Xf 
FORCING 
HE forcing of asparagus in various methods has 
a been practiced for centuries, and is rapidly 
developing into an important industry. The 
forcing may be done in any place where a 
temperature of 50° to 60° can besecured, in the green- 
house, hot-bed, pit, cellar, or in the garden and field. 
Whichever plan is pursued, the management of the 
plants to be forced is the same. The roots should not 
be less than three years old, and, if obtainable, four or 
five-year-old plants are to be preferred. These may be 
dug up from ordinary out-of-door plantations, or, if 
the forcing is to be done on a large scale and as a per- 
manent industry, the plants have to be grown from 
seed for this special purpose. To keep up a continu- 
ous succession new sowings have to be made every 
year. The sowing of the seed and the management 
of the plants during the first year is the same as 
described in Chapter V. 
The following year, as early as the season permits, 
the one-year-old seedlings are planted out in rows, to de- 
velop as much strength as possible. As the plants are to 
remain only two years in the nursery bed, they may be 
placed closer than in a permanent plantation. A dis- 
tance of twoand one-half feet between the rows and one 
foot in the rows is, however, the narrowest limit, ard, 
