Cutting

As has been stated in a previous chapter, cutting should not begin until

the plants have become strong and vigorous, which requires two or three

years from the planting. In the latitude of New York City the cutting

season commences usually the last week in April and closes July 10th,

although but few growers cut after the 1st, particularly if the season

has been a favorable one. Except on old and well-established plantings,

cutting should not extend for more than six or seven weeks. Some growers

cut asparagus as long as it pays to ship, regardless of the damage done

to the plants. The old rule to discontinue cutting asparagus when green

peas are abundant is a safe one to follow, especially in the home

garden. Unlike other crops, about as much can be cut each day, or at

each cutting, as the day before, during the season, varying only

according to the weather.



Manner of cutting.--The mode of cutting asparagus varies according to

the requirements of the markets, whether green or white stalks are

desired. Whatever individual preferences may be, the fact is that in New

York City, and some other large market centers, 75 per cent. of the

asparagus sold is white or blanched, and it would be useless to try to

persuade the buyers to take any other. To show how extreme the

convictions are in this matter of taste, we quote from Prof. J. F. C. Du

Pre, of the Clemson Agricultural College: "Why any one should prefer the

almost tasteless, insipid white to the green 'grass,' into which the

sunshine has put the flavor of ambrosia, is beyond my comprehension." On

the other hand, Leboeuf, the famous asparagus expert of Argenteuil,

writes: "Properly blanched asparagus is infinitely more tender and

delicate than green. To serve up green asparagus is to dishonor the

table."



In recent years a compromise has been made between the two styles. By

allowing the tops of the hilled-up sprouts to grow four inches above the

surface, the upper half of the stalk is green while the lower half

remains white.






For green asparagus the sprouts are cut when six or seven inches high,

and then only so far below the surface as to furnish a stalk about nine

inches long. For the white style the rows have to be ridged twelve

inches above the crowns, and the stalks are cut as soon as the tops show

above the ground, the cutting off being eight or nine inches below the

surface.



Whichever method is followed, it is very important to cut every day

during the season, and to cut clean at each cutting, taking all the

small sprouts as well as the large ones. If the weak and spindling

shoots are allowed to grow they will draw away the strength from the

roots, to the injury of the crop.





When cutting, the sprout is taken in the left hand and the knife run

down close alongside of it to the proper depth, carefully avoiding other

spears that are just beginning to push up all around the crown. Then the

handle of the knife is moved away from the stalk, to give it the proper

slant, the knife shoved down so as to sever the stalk with a tapering

cut, and at the same time the stalk is pulled out. After cutting, the

asparagus should be removed out of the sun as soon as possible to

prevent its wilting and discoloring. Usually this is done by dropping

the stalks in a basket which, when full (Fig. 23), is carried to the

bunching shed. On large plantations, however, the cutters leave the

stalks on the ground to be picked up by boys following closely, as seen

in Fig. 24. To facilitate the picking up and carrying away, horse

carriers are used, as shown in Fig. 25.






In some sections of Europe, especially at the famous asparagus regions

of Argenteuil, a knife is never used. According to W. Robinson: "The

slightly hardened crust around the emerging bud and on top of the little

mound is pushed aside, the fore and middle finger separated are then

thrust deeply into the soft soil, pushing the earth outwards. If a

rising shoot be met with on the way down, it is carefully avoided. A

second plunge of the two fingers and pushing out of the earth usually

brings them to the hardened ground about the crest of the root; the

forefinger is then slipped behind the base of the shoot fit to gather,

and rushed gently outward, when the shoot at once snaps clean off its

base. This plan has the advantage of leaving no mutilated shoots or

decaying matter on the ground. Once gathered, care is taken that the

shoot is not exposed to the light, but placed at once in a covered

basket. As soon as the stalk is gathered, the earth is gently and

loosely drawn up with the hand, so as to leave the surface of the mound

as it was before, not pressing the earth in any way, but keeping it

quite free. The shoots are not rubbed or cleaned in any way--it would

disfigure them, and they do not require it."



Knives.--There are several styles of knives for cutting asparagus, but

an ordinary ten-inch butcher-knife with the point cut square off,

leaving the end about an inch and a quarter wide and ground sharp like a

chisel, answers the purpose as well as any of the implements made

especially for the purpose. Another serviceable tool for cutting

asparagus is a carpenter's thin firmer-chisel, one and one-half inches

wide, nearly flat, and the thinnest that can be obtained ground on the

convex side or back, about an inch from the end, which should be rounded

off on the inside to prevent them from injuring sprouts near by. Other

styles of asparagus knives are seen in Fig. 26.