ASPARAGUS 13 



be so far below the level of the bed that when the soil is returned, 

 and the bed made to its normal level, the crowns will be about five 

 inches beneath the surface. This may be understood from the 

 following illustration of a section cut across the bed. 



-/*- ......... 



c c 



9 inches,-. 18 incJies ,-^B inches 



AA represent the alleys between the beds, and B the top of one 

 bed. The dotted lines show the ridges on which the roots are to 

 rest at CC. When the bed is ready, open the package and place 

 the Asparagus on the ridges at fifteen or eighteen inches apart, 

 allowing about half the roots of each plant to fall down on either side 

 of the ridge. As a rule it will be wise to have two pairs of hands 

 engaged in the task. The soil should be filled in expeditiously, and 

 a finishing touch be given to the bed. Very rarely will it be safe 

 to transplant Asparagus until the end of March or beginning of April, 

 for although established roots will pass unharmed through a very 

 severe winter, those that have recently been removed are often 

 killed outright by a lengthened period of cold wet weather, and 

 especially by thawed snow followed by frost. 



FORCING is variously practised, and the best possible system, 

 doubtless, is to force in the beds, and thereby train the plants to their 

 work so that they become used to it. The growers that supply Paris 

 with forced Asparagus produce the white sample in the beds, and the 

 green by removal of the roots to frames. Forcing in beds may be 

 accomplished by means of trenches filled with fermenting material, 

 or by hot-water pipes, the beds in either case being covered with 

 frames. Where the demand for forced Asparagus is constant, there 

 can be no doubt the hot-water system is the cheapest as well as the 

 cleanest and surest ; for a casual supply forcing in frames answers 

 very well, but it is attended with the disadvantage that when the 

 crop has been secured, the roots are worthless. The practice of 

 forcing may be said to commence with the formation of the seed-bed, 

 for if to be carried on in a systematic and profitable manner, every 

 detail must be provided for in the original arrangements. The width 

 of the beds and of the alleys, and the disposition of the plants, will 

 have to be carefully considered, so as to insure the best results of a 

 costly procedure, and it will be waste of time to begin forcing until 



