WSI APER 
Ary 
204 THE 
GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 
[Mar. 28, 
d the lusion that floricul is my exclu- 
sive study. This, however, is by no means the case, for 
have bad considerable experience in most kinds of 
gardening—from the growth of pot-herbs to the culture 
of acres of Potetoes and of corn. I think, generally, 
amateur zardeners patronise the whole circle of horti- 
ev'sural pursuits, if they have the means. Limited 
plots of ground often compel them to curb their tasks, 
but give them room, and the housewife will not have to 
complain that, in the care of floral beauties, the culinary 
delicacies are neglected. All these matters will be 
treated of in due time in the same con amore method 
pursued in reference to flowers. As this is the time 
when Asparagus beds require attention, the present 
paper will be devoted to that subject. 
In the formation of new beds of this delicious vege- 
table, by all means follow the directions so frequently 
given in the Chronicle, and which need not here be 
repeated. By approximating our methods of growth 
to those adopted by Nature, or by those countries where 
Asparagus attains the highest perfection, we shall 
insure the greatest success. In laying out a new 
garden, or enlarging your Asparagus beds, adopt the 
new modes of growing this vegetable; for the wisdom 
of our ancestors it is not always wise to follow. But as 
most gardens have already a bed or two, it will be ser- 
viceable to show how they should be treated, so as to 
make the most of them when in a flourishing state, 
or to renovate them when they have become old and 
unproductive. How common it is to see a large por- 
tion of a kitchen-garden devoted to Asparagus, and yet 
when you congratulate the owner on the advantages 
you presume he possesses with his lamb-chops in spring, 
he tells you his beds are worn out. I once came into 
possession of a bed whieh had this character of decrepi- 
tude, and succeeded in making it very prolifie, and I 
have no doubt others may do the same. 
As it is true in gardening, as well as in philosophy, 
that ex nihili nihil fit, you must take care that your 
Asparagus bed is well supplied with plants, before you 
proceed to a treatment which will make the plants ro- 
bust and productive. Sometimes there are gaps of 
several square feet, or the plants are thinly spread over 
the whole bed. Reetify this as soon as you can, by 
marking, in the growing season, all such vacancies, and 
filling them up in the autumn or the spring. About 
9 inches apart is a good average distance, although pro- 
bably a foot would secure a larger product. Having se- 
cured a good plant, as agriculturists express it, the next 
thing is to make it vigorous. Lay down this rule ‘as 
having no exception—that if your beds have nota 
vigorous growth in the summer, you'will look in vain for 
fine Asparagus in spring, As the succulent shoots 
proceed from the buried root, their size must be 
in direct proportion to the healthful of that root, 
or to the quantity of organisable matter that root has 
stored up. How, then, can the root be brought into a 
proper state for producing large shoots? By giving 
every advantage to the plant during the summer and 
autumn ; so that if your beds this summer are covered 
with a tall and strong vegetation, the abundance of 
solar light, &c., will convey a proper supply of matter 
to the root for next season, and you will cut fine As- 
paragus ; but, on the other hand, if there appears only 
a stunted and weak growth, your produce will be small. 
If the principle just laid down is correct, the mode 
of treatment must consist in judicious cutting, and the 
application of proper manure. I know many beds 
which have been ruined almost by an unsparing crop- 
ping, and in cases where there has been no deficiency 
of manure. If the bed has been injured in this way, or 
if from any cause the shoots appear thin and spin- 
dling, do not cut them at all, but let the bed have 
a rest during a whole season. i 
the advantage will be manifest. 
tend more to bring exhausted beds round than 
this generous treatment, and by the sacrifice of a few 
dishes now you will secure an abundance next year. 
What is true of a whole bed applies also to individual 
plants. I always leave the weak shoots in the beds, on 
the presumption that by cutting them they will become 
weaker, but that they will make robust shoots by being 
allowed to grow and bask in the air and the sun. My 
remarks also lead to another practical conclusion—to 
leave off cutting in time. Fine shoots must not be 
looked at with a longing eye, as though it were waste to 
let them {run to branches and flowers. They are the 
ents of a future race, and ought to be kindly and 
respectfully treated. . 
Manure must be plentifully given in conjunction with 
the above mode of treatment. It should be applied at 
such times that the growing plant may receive the 
benefit. It is possible for a top-dressing put on it 
autumn to have all its valuable properties washed below 
the reach of the roots, before they begin to exercise 
their vital powers. However, cover the beds with good 
dung in autumn, but do not neglect to furnish a fresh 
supply in spring. Salt and liquid manure should be 
used at the latter period, as they become immediately 
available. I have just dressed my beds in the following 
X md it is not too late for others to adopt the 
gin evel them with salt, so that on a dry day 
«the Whole fae Tooked as though it had been snowing; 
k ole: 
| they were thermwatered with about 60 gallons of liquid 
EN manure sayed from a stable during iio viiite: “WHER 
Hi this had sunk in, the beds were raked, stones picked off, 
roges 2 ne s nce given them, If you have no 
liquid ur vm some by diluting good stable dung 
with soapsuds,-&er As the roots will soon begin to move, 
5 
the soil will be. furnished with those materials which 
ug 
will ensure a quick and strong growth, and, if the beds 
were healthy last year, you may depend on a crop. 
