124 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



this the roots, as they are taken up, should 

 be placed close together, arid regularly 

 spread out in a perpendicular direction, 

 but not so crowded as that they shall 

 touch each other ; and as the process 

 goes on, the soil should be carefully 

 wrought in amongst them while dry; and 

 when the bed is finished, it should be well 

 watered with tepid water, to wash the soil 

 more closely about them. 



When the roots are old and very large, 

 it may be found more expedient to place 

 them in a horizontal direction; but, when 

 young, there will be no difficulty in set- 

 ting them upright, by which a greater 

 number of crowns will be got into the 

 same space. In regard to produce, it 

 may be stated in a general way, that a 

 three-light frame, or the same extent of 

 pit, will produce, under good manage- 

 ment, a dish of heads every other day for 

 nearly three weeks. To maintain such a 

 supply from the middle of November till 

 the grass is fit to cut in the open ground, 

 it will be requisite that a three-light 

 frame or pit be planted every ten or 

 twelve days from the last week in Octo- 

 ber till the second week in April, calcu- 

 lating for the climate of Scotland, and 

 till the beginning of March for that of 

 England. In large establishments, where 

 this vegetable is required daily and in 

 large quantities, double that extent at 

 least should be planted. All that is 

 required in the way of culture is frequent 

 supplies of tepid water and abundance of 

 light and ventilation, even to the extent 

 of removing the glasses for an hour or two 

 on all favourable occasions, and guarding 

 against an excess of bottom-heat. On 

 the Continent, the buds are often blanched 

 with a view to render them more deli- 

 cate; with us, a fine healthy green colour 

 is a chief recommendation, and to secure 

 this, as well as flavour, light and air are 

 absolutely necessary. As a general rule 

 as to temperature, the atmosphere of the 

 bed or pit should range from 50° to 60°, 

 the former during night and the latter 

 during the day, while the bottom-heat 

 should approximate nearly, nor should it 

 at any time fall below 48°. In severe 

 weather it will be more expedient to re- 

 tain the heat within by external cover- 

 ings (for which vide fig. 789, vol. i.), than 

 to increase it by an extra consumption 

 of fuel. 



The Dutch and German mode of forcing 

 asparagus. — About the end of October 

 deep trenches are dug between the beds 

 in the open ground, which, for this pur- 

 pose, seldom exceed 2\ feet in breadth, 

 having one row of plants in the centre of 

 each. These trenches are filled with 

 leaves, rank stable-manure, or any other 

 fermenting material capable of producing 

 a strong heat. The surface of the beds is 

 forked up and slightly covered with litter. 

 The heat in the trenches stimulates the 

 roots, and considerable success attends 

 the operation, so far as quantity of heads 

 goes, but they are without either colour or 

 flavour. Some, however, have narrow 

 frames covered with glass which they 

 place over the beds, which is, no doubt, 

 an improvement on the former practice. 

 Both are modes attended with much la- 

 bour and uncertainty as to time, and 

 occasion an enormous waste of manure. 

 Many Continental gardeners, however, 

 adopt the taking-up system described 

 above, and some also follow the methods 

 to be noticed below. 



Forcing in permanent beds. — "Forcing 

 in permanent beds has not been much 

 practised in this country till of late years. 

 There are now, however, many instances 

 of this mode," under different modifica- 

 tions, " in many of our first-rate gardens. 

 Beds to be so treated are built with 

 pigeon-hole walls all round ; they are of 

 the breadth of an ordinary-sized garden 

 frame, and of any required length ; the 

 depth of the linings or spaces between 

 the beds is 3 feet, and their breadth 2| 

 feet. In these spaces dung, leaves, tan, 

 or any other fermentable matter is placed, 

 which heats moderately the body of the 

 beds. Frames are placed over the beds, 

 covered with glass-lights;" all other 

 coverings now should be looked upon as 

 obsolete things. In such beds asparagus 

 is forced year after year without renewal. 

 " For later crops there is no objection to 

 this plan, because, by the time the crop 

 is gathered, the weather will be mild 

 enough to allow the last set of stalks 

 shooting up to their full size and develop- 

 ment, and hence the roots will be supplied 

 with proper nourishment to enable them 

 to produce a crop of shoots the following 

 season. But such roots as are forced 

 early by this method, not having the 

 same opportunity of acquiring their natu- 



