126 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



ever, have their own asparagus-bed in 

 their garden. To those, therefore, we 

 say. Make up a bed in some warm shel- 

 tered corner of either of the above mate- 

 rials, and to the thickness of 3 feet or 3^, 

 if leaves only be used ; set the roots on 

 the surface after the strong heat has de- 

 clined, imbedded in the soil as stated 

 above, or in leaf-mould or rotten tan ; 

 cover them at first only as high as the 

 tops of the crowns, and after ten days lay 

 on 3 or 4 inches more, keeping the sur- 

 face within 9 or 10 inches of the glass : 

 for, to secure a crop by Christmas, glass 

 will be required for its protection. If for 

 March use, the bed may be hooped over, 

 and covered, first with semi-transparent 

 canvass, which will admit light enough, 

 and therefore may be kept on perma- 

 nently ; while during night and in cold 

 wet days, and during frosts, a waterproof 

 tarpaulin should be put over all, to throw 

 off the wet and retain the internal heat. 

 A very slight heat is all that is necessary. 

 In regard to taking up the roots, ama- 

 teurs will do well to commence on one 

 side of the outer rows of the bed by 

 digging out a trench, forking the earth 

 as much as possible from underneath the 

 plants, so that they may easily, and with- 

 out straining or injuring their roots, move 

 them out entirely by thrusting down the 

 fork behind them. Be very careful, at 

 the same time, that the buds about the 

 crowns of the plants are not injured by 

 the fork, or bruised in any way during 

 their removal. Asparagus roots may be 

 planted in boxes, and placed in a warm 

 stable or cow-house, and when the buds 

 have attained the height of 3 or 4 inches, 

 they may be brought out daily into the 

 open air when the weather is at all mild : 

 this is with a view to give a greenish 

 colour to the buds; but where coloijr is 

 not a consideration, this removal will be 

 unnecessary. 



Asparagus is sometimes forced in the 

 beds where it grows by covering the sur- 

 face early in November with hot stable- 

 manure to the depth of a foot, which starts 

 the buds in about twelve or fourteen 

 days ; the beds are divided by 3-feet alleys, 

 which are dug out, at the time of cover- 

 ing, to the depth of 2 feet, and filled with 

 heated dung at the same time. In breadth 

 the beds correspond with that of an ordi- 

 nary garden-frame, which is placed over 



them as soon as the shoots have attained 

 the height of from 2 to 3 inches, at which 

 time the covering over the beds is care- 

 fully removed and added to the linings 

 placed in the alleys, which raises them as 

 high as the top of the frames aU round. 

 This heat, with a sufficient covering of 

 mats or straw over the glass during the 

 night, is found sufficient for the purpose ; 

 and as the glasses are uncovered every 

 day, the shoots become of a fine green 

 colour, and are in a fit state for use by 

 the latter end of the month, or beginning 

 of December. The beds are covered in 

 this way in succession, a three-light frame 

 being placed to the end of the first, and 

 so on every ten days during the season of 

 forcing. When the crop in the first frame 

 is cut, the frame is carried forward, and 

 the surface of the bed covered with dry 

 litter or leaves to keep out the frost, but 

 not to the extent to keep the roots in a 

 state of excitement, as it is desirable they 

 should remain at rest until spring, when 

 the covering is removed, and they are 

 allowed to grow in the open air. The 

 portions of the beds earliest forced in this 

 way are allowed a year to recover their 

 strength, when they are again forced. 

 Those that come in later in the season are 

 forced the following year, and there are 

 instances of this mode where the beds 

 have been so treated for thirty years. 



Asparagus may also be forwarded a 

 fortnight or three weeks earlier than it 

 will come into use in the open air, by 

 merely covering the beds, about the end 

 of February, with, a frame and sashes, 

 without any other artificial heat what- 

 ever; or the cloches, or small bell-glasses so 

 much used by the French, may be advan- 

 tageously employed : they are now being 

 made at most of the large glass-works, and 

 may be purchased at Is. a piece, if taken 

 in quantities of not less than 200. 



Taking the crop. — The buds are fit for 

 cutting when from 3 or 4 inches above 

 the surface, when of a fine green colour, 

 and while they are firm and compact, 

 terminating in a close obtuse point. They 

 should never be blanched, although this 

 has been strongly recommended by one 

 who ought to have known better. The 

 French, Dutch, and Germans a,lmost in- 

 variably did so, and even put themselves 

 to the trouble of placing an opaque tube 

 over each bud, for the evident purpose of 



