THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



29 



must not be disturbed until the plants 

 appear above the surface. The sum- 

 mer culture must be the same as al- 

 ready described for the seed-bed. If 

 plants are required to transplant next 

 season for making permanent beds, 

 sow single seeds live inches asunder, 

 in drills two inches deep, two feet 

 apart, and give good culture, to in- 

 sure strong roots for taking up. 

 Owing to the extent to which sea- 

 kale and asparagus are forced for 

 market, there is always a sale for 

 good plants, and many allotment- 

 holders, who now complain that their 

 land will not pay for its keep, might 

 insure a substantial return for their 

 labour by raising this sort of stock ; 

 for though there is no immediate re- 

 turn, there is also no immediate out- 

 lay beyond the cost of manure, and 

 much of that may be manufactured 

 on the spot by a general clearance of 

 whatever can be burnt into charcoal, 

 and by an economical management of 

 the liquid and solid products of the 

 cow-byre and the piggery. 



The amateur and the market- 

 grower take very opposite paths in 

 most of the departments of practical 

 gardening, but in the culture of sea- 

 kale and asparagus, they must go 

 side by side. The first is as anxious 

 to taste the first dish of forced aspa- 

 ragus as the second is to get the first 

 supply to market. To both, the prac- 

 tice of forcing is eminently profitable, 

 and, mark it, eminently easy. Don't 

 be in too great a hurry ; don't put 

 your plants on a fire, but in a gentle 

 heat, and if you can afford it, tise hot 

 water in a pit for the purpose, and if 

 not, trust to a sweet bed of dung or a 

 store of leaves saved in a dry place. 



Let us first consider the mode of 

 forcing in the open ground. Provide 

 a sufficiency of sea-kale pots to cover 

 each clump of plants. Place these 

 pots on the ground, every pot beside 

 the clump it is to cover. Have ready 

 the leaves or dung. If leaves are 

 used, they should have been saved the 

 previous autumn in some out-of-the- 

 way dry corner. A few thatched 

 hurdles may speedily be converted 

 into a rough shedding with some stout 

 stakes, under which to store leaves 

 ready for use, as fei-menting material ; 



but if they have been exposed to the 

 weather above ground, they will still 

 afford heat enough to forward the 

 plants. Get one of those sulphur dus- 

 ters, called " Boite a Houppe," and 

 fill the tin box with fine quicklime, 

 or put the quicklime in a bag, and 

 dust every crown with it, and cover 

 up at once Then heap the dung all 

 round and over the pot ; pat it gently, 

 to make it lie close, and let each heap 

 extend fifteen or sixteen inches from 

 the pot all round. Be careful as to 

 this point, that^too high and too sud- 

 den a heat will do mischief; the more 

 gradualby the heat rises, the longer 

 will it last, and the better will be the 

 flavour of the produce. If leaves are 

 used, put the driest next the pots ; 

 make the coverings rather larger, 

 because the material will soon sink in- 

 to a small compass, and lay over them 

 some fir branches or other heavy 

 litter, to prevent the stuffbeing blown 

 away, by the wind. The safest me- 

 dium temperature is 55 c ; the highest 

 to be allowed is 65 \ and the lowest to 

 be trusted 45". In the open ground 

 it is difficult to insure a definite d c- 

 gree of heat, but there is no difficulty 

 in preserving a fair average, because 

 if it goes too high, opening the mate- 

 rial with a fork will reduce it imme- 

 diately ; and if it wears out, the fer- 

 mentation may be renewed by a new 

 supply of dung or leaves. 



Another mode of forcing in the 

 open groxmd is managed with the help 

 of frames. The frames are made to 

 fit the bed, and instead of glass lights, 

 they are covered with boards, to 

 blanch the crowns. The alleys are 

 opened and filled with hot dung two 

 feet deep, and to facilitate renewals 

 of the fermenting material, the 

 trenches should be cut with slanting 

 sides, or if along bed stands alone on 

 the side next the bed, the trenches 

 should be perpendicular, and on the 

 outer side slanting. 



Those who want but a few small 

 dishes may resort to still simpler 

 methods. Get a few old boxes, half 

 fill them with a mixture of loam, old 

 dung, and leaf mould. Take up one 

 or two year old roots, aud plant them 

 in the boxes, with the crown below 

 the surface, filling up with the same 



