November 20, luce. ] JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



383 



spread equally over it 3 inches of soil. Now take up the plants, 

 and commencing at one end by taking out a trench, do it care- 

 fully without destroying the roots more than can he helped. 

 Commencing ai the front of the frame, pack the roots as closely 

 together as possihle, spreading out tho fibres and filling in 

 between them with soil, which may bo of a lightish nature 

 and fine, and neither very wet nor dry. Cover the crowns with 

 an iuch of soil, and let that be 9 inches or a foot from tho 

 glass. Put on tho lights and keep them close, but admit a 

 little air daily to let off any steam. The temperature of the 

 bed may be from 55° to 60° for ten days, and then by adding 

 fresh hot dung at tho sides it should be increased to 65°, 

 covering at night with mats, and in severe weather with 

 straw, and bankiug up the sides of the frame with hot dung 

 or litter. 



When tho shoots appear the grower must decide whether he 

 will have them blanched or green ; if the former are preferred 

 they can be secured by placing inside the framo G or 7 inches 

 of sawdust, but if tho latter, this should not be done. If 

 blanched heads are wanted the frame must be kept close and 

 covered up day and night until the heads appear through the 

 sawdust, when, air and light being given, the tips of the shoots 

 will become coloured in a few days, and may then be cut. Six 

 inches or more of the lower end will be white, and the tips of the 

 shoots for an inch or so will be of a beautiful rosy-purple tint 

 much liked by some. On the other hand, when Asparagus is 

 required to be green, or not blanched, the frame must be kept 

 close until the shoots are or more inches in length, and air 

 being then admitted, they will attain a degree of colour neces- 

 sary for flavour. By either process enough Asparagus will be 

 produced to carry us over Christmas and New Year's-day. The 

 heat of the bed must, however, be maintained by linings. 



The bed will continue to produce for a period of about 

 three weeks, and even longer if the roots are good and the 

 heat moderate and suffieieutly maiutained ; but the heads, 

 though continuously produced, soon become too small. The 

 first heads are the best, and those produced later are smaller : 

 hence it becomes necessary to make up another bed about 

 three weeks after the first, and so on in succession, and by these 

 means forced Asparagus may be had from Christmas until it is 

 produced in the open ground. I do not, however, consider that 

 at all desirable, for the plants cannot be taken up and put in a 

 frame without the roots and vigour of the plant being injured 

 to some extent, consequently beyond making up two beds in 

 the above manner for an early supply, I do not consider it 

 desirable to pursue that method further, or even not at all 

 where Asparagus is not required until the end of January, for 

 it can be produced much finer, more abundantly, and with less 

 trouble by forcing it where grown, and the method of doing so 

 I will now endeavour to describe. 



From the beds that were covered with litter this should be 

 removed, the surface must be loosened with a fork, and if the 

 heads are required blanched, 9 inches of the soil of the alleys 

 should be thrown over them. The alleys are then taken out to 

 a depth of 3 feet, a frame corresponding to the width of the 

 bed is placed on the beds, or, failing that, inch-deals inches 

 deep or wide, supported by stakes driven along the sides of the 

 beds. The alleys are filled with hot dung, and the beds are also 

 covered with the same to the depth of about a foot, that in the 

 alleys being raised to the same height. When the heads appear 

 the dung or litter is removed from the bed and the lights put 

 on ; or if boards are used instead of a frame, the bed is protected 

 by s butters formed of laths and lined with straw. Whether 

 lights of glas3 or straw-shutters be employed, they should 

 be kept on day and night, and in addition the lights must he 

 covered hy mats or straw-shutters at night. The hot dung 

 should be renewed, so as to continue level with the top of the 

 frames or boards. During cold weather the covering is in- 

 creased, and remains on by day as well as night. It is best, 

 however, to have a frame and lights for covering the bed, as 

 by them air and light may be admitted, a little of which is 

 essential if the heads are expected to have a colour and flavour, 

 whether the shoots are required to be blanched or not. 



By the foregoing plan much finer heads are produced than 

 when the plants are taken up. One crop will last five or six 

 weeks, but it is well not to calculate on this, but to start a 

 fresh set of beds every three weeks, so as to maintain a supply. 

 The keeping-up of the proper degree of heat is, of course, of 

 the greatest importance as regards the continuance of the 

 bearing, and the linings must, therefore, be well attended to. 



