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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1908 



land in the suburbs of Paris is valuable, space is economized 

 in every possible way, and the plants are set very closely 

 in the beds. In the hot atmosphere of the forcing house 

 the asparagus shoots grow with astonishing rapidity, often 

 inceasing two inches in length in twenty-four hours, so that 

 they are ready for market in a few days after planting. 

 The roots furnish a succession of shoots during a period 

 of two months. When they become exhausted they are 

 promptly replaced by fresh plants, and so the harvest con- 

 tinues throughout the year. The cultivation consists prin- 

 cipally of frequent hoeing, weeding, and watering. The 

 shoots are gathered twice a day, usually by women, who lie 

 on planks thrown like bridges over the forcing beds, as 

 shown in one of the illustrations. As the stalks are cut they 

 are put into small baskets, which are taken to the cellar as 

 soon as they are filled. In the cool cellar the asparagus may 

 be kept two or three days before being sent to market. As it 

 is wanted for market it is put up in bunches by women, who 

 assort the stalks according to size, arranging the larger ones 

 around the outside of the bunch. A wooden mold or form is 



Taking Up Exhausted Roots 



Covering Asparagus Roots with Compost in Hotbeds 



and surrounded by a frame 

 which is surmounted by a 

 glass sash. As soon as the 

 first violent heating has 

 subsided the roots are set in 

 the beds, but they are not 

 covered with earth for 

 several days. The tempera- 

 ture of the bed is atten- 

 tively watched. If it ex- 

 ceeds seventy-seven degrees 

 Fahrenheit the thickness of 

 the layer of manure must be 

 reduced, and if it falls be- 

 1 o w sixty - eight degrees 

 Fahrenheit the bed must be 

 re-made. At night the sashes 

 are covered with straw 

 mats, and after the shoots 

 appear they are opened 

 more or less during the day, 

 if the weather permits. 



employed in making the 

 bunches, which are tied with 

 two osiers and made even at 

 the base by cutting off any 

 butts that protrude. Several 

 times a day, according to 

 the demand, a wagon laden 

 with boxes of twenty-five or 

 thirty bunches, wrapped sep- 

 arately in paper and packed 

 in straw, leaves the forcing 

 house for the Halles, the 

 great market of Paris. 



To most of the asparagus 

 forcing houses are attached 

 hotbeds in which the green 

 asparagus know n in all 

 French cities by the name of 

 "asperges aux petits pois" is 

 cultivated. The hotbed is 

 formed by removing the soil 

 to a depth of from sixteen 

 to twenty inches and replac- 

 ing it with a layer of stable 

 manure from twenty-four to 

 thirty-two inches thick. This 

 is covered with a few inches 

 of rich mold or compost 



Women Selecting and Preparing Asparagus Plants for the Forcing House 



