92 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
July. Besides, asparagus becomes a drug in the market when 
peas and cauliflowers are plentiful, and if the writer may 
hazard his own private opinion, asparagus is but a lollipop, 
whereas peas and cauliflowers are like marrow and muscle to 
repair the waste of the frame in the activities of life. 
White versus Green Asparagus. — It is easy enough to 
produce either. If you want tough white asparagus, put an 
extra six to twelve inches depth of fine gritty soil over the 
crowns, and cut with a proper saw below the surface. If you 
want tender, juicy, tasty, come-again flavoured green sticks, 
do not mould the beds more than enough to fairly cover the 
crowns, let the shoots rise six inches or so above ground, and 
then cut with a knife level with the surface, or snap off the 
shoots at the surface with finger and thumb. 
Forcing. — The simplest way to force asparagus is by bring- 
ing the heat to them, for then the roots are undisturbed, and 
will gain in time and size. For this practice the beds should 
be four feet Avide, with two feet alleys between, and the beds 
selected for forcing should be left uncut in the \ preceding 
summer, that they may accumulate the strength needed to 
enable them to endure the trial. The first business is to 
determine when the first cutting is required, and the later it 
is wanted the better for the plants and the gardener. If you 
wish to cut in January, you must commence operations six 
weeks in advance ; if in February, five weeks in advance ; 
if early in March, four weeks in advance. The forcing con- 
sists in covering the bed with litter, and then taking a shallow 
spit from the alleys and throwing it equally over the litter. 
The alleys are then filled with hot dung, which must be 
raised to at least one foot above the level of the beds, and 
when slightly trodden must be covered with boards to shut in 
the heat and keep out the cold and wet. Finally, the beds 
should be covered with six inches depth of the same hot 
dung. In a mild winter the routine may be modified with a 
view to economy ; and, as the season advances, the amount 
of heating material required to start a bed will become less 
and less. 
A better quality of forced asparagus, less fat, but green, 
and therefore tender, and with the welcome flavour of a good 
sample, may be obtained by taking up the plants and forcing 
them in pits and frames. It is a very simple business. The 
plants should be taken from beds three or four years old, and 
