ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



11 



heat is brisk and genial enough, this plan is good. Another very 

 important way is by bringing the heat to the roots, and cer- 

 tainly by this plan a more permanent and stable kind of 

 " grass" is obtained, because plant or root is not in the least 

 disturbed. But it is an expensive way, though simple. The 

 beds are in the first place very well made of rich deep soil, 

 and the alleys of these beds are dug out to a depth of 

 3 feet or so, and then bricked ; or, in other words, the Aspa- 

 ragus beds are made between low brick walls, perforated with 

 " pigeon holes," to admit of the heat entering freely ; and 

 whenever forcing commences, the bricked trench on each side 

 of a bed is filled with fermenting manure, covered over by a 

 rough shutter, and the beds themselves with small wooden 

 frames made to fit ; these are, of course, only placed on during 

 forcing, the beds being exposed in the summer season. The 

 beds should not be more than 4 or 5 feet wide, to admit of 

 the ready percolation of heat. This method is, however, only 

 suited for places where a good deal of expense is devoted to 

 the garden ; and the modification or improvement of it, which 

 consists in having hot-water pipes passing between each bed 

 and the chamber covered with a slab of stone, is a much more 

 expensive one. ~No matter what system is employed, a steady 

 heat of from 60° to 65° will be found most suitable. 



Another way of heating the beds is by means of hot-water 

 pipes. This is a modification or improvement of the last mode, 

 and is the same as is practised in the Eoyal Gardens at 



Section of two Beds with Alley between them, and half of two 

 corresponding Alleys. 



Frogmore. It is certainly a very expensive method ; yet it 

 must be admitted it is the most satisfactory in the end. At 

 Frogmore the beds are 75 feet long and 7 feet wide, their 

 sides being built with brick, " pigeon-hole" style. The spaces 

 between the beds are 4 feet deep, the lower 2 feet being filled 



