Seed Growing

The asparagus plant begins to produce seed when two years old. When

fully developed the stalks are from five to six feet in hight, with

numerous branches upon which are produced a profusion of bright scarlet

berries, containing from three to six seeds each. It is not advisable,

however, to harvest seed from plants less than four years old.



To save the seed the stalks are cut close to the ground as soon as the

berries are ripe, which may be known by their changing color, from green

to scarlet, and softening somewhat. The entire stalks are then cut off,

tied in bundles, and hung up in a dry place safe from the attacks of

birds, some kinds of which are very fond of this seed. After the berries

are fully dried they are stripped off by hand, or thrashed upon a cloth

or floor, and separated from the chaff. They are then soaked in water

for a day or two to soften the skin and pulp of the berries, after which

they are rubbed between the hands, or mashed with a wooden pounder, to

break the outer shells. The separation of the pulp from the seed is

accomplished by washing. When placed in water the seeds will settle with

the pulp and the shells will readily pass away in pouring off the water.

To clean the seeds thoroughly the washing has to be repeated three or

four times. It is then spread on boards or trays to dry in the sun and

wind. After the first day it should be removed from the sun, but exposed

to the air in a dry loft, spread thin for ten days or more. When

thoroughly dried the seed is stored in linen or paper bags until needed.



When cheapness of the seed is the main consideration such promiscuous

harvesting may be permissible, but when only the best is desired careful

selection and preparation becomes necessary. Even if the parent plants

are of choice types, not all the seeds from them are equally good. The

seed, for instance, which has been gathered from a stool which has

flowered side by side with an inferior kind, and at the same time, may

be worthless, because it has been fertilized badly. Then the last heads

generally yield nothing but doubtful seed which seldom reproduces the

proper type. The seeds which grow at the end of the shoots also, as well

as those produced by the upper and lower extremities of the stem, have

the same defect.



In order to insure the production of the very best asparagus seed a

sufficient number of pistillate or seed-bearing plants, which produce

the strongest and best spears, should be selected and marked so that

they may be distinguished the following spring when the shoots appear.

These clumps should be close together and near some staminate or male

plants which have to be marked likewise, as without their presence

fertile seed can not be produced. The number of the male to the female

plants should be about one to four or five. The following spring all the

sprouts of the selected male plants are allowed to grow without cutting

any. On each hill of the female plants the two strongest and earliest

stalks are allowed to grow, cutting the later appearing spears with the

others for market or home use. Thus these early stalks of both male and

female plants bloom together before any other stalks, and the blooms on

the female plants will be fertilized with the pollen of the selected

male plants. This last is of prime importance, for on proper

fertilization depends the purity of the seed as well as the vigor of the

resultant plant. Not all seed of even a good plant properly fertilized

should be used for reproduction, as of the seeds gathered from any plant

some will be better than others. Only the largest, plumpest, and best

matured seeds should be used, for by saving these the most nearly

typical plants of the sort will be most certainly produced. The

selection of the best seed from typical plants is as essential to

success as are good soil, thorough cultivation, and heavy manuring.



The best seeds are produced from the lower part of the stalk, hence it

is well to top the plant after the seed is well set, taking off about

ten inches, and to remove the berries from the upper branches, that all

the strength may go to the full development of the more desirable

berries. If, after this has been done, there is more than sufficient

seed for the purpose desired, a second discrimination can be made

between the seed of plants which produce numerous berries and those

which are shy bearers, the latter being desirable, as this indicates a

tendency in the plant to produce stalk rather than seed, and it is as a

stalk producer that asparagus is valuable.



Harvesting, cleaning, and preserving the seed is, of course, to be done

carefully; the separation of the heavy and the light seeds can be

accomplished by means of water, while the larger can be selected from

the resultant mass by the use of a properly meshed sieve.