Male And Female Plants
It has long been observed that all of the asparagus plants in a bed do
not produce seeds, owing to the fact that the male and female flowers in
asparagus are nearly always borne on separate plants. Seed bearing is an
exhaustive process,
and, as might be supposed, those plants that have
produced seed have less vigor than those that have not. In order to
determine the difference in vigor between the seed bearing and non-seed
bearing plants, Prof. William J. Green, horticulturist of the Ohio
Experiment Station, staked off fifty of each in a plantation of half an
acre. When the cuttings were made the shoots taken from male and female
plants were kept separate, and the weight of each recorded in Bulletin
No. 9, Volume III., of the Ohio Station, as follows:
"The cuttings were made at regular intervals and in the ordinary manner,
as for market purposes. The weight of shoots taken at each cutting is
not given in the table, since the facts are quite as well shown by
stating the aggregate weight for periods of ten days each. The division
into periods is made for the purpose of showing comparative earliness.
This could be shown in a more marked degree by taking the first and
second cuttings alone, but they were too limited in quantity to admit of
conclusions being drawn from them; hence they are included with the
other cuttings in the same period.
PRODUCT FROM FIFTY PLANTS EACH, MALE AND FEMALE
+========================+=============+============+
Product fromProduct from
fifty male fifty female
plants plants
+------------------------+-------------+------------+
Ounces Ounces
First period, 10 days 37 21
Second period, 10 days 104 68
Third period, 10 days 266 164
Fourth period, 10 days 203 154
+-------------+------------+
Total for the season 610 407
+========================+=============+============+
"This shows a gain of the male over the female plants of seventy-six per
cent. for the first period, and a fraction less than fifty per cent. for
the whole season. Reversing the standard of comparison, it will be seen
that the female plants fall below the male forty-three per cent. for the
first period, and a little more than thirty-three per cent. in the
total. In no case did the female plants produce equally with the male.
"If comparative earliness is determined by the date of first cutting
alone, there is no difference between the male and female plants, since
the first cutting was made on both at the same date; but taking quantity
of product into consideration, which is the proper method, there is a
decided difference, the gain of the male over the female plants being
seventy-six, fifty-two, sixty-three, and thirty-one per cent. for the
four periods respectively. The difference in yield between the two was
greatest at first, and diminished toward the last, which practically
amounts to the same thing as the male being earlier than the female.
There is a still further difference between the two in quality of
product, the shoots of the female plant being smaller and inferior to
those of the male.
"It is not safe to draw conclusions from such limited observations as
these, further, at least, than to accept them as representing the truth
approximately. Allowing a wide margin for possible error, there would
still seem to be sufficient difference in productive capacity between
the male and female plants to justify the selection of the former and
rejection of the latter when a new plantation is to be started. If the
figures given in the table are taken as a basis, the gain in the crop,
if the male plants alone were used, would each season pay for all the
plants rejected, and leave a handsome margin at the end of the term of
years when an asparagus bed has served its period of usefulness. Male
plants can be secured by division of old plants, or by selecting those
that bear no seed, after they have attained the age of two years."
In summing up the results of this experiment, Professor Green states
that male asparagus plants are about fifty per cent. more productive
than female plants, and the shoots being larger have a greater market
value.
Previous: Selection Of Plants
Next: The Soil And Its Preparation
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