ng 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 raki