Asparagus Culture In California
The growing of asparagus for market in California is proving to be one
of the most successful of its minor industries. There is a large area in
the State which is exactly suited to the production of this vegetable.
This is the region
of sedimentary deposits, washed by waters that are
to some extent brackish, or naturally saline. Commercial asparagus
farming is limited to the reclaimed lands around the bay of San
Francisco, the marshy deltas of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers,
and the so-called peat lands of Orange and San Luis Obispo counties.
Small beds, however, for local consumption are to be found in California
as generally and frequently as they are in other States.
There is a fascination about asparagus culture that is founded on
legitimate financial returns. It is practically "a sure thing" when once
established, and the conditions of climate and soil are such that the
work attendant on production is a minimum in proportion to the return.
No diseases of the plant have yet shown themselves in California, and it
is seldom that the weather is unsteady enough to be a factor in limiting
production. The deterring feature is the fact that it is not till the
third year that a return can be expected on the investment. But as other
crops, such as potatoes and beans, can be grown between the rows in the
interim, the time of waiting is not so entirely an unproductive one as
might at first be supposed.
The methods of preparing, planting, and working are practically the same
in all sections of California. The proposed beds are plowed as deeply as
possible and thoroughly fertilized. All of the soils appropriate for
commercial asparagus farming are so light that deep cultivation is a
comparatively easy matter. Furrows for planting are then run and made
double depth. Some growers think it worth while to distribute
fertilizer along these furrows and then turn for a third time, so as to
enrich the ground immediately below the roots to be set out. These
furrows are run from four to six feet apart, the latter being considered
the better usage. In them one-year-old plants are then set by hand at
distances varying from eighteen inches to three feet. The former
distance is preferred by the Italian growers on Bay Farm Island in San
Francisco Bay, but the Southern growers and those along the Sacramento
River lean to the greater distance. The only difference seems to be
whether there will be sufficient nutriment in the soil to force the
plant into giving as large and tender shoots as where each plant is
allowed a larger area. The plants are set with the crowns about four
inches below the surface and the roots are carefully spread out before
covering. Planting is done any time from November to April, but the
middle of February is perhaps the most common time.
The culture for the first year consists in keeping the soil loose and
free from weeds. Ordinarily other crops are grown between the rows, and
their cultivation serves to keep the ground in proper condition. The
asparagus is allowed to come up, feather, and seed without interference,
no cutting being done the first year. Care, however, is taken to cut off
the tops close to the ground in the fall before the seed begins to
drop--the volunteer asparagus being the worst enemy in culture with
which the grower has to deal. About the beginning of the rainy season a
heavy coating of manure is placed over the beds and left to be leeched
in by the rains.
The second year some growers cut more or less for market, but the bed
is then longer in coming to its full strength and will not give so large
a product the following years. There is a variation in the spring
working, according to the nature of the land. Where the soil has a
tendency to be cold, the first plowing is away from the rows, so as to
let the sun more quickly down to the starting plants. Where the soil is
light, or the season forward, this plowing is omitted. The latter
plowings are toward the rows, the effort being by ridging to give a long
blanched surface to the shoots. For the canneries where nothing but the
white product is put up, the shoots are cut the instant they show their
tips above the surface. The local market shows a preference for the
greener shoot, and so before cutting it is allowed to stretch itself up
into the light. The third year regular cutting begins, and from that
time forward the beds increase in the quantity and quality of the
product for the next fifteen years.
The methods of marketing are somewhat different from those practiced in
the East. Little or none of the asparagus is bunched. It is packed loose
in boxes holding from forty to fifty pounds, and the loose product is
retailed to the consumer by the pound. The first boxes begin to go out
by the beginning of February, though small quantities can be seen in
market as early as January 15th. The canning contracts run, as a rule,
from March 1st to June 15th. After that the weather is so dry that the
yield stops unless the beds are irrigated. In most sections, however,
irrigation is not necessary up to this time.
A notable exception to this is Bouldin Island, in the San Joaquin
River. This is reclaimed land, and lies some six or eight feet below the
surface of the water. The soil is river silt on a peat stratum thirty
feet deep. The top is so fine and friable that it does not, in spite of
the surrounding river, hold enough moisture to keep the vegetation alive
during the hot spring months. A north wind in May would lift up the
whole surface of the island and carry it away in dust. It is an easy
matter, however, to let in water through the dikes, and this is done in
sufficient quantities to keep the soil in place.
The question of profit in asparagus growing is one that can only be
treated in a relative way. The industry is as yet so new, and instances
of phenomenal returns from small holdings are so many, that it is hard
to arrive at what might be called a commercial ratio of gain. It is safe
to say, however, that with ordinary care there has never been an actual
loss with asparagus culture in California. A low estimate of profit is
probably $50 per acre. The cost of preparation and planting where diking
has not been necessary has seldom been more than $100 per acre. The
gross returns taken from recent years' reports vary from $100 to $200
per acre, so that it can readily be seen that the return to the
asparagus farmer is very fair. Most of the farms in California are in
rented land. The Bay Farm Island people pay a ground rent of $50 per
acre. On Bouldin Island the rental is on a basis of 40 per cent. of the
net proceeds. In Fig. 48 is presented a view of a fully established
asparagus field on Bouldin Island.
WARREN CHENEY.
Alameda County, Cal.
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