A Member: Some have the idea that salt helps the growth of the plant.
Mr. Record: Well, I never found it did.
Mr. Baldwin: I would like to know how to control rust on the stems in the summer time.
Mr. Record: Well, I can't answer, but I find that the Palmetto has less rust on it than any other variety. I have never been bothered with asparagus rust yet.
Mr. Baldwin: After the bed gets to be a few years old the grass and weeds commence to come up. After you get through cutting, it is pretty hard work to get in there and clean them out. Do you find it the best way to hoe them after you get through cutting?
Mr. Record: I will tell you. I cultivate right over the tops of the rows and keep on cultivating until the asparagus comes up and begins to sprout. By the time the weeds come up the second time, it is time to quit cutting.
Mr. Baldwin: How deep do you put the plant below the surface in transplanting?
Mr. Record: From twelve to fourteen inches. In the east they are growing asparagus, and they set out their plants, and they fill in and wait until the asparagus comes up and then they fill with rotted manure and never fertilize any more, but here there are very few that do that. I never did, but I find in putting on manure broadcast a year afterwards the shoots were very crooked. I did that one year only. After I put it on I thought I would have something good, and I didn't have anything. As soon as it comes up it starts to get crooked.
Mr. Baldwin: You mean to say that putting manure on top makes the asparagus crooked?
Mr. Record: That was my experience.