NoTember 9, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



355 



is something serions, and aoconnta for the high price that 

 Asparagas must ever bring in the winter and early spring 

 months. Henoe the importance of having beds of Asparagus 

 heated by hot water, or by fermenting material, where the 

 plants remain without lifting or thus destroying them. Beds 

 thus heated will yield well when forced every alternate year. 

 It is to me always a matter of regret to see destroyed, by lifting 

 and forcing in a frame, those fine roots, which, if left in the 

 ground, would have done service for years, for they are of no fur- 

 ther use after having been forced. I think heat beneath the 

 roots adds to the vigour of the shoots, and plenty of light 

 makes them nice and green and crisp, but any place where 

 there is a heat of from 60° to 60° will bring Asparagus on well. 

 I have even forced the shoots to push in a dark place, out 

 them when they were 6 or 7 inches long, then set their base in 

 damp moss, and exposed them to light for several days under 

 glass, but even then the heads were probably not quite so crisp 

 as those grown in a slight hotbed and exposed to light as they 

 grew. 



For the sake of beginners, I may state that when the roots 

 are thus taken to a hotbed the bottom heat should never be 

 above from 75° to 80° ; that if there is the least danger of the 

 heat being more the roots should merely be left on the surface, 

 and be slightly covered after watering, and then 2 or 3 inches 

 more covering should be put on as the heat declines. The 

 details of these matters are cf primary importance to the in- 

 experienced. For an early Asparagus bed, then, I seldom use 

 a hotbed all of fresh materials, but select an old hotbed which 

 has been used for Cucumbers or Melons. The soil is taken off, 

 also the most decayed part of the dung ; that which is not 

 quite rotten is stirred, mixed with hot tree leaves or other 

 fermenting material, and 2 inches or so of the rotten dung 

 placed on the surface. On this are packed the numerous spread- 

 ing roots, taking care not to let them get dry, putting in 

 the first row as close as it is possible to do without the buds 

 touching. A little leaf mould and sandy loam is scattered on 

 the long foots, then the next row of roots is placed over them 

 with the buds on a level with the first row. In this way a 

 large number of roots can be packed in the space of a single 

 light of 6 feet by 4. When all the roots are packed in, a sprink- 

 ling of light soil is thrown over them, and water is given at a 

 temperature of about 65°, so that the fibres of the long roots 

 may have no check. When sure that there is the proper heat, 

 add a couple of inches or so of covering, for, where green shoots 

 are preferred, covering for blanching is quite unnecessary. 



Though the above is one of the pimplest modes of forcing, 

 yet, as already indicated, any mode will do where a little heat 

 can be given. An old friend of mine was excessively fond of 

 Asparagus, especially when it could not be obtained easily. He 

 had a small greenhouse heated by a flue, and as the stokehole 

 was email, it was always warmer than the greenhouse. He 

 used wooden boxes a foot across and 10 inches deep. In these 

 the roots of Asparagus were packed thickly as above, watered, 

 and set near the stove in the stokehole, and the boxes covered 

 lightly. When the Asparagus was about 4 inches long the 

 covering was removed, and ere long the box was removed to 

 the warmest part of the greenhouse, where the shoots soon 

 became green enough for use. A few boxes kept up a good suc- 

 cession. 



Some consider that Asparagus in the winter and early spring 

 months cannot have too much air in order that it may be 

 tender and healthful. Hence it is not uncommon to see the 

 tender shoots exposed to a keen frosty north-easter after they 

 have been forced into growth, instead of having just enough 

 of air to keep them safe while surrounding them with a rather 

 moist warm atmosphere. In the latter case the heads will be 

 full, crisp, and sweet ; in the former case they will be too 

 much like so many haid-dried twigs, giving little pleasure to 

 the eater, and doing as little credit to the grower and the 

 cook. — E. Fish. 



GRAPES RIPENING IN GROUND VINERIES. 

 I NOTICED a week or so ago that a correspondent, writing on 

 ground vineries, stated he thought Grapes so grown would not 

 ripen this year, and quoted those of Mr. Elvers, at Sawbridge- 

 worth, as an instance. I think it well, therefore, to make 

 known that I have thoroughly ripened the following — viz.. 

