ON LED BY E. W. RECORD, MARKET GARDENER, BROOKLYN CENTER.

A Member: I want to ask if many put salt on asparagus?

Mr. Record: Salt is very good, but I think only for the reason that it
makes the plant tender and keeps down insects. But if I was to use
anything to keep insects down I should use Paris green. Shorts or bran,
that is the best for cutworms. Everybody knows that with the least
scratch or mar on the side of the asparagus it will grow crooked, and
then it is a pretty hard proposition to get it into the bunch ready for
market in any kind of shape.

A Member: Some have the idea that salt helps the growth of the plant.

Mr. Record: Well, I never found it did.

Mr. Baldwin: I would like to know how to control rust on the stems in
the summer time.

Mr. Record: Well, I can't answer, but I find that the Palmetto has less
rust on it than any other variety. I have never been bothered with
asparagus rust yet.

Mr. Baldwin: After the bed gets to be a few years old the grass and
weeds commence to come up. After you get through cutting, it is pretty
hard work to get in there and clean them out. Do you find it the best
way to hoe them after you get through cutting?

Mr. Record: I will tell you. I cultivate right over the tops of the rows
and keep on cultivating until the asparagus comes up and begins to
sprout. By the time the weeds come up the second time, it is time to
quit cutting.

Mr. Baldwin: How deep do you put the plant below the surface in
transplanting?

Mr. Record: From twelve to fourteen inches. In the east they are growing
asparagus, and they set out their plants, and they fill in and wait
until the asparagus comes up and then they fill with rotted manure and
never fertilize any more, but here there are very few that do that. I
never did, but I find in putting on manure broadcast a year afterwards
the shoots were very crooked. I did that one year only. After I put it
on I thought I would have something good, and I didn't have anything. As
soon as it comes up it starts to get crooked.

Mr. Baldwin: You mean to say that putting manure on top makes the
asparagus crooked?

Mr. Record: That was my experience.

Mr. Baldwin: I have always practiced that. I think what makes it crooked
is cultivating the top and cutting the crowns off.

A Member: When the weeds come in we disk it.

Mr. Record: I never like to disk it. If your bed is very old you are
liable to cut some of your crowns rather than to k