SPECIAL MANURES FOR ASPARAGUS.
BY JOHN ELKINGTON, M. D., OMPAH, ONT.
I was much pleased and interested on reading an article in No. 2 Canadian Horticulturist. Anything tending to the increased cultivation of Asparagus is very desirable, on account of its delicate flavor, its great earliness, the ease with which it is cultivated when once established, and its very valuable dietetic qualities; and with regard to the latter, it may not be generally known that it possesses medical virtues of an undoubted value, especially in the Spring-time, after a long Winter, when in many cases the diet has largely consisted of salt meats and “hard tack.”
This delicious vegetable has been a specialty with me for many years. The writer of the article above alluded to, says it is a marine plant, and requires salt as a manure. Knowing that, and reasoning by analogy, I made many experiments upon the use of saline manures for this plant, and as the result of these, have been in the habit of adding one pound of sulphate of magnesia to each peck of salt, as an annual dressing, with marked increase in size, and especially a heightened color of the rich bronze-green on the tops. This mixture, with plenty of leached ashes, lime in any shape, preferably in the form of gypsum, applied in the Spring, and last year’s hot-bed as a top-dressing in the Fall, has always given me satisfactory results. One year, after a long sickness, there was a large quantity of “Tidman’s sea salt” left over, which had been purchased to use for sea water baths; this went on to the Asparagus bed, and I honestly believe it did the plants more good than the baths did to my patient. If iodine could be got in a cheap form, I should like to try a dressing of that, being well assured it would be of benefit in a land so far removed from the sea. They who live in the maritime provinces might manure with sea-weed.
I find the safest time for forking over the bed is generally, in this locality, about the end of April, when the frost has left the upper four or five inches of the ground, and yet remains lower down; there is no fear of injuring the roots at this period, and you can dig straight away without trembling for the crowns.
One word about cutting low, or cutting high. My practice is to cut an inch or so below the surface, for if you cut only the green, eatable part, the underground stem goes on growing above the surface, and there is gradually produced a lot of hard unsightly stubs all over the bed, which are greatly in the way of subsequent cuttings. There is practically no risk of dividing unseen heads by this method, if the stems are cut with brains and a common jack-knife. Another thing, however indecorous it may be, a good many really do like to take hold of the white piece in their fingers to eat it by; very shocking, but it is true. And again, there can be no manner of doubt that it sells better bunched up white and green. Lastly, if you have to cook it yourself you will find the benefit of a piece of hard stock at the bottom, “me crede experto.”
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