APRIL. 
79 
FRENCH ASPARAGUS. 
“ A Constant Reader ” having requested information as to how the large 
Asparagus seen in the Parisian markets is produced, we forwarded his com¬ 
munication to one of our correspondents, and the following is his reply : — 
“ The large blanched Asparagus, seen in the Parisian and London markets 
early in the season, and which commands as much as from 205. to 30s. per 
bundle in London, is not obtained by the mode of forcing usually practised 
in this country—that of taking up the roots and planting them in frames 
heated by dung linings or other means ; for with all the care possible the 
roots of Asparagus cannot be disentangled from the soil, or removed from 
that in which they have grown, without serious detriment, and such as renders 
them unfit for nourishing such heads as they would have produced in their un¬ 
disturbed state. Attempts to do this, or to equal the splendid forced Asparagus 
obtained from France, have proved in vain. 
“ The French have two descriptions of forced Asparagus: one is termed 
Asperges vertes , or green Asparagus ; the other, Asperges blanches, or blanched 
Asparagus. The green is obtained by taking up the roots and placing them 
under a frame on a hotbed; but this mode is not adopted when blanched 
Asparagus is the object in view. In this case the heat is taken to the plants 
without disturbing them ; in the other the plants are removed and taken to the 
heat. Heat is requisite in either case, but its results as regards the growth of 
the plants are not the same, inasmuch as it is not applied under equal circum¬ 
stances, but, on the contrary, to roots in their entirety, and ready to act with full 
force to produce a vigorous shoot, able to push through a considerable thick¬ 
ness of soil, or other blanching material, before it comes to the light: hence 
the giant heads, as they are sometimes termed, of blanched Asparagus. On 
the other hand, when the roots are taken up, the heat may be adequate to 
what the plant may require, or be, indeed, as great as it can bear; but instead 
of acting on sound roots, it has to act on such as are bruised, mutilated, and in 
a great measure deprived of their spongioles; from such plants, smaller shoots, 
grown so as to produce green Asparagus, are only expected. Many prefer the 
flavour of this to that of the large blanched shoots, and, indeed, in the tender 
green state there is more of the Asparagus flavour than in the blanched, so much 
so that it is said French cooks boil the latter in water in which Asparagus has 
been previously boiled, thus communicating much of the flavour of the green 
to the blanched, the fine appearance of which renders it so desirable. 
“ The blanched heads may be produced by the following method :—The plan¬ 
tation intended for forcing is disposed in beds about 4 feet 4 inches wide, and 
on these four rows are planted, about 9 inches apart in the rows. The plants 
are cultivated for three years, and then in the fourth they are forced, when, 
being well established, they are in a condition to produce very large shoots. 
The beds are 2 feet apart, and in this space trenches about 20 inches or 2 feet 
deep are formed. In commencing to force, frames the width of the bed are 
put on, and the trenches are filled with hot dung to the ton of the frames. 
The frames are also filled with hot dung till such time as the shoots begin to 
reach the surface. The sashes are then put on and kept close, no air being 
given. In cold nights the glass is covered with thick straw mats, which are 
warmer than Russian mats. The linings are turned and renewed so as to 
maintain a temperature of from 60° to 75° ; but I think 70° is quite high 
enough. The forcing is commenced in November, and carried on succession ally 
till March. After being forced, the same plants are allowed to grow one year 
in the open air to recover, and they may then be forced again in the next. 
“ The green Asparagus is procured from hotbeds, planted in preference with 
