514 



ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 



quickly the vegetation, but in this case the manure must 

 be removed when the Asparagus begins to shoot. When 

 the shoots are about three inches out of the ground they 

 may be cut. The mats must be taken oS in the day- 

 time, but the heat must be well kept up or the roots and 

 buds will fail to push. The beds are forced every second 

 year only. The gathering of the Asparagus may continue 

 for about two months^ but no longer, or the plantation 

 would be injured. When the gathering of the Asparagus 

 is over, the frames and dung linings are taken away, and the 

 soil which has been dug up from the alleys is put back again. 



The preceding note applies to the forcing of the better 

 qualities of Asparagus chiefly. I visited last September 

 a place at Clichy in which quite a specialty is made of 

 forcing the smaller sized Asparagus. It is the garden of 

 M. Caucannier, Place de TEglise, and contains a number 

 of iron houses, just on the same plan as those in the 

 Jardin Meuriste, already described. Indeed, if I mis- 

 take not, those in the Fleuriste are copied from them. 

 There are frames within each house, just as in many 

 propagating houses in England, and beneath them the 

 Asparagus is forced for the markets, and in incredible 

 quantities. The houses are heated by hot water, and the 

 culture in other respects resembles that which is practised 

 in forcing gardens in England — that is, when the plants are 

 taken up to be forced indoors or in pits. The disturbance 

 weakens the roots a good deal, and by this method the 

 large table Asparagus is never forced. M. Caucannier 

 and other growers produce it specially in a small state for 

 cookery. 



