18 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



covered over by a rough shutter, 

 and the beds themselves with small 

 wooden frames made to fit; these 

 are, of course, only placed on during 

 forcing, the beds being exposed in 

 the summer season. The beds should 

 not be more than 4 or 5 ft. wide, to 

 admit of the ready percolation of 

 heat. This method is, however, 

 only suited for places where a good 

 deal of expense is devoted to the 

 garden. The modification or im- 

 provement of it, which consists in 

 having hot-water pipes passing be- 

 tween each bed and the chamber 

 covered with a slab of stone, is even 

 a more expensive one. No matter 

 what system is employed, a steady 

 heat of from 60 to 65 will be found 

 most suitable. 



In the royal gardens at Frogmore 

 the beds are about 75 ft. long and 

 7 ft. wide, their sides being built 

 with brick, " pigeon-hole " style. 

 The spaces between the beds are 

 4 ft. deep, the lower 2 ft. being 

 filled with rich soil ; and in * the 

 upper 2 ft. are flow and return hot- 

 water pipes connected with a boiler 

 that heats six such ranges. On the 

 tops of the beds are frames. In 



special severe weather the sashes 

 must be covered with mats or litter. 

 The French mode of forcing As- 

 paragus usually consists in digging 

 deep trenches between beds planted 

 for the purpose, covering the beds 

 with the soil and with frames, filling 

 in the trenches between the beds 

 with stable manure, and protecting 

 the frames with straw mats and litter 

 to keep in the heat. A speciality 

 is made of forcing the smaller-sized 

 Asparagus in iron houses There 

 are frames within these houses, just 

 as in many propagating houses in 

 England, and beneath them the 

 Asparagus is forced for the markets, 

 and in large quantities. The houses 

 are heated by hot water, and the 

 culture in other respects resembles 

 that which is practised in forcing 

 gardens in England that is, when 

 the plants are taken up to be forced 

 indoors or in pits. The disturbance 

 weakens the roots a good deal, and 

 the large table Asparagus is never 

 forced by this method. It is pro- 

 duced specially in a small state for 

 soups, etc., but it is impossible to 

 obtain the large table Asparagus in 

 this way. 



USES. The young shoots, blanched by being earthed up, and 

 gathered as soon as the points appear overground, are used boiled 

 as a vegetable. In Italy and some other countries, they allow 

 them to grow 4 or 6 in. overground, and to become quite green 

 before they gather them. In France, blanched Asparagus with a 

 reddish or purple coloured head is generally preferred. 



In Holland and Belgium, the shoots are completely blanched. 

 Notwithstanding this, the Belgian and Dutch Asparagus has a 

 delicate and excellent flavour. English people who only know 

 foreign Asparagus as specimens a week or more old, gathered in 

 Spain or France, make a great mistake in supposing that blanching 

 destroys flavour. Fresh and properly cooked Asparagus is always 

 delicate and good in flavour, whether blanched or not ; but growers, 

 cooks, market men, and others who have much experience know 

 that the blanched is the best, and laugh at the dictum of those who 

 say that " only an inch of the blanched grass is fit to eat." Many 

 who discuss the question do not even know how the large Asparagus 