As I have been able by this treatment to make old 
beds of Asparagus produce fine crops, I can recommend 
it, and I hope amateurs will themselves study the 
rationale of the practice. It is to be regretted that so 
many gardeners are contented with the “ light of other 
days,” and fail to use modern improvements and scientific 
principles. Although the Chronicle has so large a sale, 
and has for years been endeavouring to enlighten the 
public mind on these matters, the greater number by 
far of those who take an interest in gardens never see 
it, I endeavoured lately to explain to a friend the 
reason of the suecess of my Asparagus beds, and I 
could see I was listened to almost as an der of 
The ground outside may be formed into a slope (as S) 
leaving a level space at bottom, a foot or more in 
width. This trench in winter may be filled with leaves, 
spray, or other vegetable refuse, which will both pro- 
tect the border from frost, and, by the slow decomposi- 
tion going on in it, communicate a certain degree of 
artificial warmth to it.—J. H. H. 
ee 
THE POLMAISE HEATING. 
Your readers will remember that one of the first ob- 
jections stated against the Polmaise system, was that it 
“involved a waste of power,” and that when I first ad- 
dressed them, and contended that it was the system of 
nature, I especially brought to their notice this con- 
id ti that if as ry 
P 
magie. Digging and manuring are the specifics with 
most persons, while seience is neglected, and the result 
is, an accidental and occasional success, but at the same 
time repeated and provoking failures.—77. B. 
NEW PLAN OF GROWING THE VINE IN THE 
OPEN . 
Mr. Hoarr’s Vine pillars are, I think, generally 
understood to have proved a failure. I beg to offer a 
plan for growing the Vine in the open air, in some re- 
spects the converse of his system, which, whether re- 
garded with reference to the concentration of solar heat, 
protection from adverse pheri i y 
as cold, excessive rain, and wet subsoil, and the gene- 
rally favourable situation and circumstances of the en- 
tire plant, root and stem, for ripening its wood, will, I 
think, be found to present every requisite for ensuring 
success in more northerly situations than it has been 
attempted to grow the Vine in. It is not too late in the 
season for any one to try it, who has a Vine which can 
be fe d, wi disturbing the roots, as from a 
The accompanying 
without 
pot or tub, to its new situation. 
ded) the Polmaise prin- 
ciples were those of Nature, it was extremely unlikely 
we should find them to involve any waste, but that such 
would more probablyattach to those systems for diffusing 
atmospheric heat by other means than those Nature em- 
ploys. In my subsequent remarks on the philosophy of 
the distribution of atmospherie heat, and the manner in 
which heat passes through the three forms of matter, I 
stated that a great amount of radiant heat was proba- 
bly lost in the hot-water system, while all, in the Pol- 
maise mode, was available for the general purpose; and 
lam now about to prove that my prediction of the 
waste in the non-natural system is abundantly correct, 
and does not belong to any particular form of the appa- 
ratus, but is common to them all, and is easily tested by 
anybody who possesses an apparatus of the kind, if he 
will place a thermometer in the boiler-chamber or stoke- 
hole, another in the house, and another externally ; the 
following is a table of returns of temperature taken in 
this manner and procured by a horticultural friend, and 
made by a party with whom I am totally unconnected, 
and who probably was not even aware of the purpose 
for which they were taken, and it may be relied upon for 
figures 1 and 2 will enable it to be 
fg. 
w 
OUR WH laa 
LLL 
much explanation. A good site being chosen, open to 
the south, and sheltered on the north by the neighbour- 
hood of a garden wall, trees, or shrubbery, let the earth 
be dug out to the depth of 2} or 3 feet, the bottom 
paved, or rendered impervious to the roots of the Vine 
by conerete, and an underground drain D be made to 
carry off any rain that might otherwise accumulate in 
the bottom. A curved brick wall (w) is to be built on 
the north side of the excavated space, rising about 6 ft. 
above the surrounding ground in the middle, but con- 
siderably higher towards each end, and supporting a 
cover or roof (R), declining from front to back. A low 
curved retaining wall (W), in front, enclosesan oval space 
of about 9 feet by 6, within which the Vine is to be 
planted near the wall, and trained on it. The bed or 
border is to be formed, first by a layer of calcareous 
stones for drainage, and above them a mixture of lime 
rubbish, bones, and earth, which constituting a compost 
the roots of the Vine are said to delight in, the former 
materials abounding most below, and the earth most to- 
wards the surface. The roof R is a wooden frame, with 
overlapping leaves in the manner of a Venetian blind, 
which being connected together by a rod in the middle 
can be opened and brought into a vertical position (as 
represented by the dotted lines in fig. 2) for the free ad- 
mission of rain to the Vine and border whenever desired, 
though generally kept closed. 
The pitch or angle of the roof corresponds with the 
altitude of the sun at midsummer, so that it may never 
intercept the rays of the sun from any part of the wall. 
The outline of the frame corresponds with the form of 
the border, but projects beyond it, so that a vertical 
line let down from it will fall outside the low wall (w.) 
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By this table your readers will perceive, that while 
the ‘temperature of the house was raised about 20° 
above the external air, the stoke-hole was raised 407 
and occasionally more. — 
I must also draw attention to the fact, that the ex- 
ternal temperature was singularly high, consequently 
a very small amount of fire was employed, and that, 
surprising as the figures now are, there would have been, 
in all probability, a still greater comparative differenco 
between the stove and stoke-hole had such not been the 
case, Since these returns were taken I have inspected 
the place; the stoke-hole is 6 feet by 5, and 12 feet 
high; the top is boarded and slated, but there is abun- 
dant room for the air to escape, as the edges of the 
boards do not nearly touch. The thermometer was not 
suspended in the hottest part of the place ; the tem- 
perature of the stove was much assisted by the bottom 
heat being supplied by a separate boiler; the stove is 
50 feet by 21, and 13 feet high, so that I am fully per- 
suaded the statement is greatly below the average, im 
proof of which I may mention, that in the last severe 
winter the temp of the stoke-hele was almost 
suffocating. I will not weaken the case by many re- 
marks of my own; it wants no comments. It is, for 
horticulturists to decide whether they prefer to heat ex- 
