NOVEMBER. 
349 
the beginning of June, when the whole of the stems must be cut off 
close to the ground, and after resting the beds for a fortnight well soak 
them with water should the weather be dry, and a crop of young shoots 
will soon make its appearance. Next, the earliest cut beds should be 
allowed to grow from the end of May till the middle of July, and then 
treated the same, and they will produce heads up to September, and 
often later; but of course this plan cannot be followed every year with 
the same beds, but will require a good succession to keep up the stock. 
The Asparagus derives great benefit from a very liberal supply of 
water in August and September. I am almost of opinion it would 
thrive as an aquatic plant at that season ; in this it bears a close 
resemblance to the Artichoke, while both require a dry soil during 
winter. 
Forcing ,—Grass is about the easiest thing to force that grows. You 
may either plant it in beds four feet wide, with the same space between 
the sides of the beds—may be either walled up, or kept up with slabs 
or boards; this trench should be three feet deep, and should be filled 
with a mixture of leaves and dung to throw a gentle heat into the 
bed. About three or four weeks before the Grass is wanted the beds 
must be covered with wooden or glass frames, to protect the shoots from 
the weather, or, where expense is no object, hot-water pipes may run 
underneath for affording the bottom heat; these plans, however, are 
best adapted for late crops, to come in after January; before that 
period the old plan of forcing the roots on a gentle bottom heat, in 
common frames or low pits, is the simplest and best. Let the crowns 
be placed on six inches of good rotten manure, over the heating mate¬ 
rials, for it is surprising how much the roots will grow in this, and place 
some fine rich mould between the roots. When placing them in 
the frame, it is a common plan to huddle the roots as thickly together 
in it as they can be packed ; this is wrong. To have fine Grass, 
every root should in the first place be taken as entire as possible from 
the ground ; next, they should be placed in the frame sufficiently apart 
to allow the soil to be well worked in between the roots up to the level 
of the crowns ; next, they should be well watered and allowed to settle 
for a week or so. When the heads commence growing cover them 
three or four inches in depth with some fine light material, as very 
rotten tan, leaf-soil, &c., to blanch the stems about that depth ; the 
closer the shoots are to the glass—provided they have room to grow 
long enough for cutting—the better, as the more air and light they get 
the better colour the Grass will be, and the more highly prized for 
flavour; it will not do however to starve them while growing, and 
therefore a certain amount of top-heat will be necessary—say from 50° 
to 60°—to bring them on regularly. They delight in being watered 
with tepid water, and shut up with the sun on the frame, in December 
and January. By these means I have always had Grass as strong, 
green, and good flavoured through the winter as is usually seen in the 
open air, and very different from the pale tough spindly stuff generally 
seen as forced Grass. 
Alpha. 
