80 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Having dwelt at considerable length upon the commoner 

 kinds of vegetables, or those within reach of most people in easy 

 circumstances, I shall have to allude more briefly than I had 

 intended to the choicer though in many cases quite indispensable 

 species. In the latter category I would include Asparagus, Sea- 

 kale, Kidney Beans, Cucumbers, Mushrooms, and Tomatos. 



Asparagus safely may be said to be the choicest of all choice 

 vegetables, and those who have the space to prepare a few 

 hundred roots for forcing ought certainly to omit no opportunity 

 of doing so. The usual practice is to break up an old bed and 

 to plant a new one annually, and in this manner sufficient roots or 

 crowns are obtained for forcing without greatly interfering with 

 the ordinary supplies of Asparagus. But the question arises, Is- 

 it always good policy to break up a bed, originally prepared, pro- 

 bably, at considerable expense and trouble, just when the Aspa- 

 ragus is in its prime ? Would it not be better in many cases 

 to prepare the requisite number of roots specially for forcing ? 

 In this case there would be no need to make any elaborate pre- 

 parations for either the seed or seedlings ; in fact Asparagus will 

 usually succeed well on ground prepared as if for Potatoes, and 

 is undoubtedly one of the best crops that could be grown in newly 

 planted cultivated orchards. They would do the least harm ta 

 the roots of the fruit-trees of almost any vegetables that could be 

 named, and I have seen some grand Asparagus cut from strong 

 clumps in orchards. Even if the Asparagus roots must be pre- 

 pared in the kitchen garden, this would not necessarily take up 

 very much more space than the older system does, and would 

 answer nearly or quite as well — that is if the plants w T ere allowed 

 sufficient time. I have had comparatively strong roots in one 

 year by raising the seedlings in heat, pricking them out in boxes, 

 and finally planting them out very much as bedding plants are 

 treated, and after another clear season's grow T th they gave fine 

 shoots when forced, though, it is almost needless to add, the 

 quantity did not equal what extra strong old clumps will yield. 

 Asparagus for forcing may well be sown where the plants are to 

 remain for two or three seasons, or one-year-old stuff may be 

 transplanted, giving them good open ground and sufficient room 

 to develop, and if this is done every spring there is soon no need 

 to interfere with established beds. Nothing forces more readily 

 than Asparagus, but it is a great mistake to subject the roots to, 



