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to be flipp'-'d down clofe to eacb fcparate bud, in order to 

 cut it otF flantiiig, three or four inches widiin the ground; 

 being careful not to injure any of the young'er buds nling in 

 fucceflion, as there are generally feveral from the fame root, 

 advancing in different ftages of growth. 



Forcing Afparagus. — As afparagus is frequently required 

 in winter, and early in fpriiig, another method mull be prac- 

 tifcd for obtaining it in thele feafons. This is by means of 

 planting the roots in fubftantial hct-beds, covered with frames 

 and gla.Tes. When it is intended to have a conilant fuccef- 

 fion of afparagus during the winter and fpring, a new hot- 

 bed mufl; be made, and planted with fre(h plants every three 

 or four weeks. As thefe roots when forced in hot-beds do 

 not continue to yield any tolerable produce longer than that 

 period of time, when they wiU in a manner be quite ex-- 

 haufted, and are not fit for that or any other purpufo after- 

 wards ; therefore, for this purpofe, a frefli quantity of plants 

 muft be in readinefs for every new hot-bed. Thefe are raifed 

 in the natural ground to a proper age : they mull be three 

 or four years old, the plants being raifed from feed, as diveS- 

 ed for the natural ground afpai-agus, and when they are 

 one year old, tranfplanted into beds of rich earth, as diretl- 

 ed alfo for the natural plantations, in roW'S a foot afunder ; 

 but they retdnot to be more than nine inches diilant in each 

 row, forming them in beds of fix rows in each, with only 

 two feet alleys, jull to go in to clean off weeds, &c. as the 

 beds ne^d not be landed up in winter, as in the natural afpa- 

 ragus ; but when the plants have had two fummers' growtli, 

 they will, in good ground, be fit for forcing, though they 

 are in greater perfection if pennitted to ftand three years. 

 During the time they remain in the natural ground, none, 

 or very few, buds fhoula be gathered, the whole being per- 

 mitted to nm to ilalk each fummcr. It is alfo neceliary, 

 when intended to force afparagus annually, that fome feed 

 fliould be fown every fpring, and a due quantity of plants 

 tranfplanted as before directed, fo as to have three different 

 pieces of ground always employed at the fame time with 

 plants for the above purpofe ; that is one piece with feed- 

 lings in the feed-beds, the other two with tranfplanted 

 plants, one to be of a year's growth before the other ; 

 by which praftice, after the three firll years, an annual fuc- 

 ceffion of plants fit for forcing may be procured. But 

 where it is inconvenient to wait the railing of the plants in 

 this manner, they may be furniihed by moll of the liitciien 

 gardeners in the neighbourhood of great towns, where when 

 raifed to proper growth for this purpofe, they commonly 

 fell by meafurtment of the ground they grow upon, gene- 

 rally from fix to ten fliilhngs per rod, according to the age 

 and fize of the plants, and fulnefs of the crop. 



Mr. Nicol, in his Forcing Gardener, obferves, that plants 

 'for this nfe (liould not be older than feven or eight years, 

 nor younger than four years, and that they fhould be covered 

 with litter or flraw, in order to have acccfs to them during 

 frofts. The neceffary quantity of plants for hot -beds is (he 

 fays) confiderable, fince about as many as grow upon three 

 rods of ground, are requifite for a bed intended for a com- 

 mon three-ligiit garden frame. The coinmon allowance of 

 the London gardeners is about one rod to a light ; for the 

 plants are to be placed as clofe as they can polnbly Hand to 

 one another, to the amount of five, fix, or feven hundred, or 

 more according to their fize, in a three-light frame, other- 

 wife a bed would not fupply a quantity adequate to the ex- 

 pence and trouble neceffary in the cultBre of thefe plants in 

 hot-beds ; for, from a bed of the above dimenfions, we com- 

 monly expeft about three hundred large buds or ware, 

 bcfid" s fprew, weekly, and in the whole, about eight or nine 

 hundred good afparagus, and near as many fniall ones, in 

 three weeks, in which period of lime, the roots will have 



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exl'.aufted their flrength, and produce very 'ittle more. There- 

