162 GARDENING. 



action, the crop will be less liable to the attacks of 

 insects the ensuing spring. 



In the month of March or April (during the whole 

 existence of the plant) the beds must be carefully 

 forked and dressed, and kept clear of weeds.* Oc- 

 casional waterings are necessary till the third or 

 fourth year, when the plants will be sufficiently es- 

 tablished to do without them ; but it is at this epoch, 

 and in some degree as a substitute for watering, that 

 you must cover your beds with three inches of ad- 

 ditional earth. 



With regard to the cutting of asparagus, it may 

 not be unnecessary to remark, that this should not 

 be done till the third year, and then but sparingly 

 and late in the season ; and that it should be discon- 

 tinued the moment you find the buds dwindling in 

 size and diminishing in number. 

 ! It will be readily perceived, that the modes of 

 cultivation we have indicated are those only which 

 furnish the article in its natural season ; but as win- 

 ter asparagus, like winter roses, takes an increased 

 value from its rarity, it remains to say something of 

 the method technically called forcing-. The first step 

 in this process is to procure a supply of three-year 

 old plants (for none else are fit for the purpose), 

 and the next to have a hotbed of proper tempera- 

 ture ready to receive them. You now trench its 

 surface lengthwise, and by drawing the earth to the 

 side of each trench, you form ridges, against which 

 you set the roots, at the distance of two inches apart, 

 the buds upright, and the fingers spread as directed 

 in method second. They are then to be covered 



* It has been lately asserted, and with sufficient confidence, 

 that a pickle of salt and water, of the ordinary strength for pre- 

 serving meat, may be very usefully applied to asparagus beds in 

 the spring. The effects ascribed to it are its stimulating power 

 upon the crop, and its tendency to destroy the seeds of weeds 

 and of insects lying near the surface. Experiments on this 

 subject should be multiplied, and with pickles differing in strength 

 and quantity. 



