I 



ASPARAGUS 



17 



j system of culture without blanch- 

 ; ing, if such be their taste. But a 

 I closer acquaintance with the subject 

 i will probably teach many that there 

 is something in this despised sys- 

 ' tern of blanching, which so many 

 persons, lamentably ignorant on the 

 subject beyond experiences of their 

 own overcrowded and ill-grown 

 beds, declare to be an absurd prac- 

 tice. All good judges and good 

 growers know that it is necessary 

 in the highest culture, and to secure 

 the most delicate flavour, and also 

 to prevent the rising shoots break- 

 ing in warm weather into scales or 

 leaves before they are fairly deve- 

 loped. The best foreign Asparagus 

 is blanched by piling little mounds of 

 friable earth over the stools in spring. 



Forcing. — Obtaining early sup- 

 plies of Asparagus should be the 

 aim of all who have gardens of 

 any extent and with the usual 

 appliances for forcing and heating. 

 A peculiarity of this, the most deli- 

 cate and most esteemed of all vege- 

 tables, is that it never retains its true 

 and delicate flavour when "canned" 

 or preserved. We have tried many 

 samples, both from France and 

 America, and never found one that 

 did not taste unpleasantly of the 

 tin. The true way is to prolong the 

 season of the fresh Asparagus as 

 long as we conveniently can. 



Forcing may be commenced in 

 November and continued till Aspa- 

 ragus is fit to gather in the open 

 air. One of the best ways is to 

 make a slight hot-bed with stable 

 manure, leaves, and tan (these last 

 materials, if easily obtained, will do 

 well to mix with the manure), in a 

 Melon pit, or under a common Cu- 

 cimbsr frame about 2^ft. high ; and 

 on the surface of the bed should 

 be placed a few inches of light soil, 

 leaf-mould, or sifted potting refuse, 

 on which to place the plants, because 



such material does not act so effectu- 

 ally in repressing the heat as ordi- 

 nary garden soil. When the roots 

 are taken up as completely and care- 

 fully as possible, and placed thickly 

 on this, they should be covered witli 

 a few more inches of the same mate- 

 rial. If the Asparagus be required 

 of its natural colour, give the frame 

 full light and air when fine. Water 

 occasionally with tepid water. After 

 one good watering in the early stage, 

 a little will afterwards suffice, for 

 the winter crops at all events, as the 

 slow evaporation of the period and 

 the moisture of the bed will pre- 

 serve the soil in a sufficiently moist 

 state. The heat of the bed must be 

 preserved when it gets low by a 

 lining, in the usual old-fashioned 

 way, and by covering closely with 

 mats or litter at night in cold 

 weather — that is, if it be a common 

 frame, but if in a brick pit this will 

 not be necessary. The chief point 

 is to be patient at first, to let it get 

 a slow start, and not to be over- 

 excited at any time, or it will start 

 away and produce nothing but very 

 weak, spindly shoots : whereas, by 

 bringing it on gradually and regularly, 

 a good cutting may be obtained. 



An important way is by bringing 

 the heat to the roots, and certainly 

 by this plan a more permanent and 

 stable kind of " grass " is obtained, 

 because plant or root is not in the 

 least disturbed. 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 ft. or so, and then bricked ; or. 

 in other words, the Asparagus 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, 



