590 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



moves to the peach-house ; and, after the fruit is set, removes his plants to ripen in the vinery or stove. 

 Scarlets, he finds, bear more heat than the other sorts. 



3347. Air and water. The former is to be freely admitted in good weather ; and the 

 latter plentifully supplied at all times, until the fruit begins to ripen off. Then it is to 

 be withheld, lest the flavor become insipid. Morgan prefers supplying it from pans, in 

 order not to rot the hearts of the plants. He gives as little water as possible when the 

 plants are nearly ripe, this being essential in order to have good-flavored fruit. 



3348. Treatment after gathering the fruit. The strawberry, it is generally considered, 

 will not force the year after like fruit-trees ; but must be rested by plunging in the open 

 around for one or two years, pinching off all blossoms as they appear. Williams states, 

 that " the scarlet strawberry, after affording a crop of fruit in the hot-house early in the 

 spring, if carefully removed out of the pots or boxes, and placed in the open ground, will 

 yield another crop of fruit in September. The second crop is very abundant, the warm 

 rains of July and August proving highly favorable to the growth of the fruit ; and, as there 

 is no other strawberry to be had at this season of the year, except the alpine, the addi- 

 tion of the scarlet makes a pleasing variety in the dessert." (Hort. Tr. vol. ii. p. 93.) 

 Morgan observes, without limiting his observation to any one sort, that " after the fruit 

 has been gathered from the plants, the pots should be plunged into a shady border, giving 

 them a good watering, and at the same time cutting off the leaves : when thus treated, 

 they will, in the year following, produce as good crops in forcing as fresh-potted plants ; 

 if not wanted for this purpose, they may be turned out into the natural ground, and will 

 then bear a crop in the autumn of the same year, as described by Williams above." 



Sect. IX. Forcing Asparagus in Pits and Hot-beds. 



3349. Asparagus is forced with equal, or with greater success, and with less trouble 

 in flued pits than in dung hot-beds. M'Phail recommends his brick-bed for this purpose. 

 The roots, Nicol states, may either be forced on bark, or on dung, or on dung and bark. 

 But old half-rotten bark, in which there is not much heat, is to be preferred.^ Next to 

 this he uses well fermented dung underneath, and old bark to the thickness of a foot or 

 fifteen inches at top. " If dung alone, or a mixture of dung and leaves be used, it 

 should be carefully fermented, and should be in a state past heating violently before it 

 is put into the pit. In this case, observe to finish the bed with the smallest and driest 

 part of the materials." Ross {Hort. Trans, vol. ii. p. 361.), instead of a warm stratum 

 of dung or tan, places his roots on a cold bed of the latter, on which nursing-pines or 

 melons have been grown, but which has ceased to ferment. He then applies warm 

 linings to the sides, and thus produces the requisite degree of heat. Sabine, having 

 seen in Ross's pits, in January, 1817, some of the strongest asparagus he ever noticed at 

 that season, concludes, " that the weak and drawn state of forced asparagus is occasioned 

 by the action of the dung immediately on its root." He therefore greatly prefers Ross's 

 mode. 



3350. Choice of jilants. M'Phail says, take roots of any age that bear fine grass. 

 Nicol says they should not be under four years old, nor above eight. Abercrombie takes 

 plants of two or three years' standing. 



3351. Planting. M'Phail says, " Lay on the surface of the bark-bed from six 

 to eight inches of vegetable mould, or any other sort of light earth that the heat may easily 

 ascend through, and of such a texture as does not retain water. Take up plants, no 

 matter what age they are, which produce fine asparagus, trim their roots, and place them 

 in rows on the beds ; when one row is laid, strew a little fine mould among the roots, 

 then proceed in the same way with one row after another, keeping them on a level, as the 

 surface of the bed at first lay, till you have finished planting them ; then lay among the 

 buds and roots some fine vegetable, or other light rich mould, working it in among them 

 with your fingers, and cover the buds over about one inch thick, and above that lay three 

 inches in depth of vegetable mould not very rotten, but such as the water will run quickly 

 through. If you have not got vegetable mould of this description, old tan, not very fine, 

 will answer the purpose equally well. If there is a strong heat in the bed, to the glasses 

 remain off till it begin to decline. " Nicol directs, that the roots in the beds in the open 

 air, which are to be taken up and forced, should be kept covered with litter, so as to be 

 easy to come at in time of frost. 



3352. Time of beginning to force. Abercrombie says, if in mid-winter, begin six 

 weeks before you propose to have a crop ; when the days are longer, five weeks, or but a 

 calendar month before. Nicol says, those who wish to have the asparagus on the table 

 at Christmas, should prepare for forcing it in November, to have a continual succession. 



3353. Temperature. The temperature at night should never be under 50°. In the 

 day-time keep the maximum heat down to 62°. " If by the heat of the bark or^dung, 

 and the use of mats or canvass covers at night, the thermometer stand as high as 50°, fire- 

 heat will be unnecessary ; but otherwise recourse must be had to the flues. A very 

 moderate degree of fire-heat, however, will be sufficient ; and a small fire made in the 



