140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



were only a foot apart, and the roots only 

 six inches apart in the row. Of course, it 

 is manured up to the very liighest notch. 

 The soil on these hillsides is a sandy loam, 

 and the immense quantities of manure put 

 on it have made it black and strong, lil<e the 

 Arlington soil. In order to get the roots 

 ready for this forcing process, the whole bed 

 is covered in the fall with the best strong 

 manure. The fall rains and snows are per- 

 mitted to cover it. In order to let the 

 ground freeze, the manure is raked off after 

 it has been pretty well soaked by the rains ; 

 then during the latter part of December, 

 when every thing is frozen up solid, the 

 glass is put in place, and the stoves started. 

 Under the influence of the heat of the stoves 



you suppose asparagus brings a bunch here 

 in Albany during the middle of January V 

 Only one dollar, dear reader. I wonder if 

 you can guess who pays a dollar a bunch for 

 asparagus in the winter time. Why, no less 

 a personage than the President of the Unit- 

 ed States. Mr. Frost had been ui the habit 

 of supplying the President for a good many 

 years; and just a few^ days before my visit, 

 the President sent word that he could not 

 find a bit of asparagus in Washington or 

 Philadelphia, and so he had to go back to 

 this old friend. Mr. Frost gets a dollar a 

 bunch at wholesale for his first cuttings; 

 and by the time it reaches the consumer it 

 costs $1.50. I asked him if they hadn't got 

 to shipping asparagus from the Southern 



GHEENHOUSE FOR RAlSINCi ASPAUAOUS IN TH K WlNllOR TIME 



and the rays of the sun through this low 

 sash, the ground thaws up, and the aspara- 

 gus-shoots begin to peep out by the middle 

 of January. Great beautiful shoots were 

 now peeping forth in a circle eight or ten 

 feet away from each one of the stoves. The 

 nearer the stoveswere, the larger the shoots. 

 To help pay the interest on the cost of 

 such a quantity of glass, a crop of radishes 

 is put between the asparagus rows. Tliese 

 radishes come off before the asparagus comes 

 into heavy bearing. 



1)0 you wonder, friends, that 1 inwardly 

 thanked (xod for the beautiful sight spread 

 out before meV I felt amply repaid for my 

 four miles' walk— yes, and for my whole 

 trip away off here to York State. What do 



States, as they do strawberries, cucumbers, 

 etc. I am inclined to think that, like celery, 

 the cold weather of the North is needed to 

 bring this plant to perfection ; for Mr. Frost 

 said he hud repeatedly sold asparagus in the 

 winter time, to be shipped to New Orleans. 

 The sun was now shining brightly through 

 the sash. I walked up and down that glass- 

 covered hillside, admiring the dark ricli loam 

 that formed a path uniler my feet— admiring 

 the great broad healthy-looking leaves of 

 the radish-plants as they pushed forth from 

 the dark rich soil, and admiring the aspara- 

 gus peeping forth in obedience, as it seemed, 

 to God's command. Yes, truly has God giv- 

 en us dominion over the fish of the sea and 

 the fowl of the air, and, too, every herb bear- 



