AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
147 
61 inches from the edge of the bed. Plants, one 
or two years old, which have been taken up 
carefully with the fork, in order to avoid break¬ 
ing the roots, are then placed at the distance of 
81 inches from each other in the line; and after 
the roots have been well spread out they are 
covered with 4 inches of earth taken from the 
second bed. The second bed is planted in the 
same way as the first, the earth for covering 
the dung and the plants being taken from the 
third bed, and the planting is continued in the 
same way to the last bed. "When that is done 
some earth remains which is kept in reserve. 
When the beds have been all equally covered, 
a top-dressing of half rotten dung is laid upon 
each. In the autumn of the following year the 
old stems are cut, the ground is slightly forked 
and as the beds have necessarily settled, they 
are again covered with earth as in the preceding 
year, and each receives a top-dressing of half 
rotten dung which ought to be repeated every 
year. After the second year’s growth the plants 
may be forced; but it is better to wait till after 
the third year, as the produce will in that case 
be finer. 
The beginning of November is the time at 
which the forcing of the Asparagus is usually 
commenced, and it is continued successively till 
February. The following is the method fol¬ 
lowed : after the frames are placed on the beds 
to be forced the latter are covered with a layer 
of vegetable mould, the earth is next dug out 
of the alleys to the depth of about twenty inches, 
and laid on the beds so as to cover them to the 
depth of about thirteen inches; this is done 
with the view of making the Asparagus much 
longer. The alleys are then filled up with a 
lining of fresh stable dung as far as the sashes 
of the frames. Before the sashes are put on, a 
layer of dung is spread over the beds in order 
to induce more rapid vegetation ; but care must 
be taken to remove the dung as soon as the 
Asparagus makes its appearance out of the 
earth. Whatever be the state" of the weather 
no air is given. At night and during bad 
weather the sashes are covered with good straw 
mats, in order to confine the heat. The linings 
are turned every fortnight or 10 days, adding a 
greater or less quantity of fresh dung, according 
to the state of the weather, in order to keep up 
the heat under the sashes to not less than 59°, 
nor more than 77°. This Asparagus is usually 
ready for cutting in 20 or 25 days, according to 
the state of the weather, after the forcing has 
been commenced. 
The crop is cut every two or three days, until 
it is over. In order that the plants may not 
suffer from a sudden transition from heat to cold 
the sashes are left on for some time. After 
having removed the dung from the alleys, the 
sashes and frames are taken off, and then the 
earth taken out of the alleys and deposited on 
the beds is replaced. It is usual to force only 
half the number of beds which there may be, 
in order that the same beds may not be forced 
in two successive years. 
Asperges vertes .—The cultivation of Aspara¬ 
gus plants is a subject of speculation among the 
cultivators of the commune of St. Ouen. They 
have sown and planted Asparagus every year 
for a long period, in order to supply roots to 
market gardeners. An acre will produce from 
2000 to 2200 plants, which will sell for about 
30 1. or 34?., according to the demand. The 
cultivators usually begin to take up the roots 
about the beginning of October, and they con¬ 
tinue to do so as the stools are required ; but 
before the approach of frost a supply ought to 
be secured. 
When forcing is to be commenced, a good 
hot-bed 2 feet or 2? feet thick is prepared, the 
temperature of which should be from 68° to 77°, 
the hot-bed should be formed of one part of 
fresh stable-dung, one part of decayed dung, 
and one part of cow-dung, the whole well mixed 
together and moistened if necessary. When 
the bed is raised to the requisite height, the 
frames are put on, the paths are lined half way 
up with dung, and the bed is covered with a 
few inches of vegetable mould, as the roots can 
be better placed on it than on the dung. When 
the heat of the bed has a little abated, the stools 
are placed side by side on the hot-bcd, without 
shortening their roots, beginning at the back of 
the fi’ame, and so going on till it is quite full. 
The roots are left in this state for several days. 
When it is thought that they are about to grow, 
they are slightly covered with vegetable mould, 
and the paths filled up to the sashes with long 
dung; at the same time taking care to watch 
the fermentation of the hot-bed, and if it be¬ 
come too hot the height of the linings must be 
diminished. 
On the other hand, in order to keep up or in¬ 
crease the heat of the bed, the linings should 
be turned as often as it is found necessary to do 
so. The sashes are covered up at night with 
straw mats in order to keep in the heat; and as 
soon as the plants begin to push, air must be 
given during the day, at least if the weather 
permit of doing so. At the end of 12 days or a 
fortnight, the Asparagus begins to produce, and 
it is cut during the whole time that it lasts, that 
is to say, for about three months. When the 
crop is over, the roots are of no further use, 
and, after having turned the bed and linings, 
other Asparagus roots may be planted, if the 
season is not too far gone.— Courtois-Gerard 
FORCING ASPARAGUS. 
In another column will be found a description 
of the manner in which Asparagus is forced in 
Pai is, as collected from Courtois-Gerard’s useful 
little book on Paris Market Gardening. We 
give it not so much because of any marvellous 
excellence which the French vegetable posses¬ 
ses, but because it represents the way in which 
a good supply of fair kitchen garden produce 
can be easily procured under ordinary circum¬ 
stances. 
That information upon this point is needed 
the poor samples so continually produced at 
tables where excellence is to be looked for suffi¬ 
ciently indicate. But we are far from thinking 
that, Mr. Courtois has exhausted the subject; 
on the contrary, he misses that which, to pri¬ 
vate persons at least, is most important, the 
mode of obtaining the largest and most succu¬ 
lent, and therefore the best Asparagus for table. 
Many years ago the manner in which the great 
Biscayan Asparagus is obtained was pointed out 
by a most intelligent correspondent in these col¬ 
umns, (See Gard. Chron. for 1842, p. 187.) 
