDEX                                       167




ILLUSTRATIONS


Beginning of the Asparagus Industry in California
                                                  _Frontispiece_

                                                            PAGE

Asparagus Plumosus Nanus                                       5
Asparagus Sprengeri                                            7
Asparagus Laricinus                                            9
Asparagus Racemosus, var. Tetragonus                          11
Asparagus Sarmentosus                                         12
Crown, Roots, Buds, Spear                                     14
Stem, Leaves, Flowers, Berries                                14
Flowers                                                       15
Palmetto Asparagus                                            21
Pot-Grown Plant                                               37
Horizontal Development of Roots                               51
Trenches Ready for Planting                                   57
Hudson's Trencher                                             58
Root in Proper Position for Covering                          59
Cross-section of Trenches After Planting                      60
Asparagus Field Ridged in Early Spring                        67
Leveling the Ridges After Cutting Season                      69
Fertilized Asparagus Plot                                     75
Unfertilized Asparagus Plot                                   77
Basket of Asparagus                                           85
Cutting and Picking Up Asparagus                              86
Horse Carrier for Ten Boxes                                   87
Asparagus Knives                                              89
End and Side View of White Asparagus Bunches                  90
Conover's Asparagus Buncher                                   91
Watt's Asparagus Buncher                                      92
Rack and Knives Used in New England                           93
At the Bunching Table                                         94
Box of Giant Asparagus                                        97
Southern Asparagus Crate                                      98
Tunnel for Forcing Steam Through the Soil                    107
A Long Island Asparagus Cannery                              113
Sterilizing Tank                                             115
Sterilizing Room                                             117
Interior View of a California Asparagus Cannery              119
Perspective View of a California Asparagus Cannery           121
Cannery in Asparagus Fields                                  123
Common Asparagus Beetle                                      127
Asparagus Attacked by Beetles                                129
Spotted Ladybird                                             131
Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle                              134
Asparagus Stems Affected with Rust                           138
Portion of Rusted Asparagus Stems                            139
Asparagus Field on Bouldin Island                            161




PREFACE


The cultivation of asparagus for home use as well as for market is so
rapidly increasing, and reliable information pertaining to it is so
frequently asked for, that a book on this subject is evidently needed.
While all works on vegetable culture treat more or less extensively on
its cultivation, so far there has been no book exclusively devoted to
asparagus published in America. Asparagus is one of the earliest, most
delicious, and surest products of the garden. Its position among other
vegetables is unique, and when once planted it lasts a lifetime; it may
be prepared for use in great variety, and may be canned or dried so as
to be available at any time of the year; and yet in the great majority
of farm gardens it is almost unknown. The principal reason for this
neglect is based upon the erroneous idea that asparagus culture requires
unusual skill, expense, and hard work. While this was true, in a
measure, under old-time rules, modern methods have so simplified every
detail connected with the cultivation of asparagus as to make it not
necessarily more expensive and laborious than that of any other garden
crop. To describe and make clear these improved methods,