BUNDLING 31 



with flow and return pipes for hot water. There are 

 four or five such beds, and a boiler heats the lot. 

 Frames with sashes are placed on these beds. I con- 

 sider this an excellent plan for gently bringing the crops 

 forward probably some two months before the outside 

 crops come in. These pits, for such they really are, 

 enable us to follow up our earliest forced produce, thus 

 providing that no break occur for at least seven months 

 in the year, which is a long enough season for anyone. 



No doubt there are other means whereby asparagus 

 can be forced; and anyone who undertakes this work 

 should use the best and cheapest means, according to 

 his materials. The point to bear in mind is that the 

 future crop is in the crowns, and that if these be 

 well developed by previous good culture, plants can 

 really be crowded in the forcing bed, the roots requiring 

 only a little soil and water at times. The future crop is 

 in the crowns, just as the future bunch of grapes is in a 

 well-matured bud, or the fine spike of lily of the valley 

 in its plump bud. The real preparation is in providing 

 for the development during the previous year. This 

 point, I fear, is not always kept in view. Yet that it is 

 recognised by some is shown by the splendidly finished 

 asparagus which one sees at Covent Garden and other 

 great markets. 



BUNDLING 



For the first few years, plants even crowded in rich 

 land will give very fine asparagus, but this will not last 

 for long, for the reason that the roots become entangled, 

 and live by robbing from each other. I have known 

 some people so ignorant of this matter, that when cutting 

 the stems down in the autumn they select all berried 

 branches and place them evenly over the beds in order 

 to secure a quantity of young plants to grow up between 



