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urging the absolute necessity of tliis kind of structure; for brick 
pits being established, to fit and receive either the glazed or 
opaque protectors, as the case may be, it will be quite eligible 
to plant asparagus in a portion of the pit, corresponding in 
length to one or more of the protectors ; according to the desires 
or means of the proprietor. We merely point to this frame, 
in order that those who are about remodelling their garden 
establishments, as to accelerative or protective matters, may 
have the power of selection, by our bringing every truly useful 
thing of the kind into view. 
The span-roofed frame of old usage, here alluded to, we have 
employed for years, with success; and may here describe the 
method as applied to the forcing of asparagus. The asparagus 
is planted in brick pits, four feet in width in the clear. The 
pits contain two rows of asparagus, the rows two feet apart, and 
plants ten inches apart in the row. One foot, therefore, is 
allowed between each row of asparagus and the pit wall nearest 
it; this is “pigeon-holed” from bottom to top. These beds, 
then, are placed in parallel lines, having a trench twenty-seven 
inches in width between each two pits, and thirty inches in depth; 
which depth is indeed the same as the depth of the prepared soil 
in the pit. In forcing, the span-roofed frame rests on the walls 
of the pit, and the space between the pits is filled with hot 
fermenting material ; the roof of the frame also being covered 
with straw, litter, or mats. 
This protecting roof consists merely of an exterior frame, 
formed of deal, about four inches square, to correspond with 
the size of the walls forming the asparagus pit. This supports 
the skeleton of the span-roof, which is formed with feather-edged 
boarding : a coat of gas tar completes the structure. AVe must, 
however, observe, that one of the feather-edged boards which 
constitute the span-roof, is made to draw out easily : this be- 
comes necessary in order to examine or cut tbe produce ; and 
in fair weather, to give air when necessary, and to give colour 
to the asparagus, — that sure indicator of flavour and quality. 
Having now fully described our proposed ‘simplification of 
protective structures,’ it will be necessary to enter into some 
analysis of the objects in view; and in doing so, it will be 
well, perhaps, to classify them, in order that our readers may 
have the matter in a digestible form ; and that a specific char- 
298. auctarium. 
