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.