OCR Text |
Show TO PREVENT ASPARAGUS RUST Breeders and Growers Are Advised to Use Careful Methods to Keep Disease From Plant. Breeders and growers of asparagus are advised to take up pedigree breed-ing breed-ing and to use careful methods of production pro-duction in order to keep rust from the plant. Although the breeding work carried on with asparagus will eventually lead to the control f rust in commercial plantings, several years must elapse before this result will become effective. effec-tive. Meanwhile it is necessary to take all measures practicable to prevent pre-vent the destruction of existing fields of asparagus by the rust. To this end the main factor is to keep the rust away from the fields in summer just as long as possible. Wild asparagus growing around the. borders of the fields, along fences and ditches, is one of the worst enemies en-emies of the grower. These wild plants act as infection centers and their influence can be easily traced later in the season when the cutting beds have grown up. Wild plants wherever found should be dug up and burned. New beds should be planted at only rare intervals of time and then, if possible, where they will be to windward of a cutting bed. Keep the seedlings out of the cutting bed, at least let none stay in at the time the bed is allowed to grow up after the cutting season. Allow no poor shoots to grow up in the cutting field. Keep down every shoot of asparagus until the middle of June and see the neighboring farmers do the same. In the fall the tops should be removed carefully from 1-year-old beds that are not to be cut the next year. This will in a large measure reduce the liability liabil-ity of infection from this source. Bulletin Bul-letin 263 of the U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry, which farmers or raisers of asparagus may have for the asking, gives valuable information on this subject. |