Variety Tests

To determine the comparative effects of manuring on different varieties

of asparagus, and also their comparative earliness, Prof. S. C. Mason

and his assistant, W. L. Hall, of the Kansas Experiment Station, have

made some interesting and instructive experiments, the results of which

are given in Bulletin 70, as follows:



"The seed of ten varieties of asparagus was planted. A good stand was

secured, and the young plants were cultivated during the summer in the

usual way. Early the following spring the entire patch was dug up and

the roots heeled in. The same ground was then prepared for a permanent

plantation, by plowing it deeply and marking it with furrows four feet

apart. These furrows were made as deep as possible, but after the loose

soil had run back into them they were on the bottom hardly six inches

below the level of the ground. In these furrows the roots of the

seedlings were planted (240 feet of row for each variety), making

altogether a patch of 35.25 square rods, or a little more than one-fifth

of an acre (.22 of an acre). The plants were set about a foot apart in

the row, and covered only an inch or two above the crown, leaving along

the rows depressions some two inches deep, which were gradually filled

up during the summer, by the many cultivations. During the winter the

stalks were cleared off, but nothing was done with the patch in the

spring more than to cut and note the earliest shoots, the first cutting

of which was made April 13th. The patch was cultivated during summer as

before, except that the size of the plants interfered somewhat--many of

the plants growing six feet high and correspondingly broad. During the

fall the north half of each variety was manured, at the rate of fifty

loads per acre, with strong barnyard manure, and in the spring the

effect was noted.



"The following table gives results as shown by the records of ten

cuttings made the spring of 1897, from April 20th to May 19th,

inclusive; varieties averaged in order of yield:



========================================================================

VARIETIES YIELDS IN POUNDS

240 feet of row in each, one-half manured +---------+-----------+-------

and one-half unmanured ManuredUnmanuredTotal

------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+-------

1 Hub 31 27 58

2 Donald's Elmira 29 29 58

3 Vick's New Mammoth 26 20 47

4 Palmetto 20 18 39

5 Moore's Cross-bred 19 15 35

6 Conover's Colossal 16 17 33

7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth 17 16 33

8 Columbian Mammoth White 18 13 32

9 Dreer's Eclipse 16 14 30

10 Giant Purple Top 15 14 29

+---------+-----------+-------

Totals 207 183 394

========================================================================



"Of the two heaviest yielding varieties, Hub and Donald's Elmira, the

last named is the earliest, though Hub is also quite early. As nearly as

can be judged from the notes, the ten varieties rank for earliness about

as follows, though all kinds yielded something at the first cutting:



{10 Giant Purple Top.

{ 7 Barr's Philadelphia Mammoth.

{ 2 Donald's Elmira.



{ 6 Conover's Colossal.

{ 3 Vick's New Mammoth.

{ 1 The Hub.

{ 9 Dreer's Eclipse.



4 Palmetto.

5 Moore's Cross-bred.

8 Columbian Mammoth White.



"Those included within a brace have little or no difference of season.

The numbers mark their rank with regard to yield, 1 being the highest.

The ground occupied by this plantation is a rather low bottom-land,

being built up of a clay silt from the former overflow of two creeks,

mixed with vegetable mold. It is rather too compact for the best growth

of asparagus, as it contains very little sand."