Mr. Record: I would first plow and harrow and then fertilize. Plow both ways from fourteen to sixteen inches deep and with a fine cultivator loosen up the bottom of furrow and put in the plants and cover with a little earth. Then with the horse keep filling in the furrow. I saw this summer several men with hoes working. That is all right, but it takes a long time, especially with the proposition we are up against about hired help. I can do it just as well with the horse and four times as fast. The second year you can harrow it any way you want to.
A Member: Common corn land, is that fit for raising asparagus?
Mr. Record: Yes, sir, asparagus will grow on poor ground better than many other vegetables will.
A Member: Will it improve that land by fertilizing with top dressing?
Mr. Record: I think so.
A Member: The heavy land I suppose wouldn't be good for it?
Mr. Record: They raise good asparagus on clay land, but I don't think it will grow as good as on sandy soil. It is not quite so warm; it packs harder and I think more liable to grow crooked.
A Member: I was called out to see a man's asparagus bed. He asked me what kind of ground I thought it must be, and I said a light soil. This man had a heavy clay, and it rained on it, and then the sun came out very hot and the top cooked, and when the little shoots were to come up they turned back. That ground wasn't good for asparagus.
Mr. Record: It should have been harrowed well after that rain.
A Member: You see he couldn't get in there.