CHAPTER. VIT. 
ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB. 
ASPARAGUS and rhubarb are generally forced from 
transplanted roots. That is, strong plants, four or more 
years old, are dug from the field and taken to the house 
for forcing. The crop is produced chiefly from the nour- 
ishment which is stored in the roots, and the roots are 
exhausted by the crop, and are then thrown away. 
Inasmuch as the plants do not grow by becoming 
rooted and established in the soil aftér their removal to 
the house, it follows that they do not demand direct sun- 
light. In fact, the product may be tenderer and more sale- 
able for being grown in a dull or even a nearly dark 
place. The roots are usually set underneath the benches 
in the glass house, but they may be set in the potting- 
room (if warm enough), or even in the cellar near the 
heater. The most rapid growth will be secured when the 
temperature is high (even as high as 70° at night), but a 
stockier and better product may often be grown when the 
temperature is somewhat lower. 
There are various means of forcing asparagus and rhu- 
barb where they stand, in the field. One of the common- 
est is to place the half of a barrel over a clump in very 
early spring, and then to pile fermenting horse manure 
about the barrel. The heat from the manure will start 
the plant into a precocious growth. In Europe, aspara- 
gus is sometimes forced where it grows by piling manure 
into trenches which are dug (and sometimes bricked up, 
with openings in the walls) between the rows. These 
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