ASPARAGUS 25 



Uncovering the crowns. It is the French practice, 

 to uncover the crowns in the fall and to carefully cut 

 away the stems left from the season's cutting. This is 

 not to be done except with shallow-set plants, and with 

 the greatest care not to injure the crowns. It is some- 

 times recommended to hoe away from the crowns, in 

 the fall, all but a few inches of soil, to give the 

 plants an early start in the spring. Rather than have 

 the plants winter -killed, it is evidently better, for 

 northern culture, to hoe away the earth early in the 

 spring if at all, and, when the plant has well started, to 

 gradually work the earth back again while cultivating. 



Forcing. (1) Under glass. For this purpose the 

 roots are taken up in the fall, allowed to freeze but 

 not to dry out, and when wanted are put in earth in 

 mild hotbeds or in greenhouses. Cut the shoots as they 

 grow ; cover from the light for blanching. The best 

 roots for this method are three-year, grown three feet 

 by two feet, and not transplanted; they are useless 

 after forcing. Ether forcing (see under Rhubarb) 

 might be successful here. 



(2) In the field. Half-barrels may be placed over 

 the plants and fresh manure piled around them; or 

 sashes may be placed above the plants, which for this 

 purpose are grown closer than ordinary. Elaborate 

 systems of brick trenches between the rows, with open 

 pipes running from trench to trench, are used abroad; 

 manure is put in the trenches and furnishes the heat. 



