m 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.

VII

THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION

As asparagus in its wild state is usually found growing in light and
sandy soils along or near the seashore, it has long been supposed that
it could not be cultivated in other localities and soils. While it is
true that asparagus succeeds best in a sandy, rich, and friable loam,
naturally underdrained and yet not too dry, there is not another
vegetable which accommodates itself more readily to as varying soils and
conditions. There is hardly a State in the United States in which at
present asparagus is not grown more or less extensively and profitably,
and the most famous asparagus districts of France and Germany are
situated at great distances from the seashore.

The question of what soil to use is, as a rule, already settled; we have
to use the soil we have. Any good garden soil is suitable for asparagus,
and if it is not in the most favorable condition, under existing
circumstances, it can easily be made so. The soil should be free from
roots, stones, or any material that will not readily disintegrate, or
that will interfere with the growth of the spears, and with the knife in
cutting. Fruit or other trees, or high shrubs, must not be allowed in
the asparagus bed, because of the shade they throw over the beds, and
because their roots make heavy drafts upon the soil. Nor should high
trees, hedges, hills, or buildings be so near as to shade the beds,
because all the sunshine obtainable is needed to bring the spears
quickly to the surface. When