I lO ASPARAGUS 



soil is kept moist ; the steam has a penetrating effect, 

 and permeates all parts of the bed, giving a uniform 

 heat throughout ; this moist steam keeps up a con- 

 tinual fermentation of the manure mulch, thus giving 

 heat, and only occasional brief steamings are necessary. 



"Care must be taken not to use too much steam 

 at one time, or the plants may be ruined by overheat- 

 ing. Our asparagus rows were four feet apart, the 

 tunnels midway between them were only eight inches 

 wide, and yet we found that five minutes at a time 

 was as long as was safe to force steam into a single 

 tunnel. 



' ' These experiments have been so successful as to 

 indicate that any one provided with a steam-heating 

 plant could successfully force asparagus for the mar- 

 kets in this manner. ' ' 



Another plan of forcing asparagus in the field, 

 devised by Prof. L. H. Bailey, is thus described in his 

 ' ' Forcing Book " : " The Cornell asparagus house — if 

 it may be called a house — is about twenty by fifty feet 

 and the frame is made of steam-pipes. The sides, or 

 walls, are only eighteen inches high, and the frame 

 consists simply of a ridge and three pairs of rafters. 

 The steam-heating pipe or riser is just beneath the 

 ridge, and this feeds two returns upon either side of 

 the house, next the walls. When it is desired to force 

 the asparagus, canvas or muslin is stretched over the 

 frames. No difiiculty has been found in starting the 

 asparagus into growth in January and Februar}-. The 

 cover is left on and the heat kept up until all danger 

 of frost is past, when the canvas is removed and the 

 plants grow naturally out-of-doors. The secret of 



