CHAPTER VII. 



ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB. 



ASPARAGUS and rhubarb are generally forced from 

 transplanted roots. That is, strong plants, four or more 

 years old, are dug from the field and taken to the house 

 for forcing. The crop is produced chiefly from the nour- 

 ishment which is stored in the roots, and the roots are 

 exhausted by the crop, and are then thrown away. 



Inasmuch as the plants do not grow by becoming 

 rooted and established in the soil after their removal to 

 the house, it follows that they do not demand direct sun- 

 light. In fact, the product may be tenderer and more sale- 

 able for being grown in a dull or even a nearly dark 

 place. The roots are usually set underneath the benches 

 in the glass house, but they may be set in the potting- 

 room (if warm enough), or even in the cellar near the 

 heater. The most rapid growth will be secured when the 

 temperature is high (even as high as 70 at night), but a 

 stockier and better product may often be grown when the 

 temperature is somewhat lower. 



There are various means of forcing asparagus and rhu- 

 barb where they stand, in the field. One of the common- 

 est is to place the half of a barrel over a clump in very 

 early spring, and then to pile fermenting horse manure 

 about the barrel. The heat from the manure will start 

 the plant into a precocious growth. In Europe, aspara- 

 gus is sometimes forced where it grows by piling manure 

 into trenches which are dug (and sometimes bricked up, 

 with openings in the walls) between the rows. These 

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