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XX. On forcing Asparagus. In a Letter to William 

 Garfit Ashton, Esq. Secretary to the Cambridgeshire 

 Horticultural Society. By Mr. James Dall, Gardener 

 to the Earl of Hardwicke, F.H.S. at Wimpole. Com- 

 municated by the Cambridgeshire Horticultural Society. 



Read February 20, 1827. 



Sir, 



In compliance with the desire of the Cambridgeshire Hor- 

 ticultural Society, I transmit a statement of my method of 

 forcing Asparagus. About the second week in November 

 I make a hot-bed of leaves (which have been used the pre- 

 ceeding winter and summer as linings to the Pine pits) three 

 feet high, and as long and broad as will hold a three-light 

 cucumber frame. I then dig up the roots, which are never 

 less than five years old from seed when used for forcing. 

 I lift them with as much earth as will hang to them, and 

 place them as close together in the frame as possible, throw- 

 ing sifted vegetable mould between them as they are laid in. 

 When the planting is finished, I give a little water to settle 

 the earth close to the roots. After this I cover the crowns 

 three inches deep with vegetable mould and sifted rotten 

 tan mixed together, and then place the glass on the frame. 

 I give as much air in the day as the state of the weather will 

 permit, and when the shoots from the roots begin to rise 

 through the three inches of tan and earth, I add three inches 

 more of the same compost, and as they become fit for use, I 

 gather them by pushing my hand down the head, and with 



