Fertilizers And Fertilizing

Asparagus is a gross feeder. There is hardly another plant in

cultivation upon the vitality of which so great a demand is made. The

cutting of all its sprouts, or shoots, as soon as they appear above the

ground, for several weeks, is an abnormal and enormous tax upon the

plant, which is thus forced to extra exertion in order to reproduce

itself and perpetuate its kind. Therefore, it should have the most

tender care, and an abundance of nourishing and readily available food.

The earliness, tenderness, size, and commercial value of the product

depends principally on the rapidity of its growth, and, as this is

materially promoted by the richness of the soil, it is evident that the

plants should receive all the food they can assimilate during the

growing season.



There is a wide difference of opinion among growers as to which is the

best kind of manure to use. Whatever the individual preferences may be,

there is this satisfaction to know that no kind of plant food can come

amiss on the asparagus bed, although the use of some kinds and

combinations may be more economical than others. Formerly animal manures

only were thought to be of any use for asparagus, and there are still

some growers who cling to this opinion. In recent years, however, there

has been a decided reaction in this regard in some of the principal

asparagus sections. The objections made against stable manure are that

it is more expensive to handle, that it is apt to get the land full of

weeds, and that it does not contain sufficient phosphoric acid and

potash. At present many growers use commercial fertilizers exclusively,

convinced that asparagus needs liberal feeding of potash and more

nitrogen than is generally supposed to be required.



The composition of 1,000 parts of fresh asparagus sprouts is, according

to Wolff:



Water 933 parts

Nitrogen 3.2 "

Ash 5.0 "

Potash 1.2 "

Soda 0.9 "

Lime 0.6 "

Magnesia 0.2 "

Phosphoric acid 0.9 "

Sulphuric acid 0.3 "

Silica 0.5 "

Chlorine 0.3 "



This analysis shows very accurately what a given weight of asparagus

abstracts from the soil, but it does not, and can not, show or even

indicate certain indispensable demands. In this, as in other cases, the

analysis of a crop is a very uncertain guide to its proper

fertilization. It should be clearly understood by every cultivator of

the soil that no rigidly fixed formulas can be given for any one crop on

all soils. The question of quantity of application and of proportion

must always, in the very nature of the case, remain more or less a

matter of individual experiment. The following formula, given by Prof.

P. H. Rolfs, makes a good asparagus fertilizer:



Nitrogen 4 per cent.

Potash 5 "

Available phosphoric acid 7 "



One thousand five hundred pounds of the above formula should be applied

per acre. When possible apply twenty to forty tons of vegetable

material, such as partially rotted rakings of barnyard manure. Where

such vegetable matter is procurable, the quantity of nitrogen may be

decreased proportionately. If manure is obtainable, allowance should be

made for the fertilizing elements contained therein.



An excellent formula for one ton of asparagus fertilizer, given by Prof.

W. F. Massey, consists of:



200 lbs. nitrate of soda

700 " cottonseed-meal

800 " acid phosphate (13 per cent.)

300 " muriate of potash



This will yield 4.9 per cent. ammonia, 6.1 per cent. available

phosphoric acid, 8.4 per cent. potash.



The effects of the application of a scientifically balanced fertilizer

ration upon asparagus is clearly illustrated in Fig. 21, which presents

a photographic reproduction of an experimental plat of the North

Carolina State Horticultural Society at Southern Pines, N. C.,

fertilized with



250 lbs. nitrate of soda

400 " acid phosphate

160 " muriate of potash



per acre, while Fig. 22 shows a plat of equal size which remained

unfertilized.





The following table gives the amounts of different fertilizer materials

necessary to give the desired quantity of each element:



Element Pounds of different materials for one acre

{ 800 to 1,000 lbs. cottonseed-meal; or

Nitrogen { 350 to 400 " nitrate of soda; or

{ 275 to 300 " sulphate of ammonia; or

{ 400 to 600 " dried blood.



{ 300 to 500 lbs. kainit; or

Potash { 150 lbs. muriate of potash; or

{ 150 to 300 lbs. sulphate of potash



Phosphoric acid { 750 to 1,000 lbs. acid phosphate; or

{ 600 to 800 dissolved bone.