 fore, in raifing or procuring plants for the ab; ve purpofcs, 

 the quantity mull be proportioned to the number of lights 

 you intend working, and the fucccifioii of afparagus renuir-- 

 cd. The feaCnn for be,;inning t!;e above work, is according 

 to the time the aiparagus is required for ufe ; as for in- 

 flance, if you would have good afparagus at Chriitmas, it is 

 proper to make the hot-bed in the firll or fecond week in 

 November, and fo on in proportion to any other time in win- 

 ter or fpring it is defired to have it fit to gather. The rule 

 is this : if a conllant fuccefUnn is required from about Chrifl- 

 mas till the time when the natural afparagus come in, a 

 new hot-bed fliould be made evei-y three weeks or a month 

 from the beginning of November until that of March : but 

 fome begin about the latter end of September, in order to 

 obtain afparagus about the fecond week in November. The 

 proper materials for this fort of hot -bed are, according to 

 the authors of the Di£lionary of Gardening, a fufiicicnt 

 quantity of liorfe liable dung, frefh and full of heat; for 

 one or more three light frames, two feet and an half 

 or a yard high ; alfo fome to line the fides of the bed, when 

 the heat declines, a quantity of good kitchen garden earth, 

 and one or two three light garden frames to place over the 

 beds, and fome large garden mats to cover occafionally in 

 nights and bad weather ; the dung being previoufly pre- ■ 

 pared as direffed under the article Hot-bed. The belt 

 fituations for the hot-beds are fome of the warmed and 

 moil flieitered compartments of the kitchen garden, or 

 the melon or cucumber ground if there be room ; though 

 the London gardeners, when they make a confiderable 

 extent of afparagus hot-beds, often form them in or near 

 fome of the large quarters of the kitchen ground, where 

 the foil is rich and light, for the convenience of having 

 plenty of good proper earth at hand for earthing the beds, 

 banking up the outfide plants,- and moulding at top, &c. 

 The cxpofure (hould be open to the full fouthern fun, and 

 well defended from the northerly winds. The beds may be 

 made either wholly on level ground, or occafionally in a 

 {hallow trench, four or five feet wide and fix or eight inches 

 deep, or it intended to make them in any of the quarters 

 of the kitchen ground, a trench might be formed as above, 

 in which to make the beds for the lake of the earth being 

 laid ready for earthing the beds and plants, and to fave the 

 trouble of bringing it from a diftance, efpecially for beds 

 of confidei-ahle length ; but otherwife they may be made,. 

 as has been jull feen, entirely on even ground in the molt 

 convenient fituations. As to the general dimenfions of the 

 beds, they mull be in proportion to the width and length 

 of the intended frames, or rather a little wider and longer, 

 to allow from three or four to five or fix inches clear 

 on each fide and end, whereon to bank up fome earth 

 agalnft the outfide roots, &c. and they fhould be about a yard 

 high, earthed at top about fix inches thick for the reception 

 of the plants, before the frames are put on, keeping them 

 within the compafs of them upright and as clofe as they 

 can Hand, as dire£led below. The clear fpacc of a few 

 inches on each outfide end is, as fuggeited above, to 

 receive a fmall bank of earth againft the outfide roots, 

 both to defend them from the weather, and for the fupport 

 of the frame ; the latter of which, on account of the 

 firll violent heat, is not put on till fome time after 

 planting the roots : thefe, as loon as planted and banked 

 up on the outlides, are earthed over the crowns of the 

 plants an inch deep, which lliould be increafed to five or 

 fix when tiie buds appear through the firft earthing, at 

 which time as the heat of the bed will be moderate, the 

 frame and glafl'es fhould be placed on. Sec Generul Cul- 

 ture. 



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