294- Queries and Answers. 



if the plants were to remain in the ground, and be forced there. The system, 

 I think, cannot be objected to by any one, unless that by its adoption a larger 

 quantity of glass would be wanted ; which, being so much cheaper on the 

 Continent than in England, gives the market-gardeners in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris a great advantage over those around our metropolis. Still, I think, 

 nothing should be left undone towards endeavouring to adopt the French 

 system, at least in part. On the supposition that the French mode of forcing 

 asparagus need not be strictly adhered to, as it respects filling up the inside 

 of the frame with hot dung, I should suggest the adoption of oiled paper or 

 oiled calico lights ; a considerable number of which could be manufactured at 

 a small expense ; and, with care, the paper might last two years, and the calico 

 much longer. In my younger days, I recollect witnessing yearly, two ranges 

 of cucumbers grown under oiled paper lights, which in general answered 

 remarkably well, 



I wish, however, to know if what they call white asparagus in Paris is a 

 variety peculiar to itself; or if its whiteness is the effect only of the peculiar 

 mode of" growing it ? It appears to me that the latter only is the case : and, 

 if so, a question will naturally arise, which is the best for the table; the 

 asparagus which is thus brought forward in a blanched state ; or such as, by a 

 different process, would retain more of its natural hue ? I am inclined to 

 prefer the latter, as being most likely to secure the end desired, as may be 

 seen in my article, p. 146. Nevertheless, I am open to conviction, if it can 

 be proved otherwise. 



In forcing what they call in Paris " green asparagus," there is no mention 

 made of covering the crowns of the plants with earth, which I suppose is not 

 done ; consequently, as soon as the buds begin to push, they are immediately 

 exposed to the light, and also to as much air as it may be thought proper to 

 give them. The natural consequence of such a system will, of course, be, to 

 produce green shoots ; and their being small may be occasioned by the plants 

 being removed from the beds, and more particularly, if from old beds in a 

 declining state. 



For forcing asparagus in the natural ground, instead of allowing only 2 ft. 

 between the beds, as is the French method, I should be inclined to give 2\ ft. 

 or 3 ft.; by which means the dung would retain its heat longer, and be more 

 efficacious, and the alleys, during the years of rest, might be made use of 

 for culinary purposes. — T. Rutger. Shortgrove, near JBhkop Stortford, Essex s 

 April, 1834. 



Art. VII. Queries and Answers. 



Failure of an Ice-house. — I trust some of the scientific readers of this Ma- 

 gazine may be able, from the following account, to give me an explanation of 

 the causes that led to the failure of an ice-house which I built ten or twelve 

 years ago. It was constructed of large dimensions, in the hope that ice might 

 be kept in it from year to year, many winters passing in South Wales when 

 none can be obtained, and was built of stone in the usual form, faced with 

 brick, with hollow walls and three passages, separated by four doors. It has 

 a drain at bottom, through which no air can enter, there being what is com- 

 monly called a stink trap. At first there was an opening in the centre of the 

 dome, for the convenience of shooting down the ice ; but it has been closed, 

 lest it should occasion the ice to melt, and one has been made in the passage. 

 The ice-house is not under trees, but on the slope of the land, with a wood on 

 its western side ; its top is on a level with the land. It has been suggested 

 that it may be sunk too deep under ground, as the height from the top to the 

 bottom is 17 ft. ; it being 5 ft. from the passage to the top. The ice has been 

 put in for many winters, well broken, and beaten down into a solid mass ; but 

 when the ice-house is opened, after a lapse of several months, the ice is found 

 to have melted ; nothing remaining but a small pillar in the middle, and that 

 too soon vanishes. When the ice-house is empty, and the doors are open, it 