 Golden Champion, Early Golden Frontignan, Frankenthal, 

 Morris's Hamburgh, Trentham Black, Foster's White Seed- 

 ling, General Delia Marmora, La Bruxelloiae, the Muscat Ham- 

 burgh, and Fintindo. Many competent judges have tested 



the Grapes, and pronounced them excellent both in flavour 

 and colour. Unfortunately I made a mistake in the day, and 

 cut my last to show at the Eoyal Horticultural Society, for 

 Wednesday, the 25th of October, instead of November Ist, as I 

 ought to have done, otherwise I should have had the pleasure 

 of exhibiting several varieties, all of which were grown under 

 Eivett's ground vinery, old pattern, with the slight alteration 

 of substituting iron hooks for putty. I should here mention 

 that my Grapes are much later this year, and also that I for 

 one am quite satisfied with the Grapes so grown, taking all 

 things into consideration. In fact, some of mine have far 

 surpassed others that I have seen, even this year, that have 

 been grown in large houses. — Haekison Weib, Weirlcigh, Kent, 



POTATO CULTURE IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 



Extensive tracts of land are devoted to Potato cultivation in 

 this county, and the crop may therefore be considered a staple 

 production. It affects the interests of many cultivators of the 

 soil, and has a direct bearing on the food supply of large towns, 

 which annually depend on extensive consignments from the 

 Lincolnshire Potato fields, which are generally credited with 

 furnishing produce of the best quality. At the first glance it 

 may seem a little strange that not only the largest crops but the 

 best samples of such crops are grown on the lowest laud in the 

 county, and this means the lowest land in the kingdom. 



In the higher heath and cliff lands, which have generally a 

 limestone base, the quality of the Potatoes cannot be surpassed, 

 but on account of the shallowness of the soil the crop is not 

 generally sufficiently productive to be cultivated specially and 

 extensively. In the Pens the Potato is largely grown, and 

 in dry seasons heavy crops are obtained, but at the best these 

 are only of second-rate quality. The soil in the fen districts is 

 a mass of black vegetable mould resting on clay ; in wet weather 

 it is pasty, and in dry weather it is blown about like clouds of 

 soot. In such soil it is obvious that the appearance of the 

 tubers will not be prepossessing, and owing to an almost total 

 absence of calcareous matter, the quality is not of a high order. 

 Still in favourable seasons it is fair, and as the crops are often 

 large the Potato is extensively cultivated, simply because it 

 pays as well as anything else. But it is on land lower than the 

 fens where the largest breadths are planted and from which 

 heavier crops are drawn, while the quality is fully equal if not 

 superior to that of the best samples from the higla lands in the 

 kingdom. But how lower than the fens, which are only a few 

 inches above the sea level ? Well, hundreds of acres of the 

 finest Potato land in the kingdom are really some 7 or 8 feet 

 below the tidal level of the Trent, which flows through the 

 Potato district. What a triumph of engineering skill is exhi- 

 bited by the Isle of Axholme, the north-western division of the 

 county ! Once a morass, worthless except for fishing and 

 fowling, and subject to the inundations of the Trent, Ouse, and 

 Don ; now the richest, most fertile, and productive land in the 

 county, enjoying and meriting the name of the " garden of 

 Lincolnshire." If ever merit and enterprise were acknowledged 

 and rewarded it was when Charles I., 250 years ago, conferred 

 the honour of knighthood on old Vermuden the Dutch drainer,, 

 who in about five years rescued above 180,000 acres of land, 

 made it secure against tidal inroads, and laid the foundation 

 of the complete system of draining and warping which has 

 resulted in the present high state of fertility. Fifty thousand 

 acres of this land belong to Lincolnshire, and that area is 

 cropped almost exclusively with Potatoes, Wheat, and Plax» 

 Far as the eye can reach, in a district level as the sea, beneath 

 which it once lay, hardly anything can be seen but Potatoea 

 with the alternate patches of corn. For miles it is the same — 

 no variation, but one monotonous expanse of the Englishman's 

 and Irishman's staff of life. 



The long-continued adaptability of this warped land for Po- 

 tato culture is probably owing to the large quantity of gypsum 

 with which the isle abounds, supplying the two principal inor- 

 ganic elements of which the tuber and haulm together are 

 constituted — viz., lime and sulphuric acid. The gypsum also 

 no doubt acts beneficially by its power of fixing ammonia and 

 keeping it in store for the use of the crop. The land is highly 

 manured, principally with night soil and town refuse ; and it; 

 has long been the practice, when taking a boatload of Potatoes 

 to the large towns, to load back with manure, a plan which is 

 worthy of more general adoption. In addition to this practice 

 artificial manures of all kinds are largely used, guano, however, 

 greatly preponderating, as it has proved itself the most valuable 

 for the purpose. 



