FORCING 



27 



should be allowed to proceed for about ten weeks only. 

 From Christmas to March is a time of great scarcity of 

 choice vegetables, and hence forced asparagus always 

 command a ready sale and good prices, but even so the 

 supply generally runs short of the demand. Yet there 

 certainly should be no lack of supply, because asparagus 

 is the easiest and most reliable plant to force of any I 

 know. There is one most important matter to remember 

 if this is to be done really well, which is that the plants 

 must be well prepared for the work. I have forced 

 all kinds, or rather plants of all ages, from twenty years 

 old to two, but if the best results are obtained such 

 plants as that shown in the illustration of a three-year- 

 old plant should be used for the purpose. This plant 

 was sown three years ago, taken up and planted in 

 a row twelve inches from row to row and eight 

 inches apart in the rows. Of course not a stem has 

 been cut, except the ripened shoots in the autumn. 

 Indeed, this is the secret of producing the best quality. 

 Old beds can be forced, but the produce is unequal 

 — a few good shoots, a great many small. I have seen 

 well prepared young plants produce by the end of 

 November by gentle forcing, asparagus as large as is 

 sometimes found on old beds at their best in April ; but 

 to prepare plants I would advise very liberal treatment. 

 Plants certainly can be, and are well grown in less space 

 than I have mentioned, but the greater the space the 

 better the results. Well do I remember making a gentle- 

 hot-bed principally of oak leaves, and then bending rods 

 over the beds, covering up with mats and old hop bags 

 cut ope,n. Such plants as I have described were taken up 

 early in February, and placed on about four inches of 

 light soil, and simply packed closely together, so that the 

 crowns were only a few inches apart. They were then 

 covered with soil three inches deep, the mats and bags 

 being tightly fastened down over all. A gentle heat of 