"Asparagus requires very heavy manuring, and yet its composition would

not indicate it," writes Mr. Charles V. Mapes. "The explanation is found

in the fact that it must grow very rapidly, otherwise it is tough,

stringy and flavorless, the same as with radishes. If it had a long

season to grow in, like timothy hay, it might grow successfully in very

poor soil. A half ton of timothy hay contains about as much plant food,

and in similar proportions, as two thousand bunches of asparagus, or

five thousand quarts of strawberries, and yet while this quantity of hay

will grow on an acre of almost any poor soil, the strawberries or

asparagus for a fair crop per acre require a rich garden soil. If the

hay were obliged to make as rapid growth as the asparagus, then it also

would require rich soil. With the strawberry there is but the lapse of a

few weeks from the time of blossoming to the full development of its

fruit. The plants need a superabundance of plant food within easy reach,

otherwise the fruit is small and inferior. The plant can not bear

profitable fruit and at the same time be compelled to struggle for

existence. The same is the case with asparagus. Neither of these crops

can take up out of the soil all the fertilizer that needs to be applied

for their successful growth, and therefore there is necessarily a large

quantity of plant food unused and left over in the soil."



For these reasons, asparagus, while not necessarily an exhaustive crop,

requires heavy manuring. One ton of high grade vegetable manure is none

too much per acre, and is small, particularly in the expense, as

compared with the larger quantities of stable manure per acre, as

recommended by some successful growers. As already stated, formerly it

was thought necessary to place large quantities of manure in the bottom

of the deep trenches in which the young plants were set out, in order

that sufficient fertility might be present for several years for the

roots, as after the plants were once planted there would be no further

opportunity to apply the manure in such an advantageous place. This

theory has been found erroneous and the practice has been demonstrated

to be rather a waste than otherwise, and besides the roots of asparagus

thrive better when resting upon a more compact soil; nor is it necessary

that the soil should contain great amounts of humus, or be in an

extremely fertile condition when the plants are first put out, since by

the system of top-dressing a moderately fertile soil soon becomes

exceedingly rich and equal to the demands which the plants make upon

it.



The plan of top-dressing beds during the fall or early winter is

gradually giving way to the more rational mode of top-dressing in the

spring or summer. It was believed that autumn dressing strengthened the

roots and enabled them to throw up stronger shoots during the following

spring. This is a mistake, however. In the Oyster Bay region formerly

all manuring was done in the spring, but the practice of applying all

fertilizers immediately after the cutting is finished is rapidly

increasing. The reason for this is found in the fact that, during the

growth of the stalks, after the cutting season is over, the crowns form

the buds from which the spears of next season spring, and it is probable

that it is principally during this period that the roots assimilate and

store up the materials which produce these spears. This being true, the

plant food added to the soil and becoming available after the cessation

of vegetation in the autumn can have little, if any, effect upon the

spears which are cut for market the following spring; it first becomes

of use to the plant after the crop has been cut and the stalks allowed

to grow. Thus the manuring of the autumn of 1901 will not benefit the

grower materially until the spring of 1903.



Nevertheless, some highly successful asparagus raisers continue to apply

fertilizers in the spring, as evidenced by the following directions

given by one of the most prominent growers in the Oyster Bay district.

"After the roots have been set in the drill, put enough soil on them to

cover about two inches. Then sow about 500 pounds of high grade potato

fertilizer per acre in the drill. As the weeds commence to grow,

cultivate and hoe, letting the soil cave down in the drill. About the

middle of the season sow about 500 pounds more of fertilizer in the

drill. Continue to cultivate and hoe the remainder of the season. At the

end of the season the drill should be entirely filled up. The second

year sow about 2,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre broadcast, plow the

ground and harrow it down level, and keep the ground clean. The third

year open the drill over the asparagus with a one-horse plow, broadcast

2,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre about the time the shoots begin to

show, and back-furrow it up with a plow over the drill to form a ridge.

Then smooth the ridge down with a home-made implement resembling a

snow-plow reversed. Cut every morning all the shoots that show through

the ground. Do not cut more than four weeks in the first cutting season.

Continue to broadcast 2,000 pounds of fertilizer per acre every year."



From what has been said in regard to the various methods of applying

fertilizers to asparagus, it will be readily understood that it can make

but little difference how it is distributed, whether on the rows,

between the rows, or broadcast, so long as enough of it is put on the

land. In an established asparagus bed the entire ground is a dense

network of roots, and wherever the fertilizer is put some of the roots

will find it, but not those of the plants over the crowns of which it

has been planted; not more so than the feeding roots of an apple tree

can reach a heap of manure piled around its trunk.