When the dung becomes cool the beds may be covered with a 

 few inches of long litter, the frames and litter removed, and 



the beds dressed as if they had not been forced. The plants 

 should then have every encouragement, and should not be forced 

 again, nor the heads cut either in tho same or following year, 

 for they are eligible for forcing only every other year. 



In making tho beds at first the alloys should be 2 feet 

 wide, and tho beds i feet in width, three rows of plants being 

 put in a bed, and the plants 1 foot apart in the rows. The 

 plants should not be forced until tho autumn or winter of the 

 fourth year. 



Good as the above plan is, it has its drawbacks, the chief of 

 which is, that in digging out (be alleys preparatory to filling 

 them with hot dung many of the roots are destroyed or injured, 

 To guard against this some have beds made of brickwork, 

 pigeon-holed, and i feet wide, with two feet alleys between 

 them. The brickwork need not be more than i{ inches thick, 

 and ii carried up a foot above tho ground, with a stone coping 

 at top, fastened with iron cramps, it will last a generation. 

 Where the ground is wet this plan answers better than beds, as 

 the brick pits are drier. A drain should be provided in each 

 alley to carry off superfluous water, and 9 inches of stones or 

 brickbats ought to be placed at the bottom of the beds or pits, 

 beneath the soil. The pits are to be tilled a little higher than 

 the side walls with one-half good lightish loam, one-fourth rotten 

 manure, and one-fourth leaf mould, adding sand liberally. Put 

 in the plants after they begin to grow < May or June), in three 

 rows to a bed, and 1 foot from plant to plant in the rows. 

 Keep them well supplied with water, and you may find it much 

 safer to move Asparagus after it bus begun to grow than when 

 dormant, or in March or April. Fill the alleys with spent 

 dung, leaves, or any vegetable refuse, keeping them level with 

 the brickwork. In four years the beds will be fit for forcing. 

 Two beds may be forced at once by filling in the alleys and all 

 round with hot dung, and covering the beds with hoops and 

 bast mats. A frame of wood 9 inches deep, made to fit on 

 the wall or coping is better, and the straw shutters may be 

 used as covering. In ten or twelve days some heads will 

 appear, then leave the covering open on the south side to give 

 colour, opening every day unless the weather is frosty. Renew 

 the lining when necessary. One crop will last four or five 

 weeks, so that any one may calculate how many beds will be 

 required to supply a family from Christmas until Asparagus 

 come in from the open ground. The beds are only to be forced 

 every other year, so that two sets of beds are necessary. Twelve 

 beds 28 feet long are required to supply a family from Christ- 

 mas until the Asparagus in the open ground comes in. This 

 is a good plan of forcing, but rather expensive, and even it is 

 liable to injure the roots, as they pass through the pigeon- 

 holes into the alleys: hence in taking the latter out to fill 

 them with hot dung, the roots cannot fail to be injured to some 

 extent. 



To have very fine forced Asparagus no plan is equal to that 

 practised at the Royal Gardens, Frogmore. There Asparagus 

 is forced by means "of hot water. The beds there are, I think, 

 7 feet wide, and have spaces 4 feet deep, and about 2 feet wide 

 between them. The sides of the beds or pit are formed of 

 pigeon-holed brickwork. The spaces between the beds are half 

 filled with rich soil, and in the upper half there is a flow and 

 return pipe, the pipes or cavity for them being covered with 

 fla"s. A close-fitting wooden frame or roof completes the 

 arrangement. This plan answers very well, but were I to have 

 beds heated by hot water, I would reduce their width to 6 feet, 

 and run inch drain-tiles through the bed at 15 inches from the 

 top, or immediately under the cover of the cavity where the hot- 

 water pipes were, so that the heat might the better reach the 

 interior of the beds. Where stone could not be had, wood would 

 do for covering the hot-water pipes. 



In forcing, the temperature for the first fortnight may range 

 from 50° to 60°, and be increased in a week to 65°, (r never 

 exceeding 70°, affording a little air and light after the shoots 

 appear, to give flavour. 



Asparagus may also be forced by taking up the roots and 

 packing them in boxes or beds of earth in a forcing-house. Any 

 house with a temperature of from 60° to 65° will answer well. — 

 G. Abbey. 



Prolific Potatoes. — In your Number of the 6th inst. I see 

 a communication headed, " Growing Early Varieties of the 

 Potato," which mentions the startling fact of forty-two Potatoes 

 being found on one root. I have had this season something of 

 the same kind. A few Potatoes were given to me by a person 

 who described them as good bearers. From about a dozen I 



