ASPARAGUS. 



by exposure to the sun and air, may be stored 

 for use. Some gardeners keep them in the 

 pulp until the time of sowing, unless required 

 to be sent to a distance. 



To force A*]>ar<tgnx. Such plants must be 

 inserted in hotbeds as are five or six years' 

 old. and appear of sufficient strength to pro- 

 duce vigorous shoots: when, however, any old 

 natural ground plantations are intended to be 

 broken up at the proper season, some of the 

 best plants may be selected to be plunged into 

 a hotbed or any spare corner of the stove 

 bark-beds. When more than ten years old, 

 they are scarcely worth employing. To plant 

 old stools for the main forcing crop, is, how- 

 ever, decidedly erroneous ; for, as Mr. Sabine 

 remarks, if plants are past production, and 

 unfit to remain in the garden, little can be ex- 

 pected from them when forced. The first 

 plantation for forcing should be made about 

 the latter end of September: the bed, if it 

 works favourably, will begin to produce in the 

 course of four or five weeks, and will continue 

 to do so for about three; each light producing 

 in that time 300 or 400 shoots, and affording a 

 gathering every two or three days. To have 

 a regular succession, therefore, a fresh bed 

 formed every three or four weeks, the 

 last crop to be planted in March or the early 

 part of April : this will continue in production 

 until the arrival of the natural ground crops. 

 The last-made beds will be in production a 

 fortnight sooner than those made about Christ- 

 mas. 



The bed must be substantial, and propor- 

 tioned to the size and number of the lights, 

 and to the time of year being constructed of 

 stable dung, or other material. The common 

 mode of making a hotbed is usually followed ; 

 but, as Mr. Sabine remarks, the general ap- 

 pearance of forced asparagus in December 

 and the two following months, gives a suffi- 

 cient indication of defective management. The 

 usual mode he considers erroneous, inasmuch 

 as that the roots of the plants come in contact 

 with, or are over, a mass of fermenting matter; 

 and the mode of raising potatoes practised by 

 Mr. Hogg, which will be hereafter stated, first 

 suggested the plan for obviating this defect, and 

 it has been confirmed as correct by the suc- 

 cessful practice of Mr. Ross, gardener to E. 

 Ellice, Esq., of Brentford, who, by planting his 

 asparagus in the tan of his exhausted pine 

 pits, which consist of eighteen inches of 

 leaves, and over that the s'.me depth of tan, 

 and applying hot dung, successively renewed, 

 round the sides, and thus keeping up a good 

 heat, produced in five weeks asparagus so 

 fine, and by admitting as much air as possible 

 during the day, of such good colour and so 

 strong, as nearly to equal the natural ground 

 crops. It is the best practice to plant the as- 

 paragus in mould laid upon the tan, which, or 

 some other porous matter, is indispensable for 

 the easy admission of the heat from the linings. 

 The bed must be topped with six or eight 

 inches of light rich earth. If a small family 

 is to be supplied, three or four lights will be 

 sufficient at a time ; for a larger, six or eight 

 will not be too many. Several hundred plants 

 may be inserted under each, as they may be 



ASPARAGU 



croAvded as close as possible v^gether; from 

 500 to 900 are capable of being -nserted under 

 a three-light frame, according to their size. 

 In planting, a furrow being drawn the whole 

 length of the frame, against one side of it the 

 first row or course is to be placed, the crowns 

 upright, and a little earth drawn on to the 

 lower ends of the roots; then more plants 

 again in the same manner, and so continued 

 throughout, it being carefully observed to keep 

 them all regularly about an inch below the 

 surface ; all round on the edge of the bed some 

 moist earth must be . banked close to the out- 

 side roots. 



If the bed is extensive, it will probably ac- 

 quire a violent heat ; the frames must there- 

 fore be continued off until it has become regu- 

 lar, otherwise the roots are liable to be de- 

 stroyed by being, as it is technically termed, 

 scorched or steam-scalded. When the heat has 

 become regular the frames may be set on, and 

 more earth be applied by degrees over the 

 crowns of the plants, until it acquires a total 

 depth of five or six inches. The glasses must 

 be kept open an inch or two, as long and as 

 often as possible, without too great a reduction 

 of temperature" occurring, so as to admit air 

 freely and give vent to the vapours, for on this 

 depends the superiority in flavour and appear- 

 ance of the shoots. The heat must be kept up 

 by linings of hot dung, and by covering the 

 glasses every night with mats, &c. The tem- 

 perature at night should never be below 50, 

 and in the day its maximum at 62. In gather- 

 ing, for which the shoots are fit when from two 

 to five inches in height, the finger and thumb 

 must be thrust down into the earth, and the 

 stem broken off at the bottom. This excellent 

 vegetable possesses some diuretic properties. 

 Its juice contains a peculiar crystallizable 

 substance, which was discovered by Vauquelin 

 and Robiquet, and named by them Asparagine. 

 It is hard, brittle, colourless, and in the form 

 of rhomboidal prisms : its taste is nauseous. 

 The decoction of the plant is sometimes used 

 on the Continent as a diuretic ; but it is rarely 

 or never prescribed in England. M. Dubois, 

 of Paris, has submitted asparagus berries to 

 fermentation, and procured a spirit from them 

 by distillation, with which he makes an excel- 

 lent liqueur. (Diet, des Drogues , G. W. John- 

 son's Kitchen Garden, 81 ; Miller's Dictionary , 

 Trans. Hort. Soc. Land, vol. ii. pp. 234, 263. 

 361 ; Dr. Macntlloch, Caled. Hort. Mem. vol. i.) 



ASPEN TREE (Populas Tremula). This i? 

 a branch of the poplar family, which derives 

 its Latin name from the incessant trembling 

 of its leaves. The English name is from the 

 German espe, which is the general name for 

 all poplars. The heart-shaped leaves adhere 

 to the twigs by a long and slender stalk. :he 

 plane of which is at right angles to that o* the 

 leaf, and consequently allows them a J^uch 

 freer motion than other leaves that have their 

 planes parallel with their stalks. This, with 

 their cottony lining below, and their hairy 

 surface above, causes that perpetual motion 

 and quivering, even when we cannot perceive 

 by other means the least breath of air stirring 

 in the atmosphere. This trepidation is attended 

 of course with a rustling noise, on which ac< 



123 