Some of the details of the Spanish process were 
however unsuitable to English circumstances, 
and we believe it has never been imitated in this 
country. Another method by which enormous 
succulent shoots were obtained in Suffolk was 
briefly published in the Journal of the Horticul¬ 
tural Society (vol. vii., p. 206.) The plan is de¬ 
scribed in the following words—“ I set out my 
bed as follows : 60 feet Jong, 5 feet wide, 4 feet 
deep. The earth was all taken out and laid on 
one side the bed. I then placed at the bottom, 
2 feet deep salt ooze, from the banks of the 
Aide; 1| foot deep of the river weed (a long 
Grass.) Two feet of the best vegetable mould 
was then placed on the top, and the young 
plants set out at 18 inches distance all over the 
bed.” They were then buried in a few inches 
of rich soil. 
Leaving the reader to compare this mode of 
forming a bed with the French and common 
English methods, we would invite attention to 
the following considerations, which greatly con¬ 
cern gardeners, now that the season for forming 
Asparagus beds is at hand. The grower of this 
vegetable ought to recollect that the two points 
of excellence in it are first size , and second suc¬ 
culence. It should be as thick as the thumb 
and as brittle as glass. To secure this result 
two things are indispensable; it must be produ¬ 
ced by very vigorous plants, and it must grow 
very fast. These two cardinal points must be 
considered separately. 
Its vigor will depend upon the soil in which it 
grows, the quantity of manure it receives, and 
its general treatment. The long stout succulent 
fangs, or roots, of an Asparagus are so tender 
that they will not form freely in soil which of¬ 
fers much resistance. Nature places it in its 
wild state among sea sand, the most yielding of 
all earthy substances, never becoming dry, never 
remaining loaded wit’ i stagnant water, but at 
every tide receiving a supply of the saline par¬ 
ticles that constitute an essential part of the 
food of the plant. Under such circumstances 
the roots meet with no obstruction to their full 
development. There is, however, no apparent 
necessity for sand; what is really wanted is 
some soft material, moistened with salt water, 
and so placed that while it is always wet, it will 
never become water-logged. How unlike this is 
to the hard, coarse earth, so often used for this 
plant we need not say. 
But the natural Asparagus is never large ; on 
the contrary, it is more like what is technically 
called “ sprue.” The cause of that is, we pre¬ 
sume, to be sought in the want on the sea shore 
of the powerful manure on which it greedily 
feeds, when it can obtain it. The wild Aspara¬ 
gus has all that it requires for mere health; but 
it is ill fed; it differs from the fine garden plant 
just as lean kine differ from fat bullocks. Feed¬ 
ing makes all, or great part of the difference. 
Experience shows that no manure is too strong 
for this plant; its great spongy roots can take 
up any quantity with advantage, if applied at 
the right season. That season is after it has be¬ 
gun to move in the spring; applied at any other 
time the fat oozy slime which it loves is absorb¬ 
ed without being assimilated, and soon produces 
a fatal rot in the roots. Besides this, the plant 
must be cherished during summer while not 
under the knife, for it is only thus that its vital 
powers can be much increased. No exuberance 
of growth in the Asparagus stems can be regard¬ 
ed as excessive; nothing should be done to check 
it; every branch that a plant is able to form 
should be anxiously preserved, and if any means 
can bo used to prevent the formation of berries, 
which we must remember is a process of exhaust¬ 
ion, these means should be accepted, provided 
always the little thread-like green leaves are in 
no way injured. Small as they are they con¬ 
duce to the strength of the Aspai’agus, as much 
as its broad leaves to a forest tree. Such pre¬ 
cautions having been taken, great buds, as large 
as Acorns, will appear in clusters from the crown 
of the roots, and out of them will rise gigantic 
shoots in the succeeding year. All these precau¬ 
tions will, however, fail if the Asparagus is call¬ 
ed upon to bear a crop before it is old enough. 
Early bearing ruins plants as much as animals, 
and inevitably brings on premature debility. The 
older it is before the cutting begins the stronger, 
other circumstances being equal, will it be found. 
The exhaustion attending the production of a 
crop one year should also be made good by rest¬ 
ing the Asparagus during the next year. In 
other words, giant Aspai’agus cannot be looked 
for if the bed is cut oftencr than every other 
year. 
The Asparagus being brought to the requisite 
state of vigor, the next question is how to se¬ 
cure the necessary succulence, which it never 
has beyond 2 or 3 inches in an English market, 
and not often anywhere else. That succulence 
will depend upon temperature as much as upon 
other causes. The warmer the Asparagus bed 
is kept while the sprouts are rising the more 
brittle they will be, provided the temperature 
of the soil does not rise above 75° at the most. 
Now, under ordinary circumstances, every thing 
is done to keep it cold; buried 12 or 13 inches 
below the surface, the influence of the sun is 
slowly felt, and very imperfectly into the bar¬ 
gain. It is only when the roots are lightly cov¬ 
ered by some rapidly conducting material that 
the sun can exercise his proper influence, unas¬ 
sisted by artificial contrivances. Hence, one of 
the greatest faults that the Asparagus gower 
can commit is to bury his plants deep. Only 
observe Mr. Kendall’s practice; his plants are 
just covered with soil resting upon a deep bed 
of the most nutritious matter. The earliest rays 
of the sun are felt in such a case, and as soon 
as the dormant energy of the plant is roused, it 
continues to be exercised without a day’s inter¬ 
ruption. It is true that the Asparagus thus 
obtained is green ; and so it should be. Green¬ 
grocers and cook-maids are of a different mind, 
and we believe are the only authority to the 
contrary. Their opinions may, we think, be 
fairly examined by the evidence of the senses 
