Chap. XXVII.] 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



475 



April. It is forced in three ways- in houses heated with hot 

 water; in frames sunk in the ground and heated in the same 

 way ; and lastly, in frames plunged in warm stable-manure. It 

 appeared to be forced with equal success in each case, though the 

 stable-manure seemed to offer the simplest means. As usual here 

 the frames are small -about 4 ft. wide ; the roots are placed 

 directly on the manure, not flat as they would be in the open 



Frames used for Forcing Asparagits, 



ground, but packed as closely as possible, from 500 to 2000 roots 

 — according to size —going under one light ; a mere sprinkling 

 of soil is placed over them. As a result, the shoots come up very 

 thickly. The roots employed are strong fine ones three years from 

 the seed ; as many as five crops of roots follow each other through- 

 out the autumn, winter, and spring in the same frame. The 

 universal straw mat is used to cover the frames at night. A 



Sectloit of Frames for Forcing Asparagus. 



dozen persons were employed solely in gathering and " bundling " 

 the Asparagus for market, so that the quantities gathered for 

 use are very considerable. All is done in the simplest and 

 rudest manner, the securing of good crops being the only thing 

 considered. 



The old mode of forcing Asparagus, still practised to some 

 extent, chiefly consists in digging deep trenches between beds 

 planted for the purpose, covering the beds with the soil and with 



