I2 8 ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB. 



trenches are sometimes heated by hot-water pipes. In 

 some instances, sashes are placed over the plants tem- 

 porarily. 



These various practices have suggested the idea that 

 asparagus, rhubarb, sea-kale, and the like, might be per- 

 manently grown in a house with a removable roof, so 

 that heat could be applied to them late in winter, and 

 the roof then be removed and the plants find themselves 

 growing out of doors in normal conditions. If the ground 

 were well enriched, it would seem that such plantations 



41. Frame-work and heating pipes of Cornell asparagus house. 



ought to be able to be forced for several or many years 

 in succession. Acting upon this suggestion, an aspara- 

 gus house has been erected at Cornell. The experience 

 with this house has not been sufficiently extended to 

 warrant any conclusions from the experiment, but it 

 promises well, and a description of it may be suggestive 

 to the reader who is interested in the forcing of aspara- 

 gus or rhubarb. 



