Asp 
fuch gardeners as plant for file, ) fiich as have been 
two or three years planted out from the feed-bed 
and having fixed upon the time you would willingly 
have your Afparagus fit to cut, about fix weeks be- 
fore, you fhouid prepare a quantity of new liable 
ho'rfe-dung, which fhouid be thrown in a heap for 
ten days or more, to ferment, mixing fome fea-coal 
allies with it ; then it fhouid be turned over into _ a 
heap, where it muft lie another Week, when it will 
be fit for life. Then dig out a trench in the ground 
where you intend to make the bed, the width of the 
frames that are defigned to cover it, and the length 
in proportion to the quantity you intend to have 
(which if defigned only to fupply a fmall family, three 
or four lights at a time will be fufficient,) but for a 
larger family, fix or eight lights will not be too much : 
then lay down your dung into the trench, working 
it very regularly, and beat it down very tight with 
a fork, laying it at leaft three feet in thicknefs or 
more, when the beds are made in December ; then 
put your earth thereon about fix inches thick, break- 
ing the clods and laying it level ; and at one end, be- 
gin laying your roots againft a little ridge of earth, 
raifed about four inches high : your roots muft be 
laid as dole as poffible one to the other, in rows, with 
their buds Handing upright •, and between every row 
lay a fmall quantity of fine mould, obferving to keep 
the crown of the roots exaftly level. When you have 
finifhed laying your bed with roots, you muft lay 
fome ftiff earth up to the roots, on the outfides of the 
bed, which are bare, to keep them from drying-, 
and thruft two or three fharp-pointed flicks, about 
two feet long, clown between the roots, in the middle 
of the bed, at a cliftance from each other. The ufe 
of thefe flicks is to inform you what temper of heat 
the bed is in, which you may find by drawing up the 
flicks, and feeling the lower part ; and if, after the 
bed has been made a week, you find it doth not heat, 
you may lay a little ftraw or litter round the fides, 
and alfo upon the top, which will greatly help it ; or 
if you find it very hot, fo as to endanger fcorching 
of the roots, it will be advifable to let it remain 
wholly uncovered, and to thruft a large flick into the 
dung, on each fide of the bed, in two or three places, 
to make holes for the great fleam of the bed to pafs 
off, which in a fliort time will reduce the bed to a 
moderate heat. 
After the bed has been made a fortnight, you muft 
cover the crowns of the roots with fine earth, about 
two inches thick and when the buds begin to appear 
above ground through that earth, you muft again lay 
on a freih quantity, about three inches thick fo that 
in thq whole, it may be five inches above the crowns 
of the root, which will be fufficient. 
Then you muft make a band of ftraw (or long litter,) 
about four inches thick, which muft be faftened round 
the fides of the bed, that the upper part may be level 
with the furface of the ground : this muft be faftened 
with ftrait flicks about two feet long, fharpened at 
the points, to run into the bed ; and upon this band 
you muft fet your frames, and put your glades there- 
on ; but if, after your bed hath been made three 
weeks, you find the heat decline, you muft lay a good 
lining of frefh hot dung round the fides of the bed, 
which will add a frefh heat thereto and in bad wea- 
ther, as alfo every night, keep the glaffes covered 
with mats and ftraw ; but in the day time, let it be 
ail taken off, efpecially whenever the fun appears ; 
which, firming through the glaffes, will give a good 
colour to the Afparagus. 
A bed thus made, if it works kindly, will begin to 
produce buds for cutting, in about five or fix weeks, 
and will hold about three weeks in cutting which, 
if rightly planted with good roots, will produce, in 
that time, about three hundred buds in each light -, 
fo that where Afparagus is propofed to be continued 
until the feafon of the natural being produced, a frefh 
bed fhouid be made every three weeks, until -the 
beginning of March, from the time of the firft bed 
being made j for if the Fall bed is made about a week 
in March, it will- laft till the feafon of natural Afpai 
ragus ; for the laft beds will come a fortnight fooner 
to cutafter making, than thofe made about Chriftmas ; 
and the buds will be larger, and better coloured, as 
they will then enjoy a greater fhare of the fun. 
