516 FORCING ASPARAGUS, SEA -KALE, RHUBARB, 



Asparagus. In the beginning of winter, begin six weeks before it 

 is proposed to have a crop ; when the days are longer, five weeks, or 

 about a calendar month before. Those who wish to have asparagus on 

 the table at Christmas should prepare for forcing it in November. 

 The temperature at night should never be under 50. In the day- 

 time keep the maximum down to 62. If by the heat of the bark or 

 dung, and the use of mats or canvas covers at night, the thermometer 

 stands as high as 50, fire-heat will be unnecessary; but otherwise 

 recourse must be had to the flue or hot-water pipes. A very mode- 

 rate degree of fire-heat, however, will be sufficient ; and a small fire 

 made in the evening will generally answer the purpose. Air must be 

 freely admitted every day, in some cases, to allow any steam to pass off 

 and for the sake of the colour and flavour of the plants. As the 

 buds begin to appear, as large a portion of air must be daily admitted 

 as the weather will permit. When the asparagus bed has stood two or 

 three days after planting, and when the heat has begun to warm 

 the roots, give the plants a sufficient watering. Repeat such water- 

 ings as the soil becomes dry, using water at a temperature of 70. By 

 the time the buds have come up three inches above the surface, they 

 are fit to gather for use, as they will then be six or seven inches in 

 length. In gathering them, draw aside a little of the mould, slip 

 down the finger and thumb, and twist them off from the crown. This 

 is a better method than to cut them ; at least it is less dangerous to 

 the rising buds, which come up in thick succession, and might be 

 wounded by the knife, if cutting were practised. The roots, after 

 they have furnished a crop, are considered useless for future culture, 

 because no leaves having been allowed to develop themselves, of course 

 no buds could be formed for the succeeding year. If the pit in which 

 asparagus is forced be twenty-five feet to thirty feet long, it will be 

 enough for the supply of an ordinary family to fill one-half at a time. 

 If the second half be planted when the shoots in the first half are fit 

 for use, and so on, a constant succession may be kept up in the same 

 pit for any length of time required. In some gardens asparagus is 

 grown in beds cased with pigeon-holed brickwork, with alleys between 

 two feet wide and two feet deep, which are filled with hot dung, and 

 frames are put over the beds ; it is a good plan, and answers well. In 

 other cases the alleys are simply dug cut to a depth of three or four feet 

 and filled up with hot dung, and the beds are covered with frames, or 

 hooped over with mats, or, better still, shutters or waterproof-tar- 

 paulins. Beds treated in this manner in December will produce a 

 crop in four or five weeks, which will last for five or six weeks. After 

 the crop is gathered, the dung is removed from the alleys, which are 

 then filled to the brim with rich soil, for the roots to strike into. 

 Asparagus plants forced in this manner are injured, but in three seasons 

 they will be restored, and may be forced again successfully. When 

 asparagus is forced in this manner later in the season, much less dung 

 is required, and the plants are proportionately less injured. Perhaps 

 the simplest and surest, though not the cheapest mode of forcing 

 asparagus, is to run three or four hot-water pipes along under a six- 



