ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



9 



appear; for a few strong shoots to each plant, properly exposed 

 to light and air, will be more valuable than any quantity of 

 small ones. In cutting, a little of the soil is removed from the 

 necks of the shoots with the Asparagus knife, which is then 

 pushed down, carefully avoiding injuring the crown or other 

 shoots that may be pushing up. When the knife is at the base 

 of the shoot, give it a slight twist toward s, at the same time press- 

 ing it close to, the shoot ; then draw it gently upwards, by which 

 process the shoot is separated from the plant. The knife generally 

 used in this operation has a rough or saw-like edge, set to cut 

 only one way, and that by pushing down. It should always be 

 kept sharp at the three or four first teeth from the point. For 

 those that are fond of natural unbleached " grass," any kind of 

 knife will do, and in kindly growing weather the heads may 

 even be broken off without a knife. Asparagus for market is 

 generally blanched by the earthing-up system, which is done 

 by covering the crowns with a few inches of light soil, gener- 

 ally taken from the space between the rows, by which process 

 we obtain the white bleached or blanched shoots daily seen 

 during the season in the London market. When this method 

 is adopted, the shoots must be cut below the surface just as it 

 appears above ground. This mode, however, is not to be com- 

 mended, the right way being, not to practise the earthing-up 

 system, but to wait till the shoots are 6 inches above ground, 

 when they may be cut over almost level with the surface. By 

 so doing we obtain the Asparagus in its green and natural 

 condition and of exquisite flavour, to which the blanched can 

 bear no sort of comparison. The cutting season should cease 

 about the middle of June, and in no case should it be continued 

 after the end of that month. When green Peas can be had, 

 Asparagus is less required ; therefore it is desirable to discon- 

 tinue cutting after the 10th or 15th of June, 



FORCING- ASPARAGUS. 



There are several ways of forcing Asparagus, all depending 

 on the same principles, yet each adapted to a different kind of 

 garden. Some are expensive, others not at all so, where 

 stable manure is plentiful and garden labour not a scarce 

 commodity. Thirty years ago in the London market gar- 

 dens a large forcing grower would purchase an acre or 

 more from the grower, and send for it as his beds were 

 made. At that time heating hothouses or pits of any kind 

 by means of hot water was of course unknown. They employed 