Where this method of forcing early Afparagus is in- 
tended, there fhouid be every year fuch a quantity- 
planted, which you floall judge neceffary (unlefs you 
intend to buy the roots from fome other garden ;) the 
quantity of roots neceffary to plant one light, is common- 
ly known by the meafure of the ground where they 
grow ; for where there is a good cropff and few roots 
are miffing, one rod of ground will furnifh enough 
for a light ; but this calculation is made from the 
ground planted with roots, which are defigned to be 
taken up after two or three years growth for forcing, 
in which there are fix rows in a bed, at but ten inches 
diftance, and the plants eight or hine inches afunder 
in the rows ; but where there is a greater fpace be- 
tween the rows, and. fewer rows in a bed, then there 
muft be a greater quantity of ground allotted for each 
lie-ht. Moil of the kitchen-gardeners about London, 
take up their Afparagus roots after two years growth 
from planting ; but where the land is not very good, 
it will be better to let it have three years growth, for 
if the roots are weak, the buds of Afparagus will be 
very fmall, fo not worth the trouble of forcing. The 
bell ground for planting Afparagus; to have large 
roots for hot-beds, is a moift rich foil; but for thofe 
that are to remain for a natural produce, a middling 
foil, neither too wet nor too dry ; but a frefh fandy 
loam, when well dunged, is preferable to any other. 
The fecond fort is mentioned to grow naturally in 
Wales, and alfo near Briftol : I have received feeds 
from the ifland of Portland, which have fucceeded 
in the Chelfea garden, by which I am convinced it 
is a different fpecies from the Garden Afparagus; and 
alfo from the wild fort which grows naturally at Gibral- 
tar, and alfo near Montpelier, is different from both ; 
Mr. Magnol, of Montpelier, was alfo of the opinion 
that it was a different fpecies, for he fays, the common 
wild Afparagus and this grew near each other in the 
neighbourhood of Montpelier, and the young fhoots 
of the former were fweet, whereas thofe of the latter 
were bitter. The fame has been confirmed to me by 
feveral gentlemen, who have refided many years at 
Gibraltar and Minorca, where the fecond fort grows 
naturally in plenty. 
This fort is propagated by feeds in the fame manner 
as the garden kind, but muft have a warmer fituation ; 
and the roots fhouid be well covered in winter, to 
prevent the froft from penetrating the ground, which 
will deftroy it. 
The third fort hath white, crooked, fhrubby ftalks; 
which rife four or five feet high, but have no fpines 
on them ; the leaves come out in clufters from the 
fame point, like thofe of the Larch-tree ; thefe are 
very fhort, and end in fharp prickles, fo that they 
are troublefome to handle. This fort grows naturally 
in the South of France, Spain, and Portugal. It is 
propagated by feeds as the former forts, but is too 
tender to live abroad in England, fo the roots fhouid 
be planted in pots, or near a fouth wall, and fheltered 
in winter. 
The fourth fort grows with fhrubby ftalks three or 
four feet high, with very white bark, and are armed 
with thorns which are fingle, coming out juft below 
each turf of leaves. Thefe ftalks continue feveral 
years, and put out many branches, garnifhed with 
narrow fhort leaves. Thefe continue green all the 
winter, if the plants are fcreened from fevere froft. 
It is propagated by feeds as the former, which may 
be procured from the Mediterranean, where it grows 
naturally ; fome of the plants fhouid be kept in pots, 
that they may be fheltered in winter, and the others 
may be planted in the full ground in a warm fituation, 
and in hard frofts covered, otherwife it will not live 
abroad in this country. 
The fifth fort grows naturally at the Cape of Good 
Hope. This hath very crooked irregular ftalks, which. 
are 
45 
