208 KITCHEN GARDEN. 



bed will continue productive for a number of years. A 

 moderate coating of salt every fall is very useful. 



Asparagus readily admits of being forced. The most 

 common method in England is to prepare, early in the 

 year, a moderate hotbed of stable-litter, and to cover it 

 with a common frame. After the heat of fermentation has 

 somewhat subsided, the surface of the bed is lined with 

 turf, to prevent the escape of vapor ; a layer of light earth 

 or exhausted tan-bark is put over the turf, and in this the 

 roots of asparagus plants five or six years old are closely 

 placed. The crowns of the roots are then covered with two 

 or three inches of soil. A common three-light frame may 

 hold 500 or 600 plants, and will afford a supply for seve- 

 ral weeks. After planting, linings are applied when ne- 

 cessary, and air is occasionally admitted. Care must be 

 taken not to scorch the roots. Where there are pits for 

 the culture of late melons or succession pine- plants, such 

 as the Alderston-pit, or the succession-pit with the hot 

 water circulation, they may advantageously be applied to 

 this purpose. 



It has sometimes been recommended to force asparagus 

 on the ground on which it grows. Perhaps the best me- 

 thod is that suggested by Mr. Spiers, in vol. iv. of the 

 Gardeners Magazine. The seed is sown in beds four 

 feet eight inches wide, and there are four rows of plants 

 eleven inches asunder in the beds. The beds are to have 

 side trenches, two feet wide, and two feet deep, lined by 

 pigeon-hole brick-work an operation which we presume 

 need not be performed till immediately before forcing, that 

 is, when the plants are at least three years old. In Octo- 

 ber, when the stalks are cleared away, the surface is cover- 

 ed with straw-litter. "When forcing is commenced, the 

 brick-lined trenches are filled with hot stable-dung, well 



