he crowns are easily damaged by frost.
Large crowns five or six years old are preferable to smaller ones for
forcing. They may be placed rather closely together in the frame, but
the distance apart must be regulated by their size. The roots should be
spread evenly over the surface and covered with six inches of sand.
Little water will be required, as the steam from the manure affords
considerable moisture; but if the bed should become dry, it may be
moistened with water of the same temperature as the soil in the frame. A
little air may be admitted, when the day is bright and warm, to keep
the temperature from rising above 80 deg. When the points of the shoots
begin to appear above the sand the crop is ready to cut. When ground is
plentiful, a supply of forcing crowns can be kept up by sowing a little
seed every year, having five or six successions, the oldest plants being
forced for cutting."

With French gardeners it is customary to plunge the frames in warm
stable manure and place the roots directly in the manure, packed as
closely together as possible. A mere sprinkling of soil is placed over
them. As a result the shoots come up very thick. Only strong, fine
three-year-old roots are used, and as many as five crops of roots follow
each other through the autumn, winter, and spring in the same frame.
Straw mats are used to cover the frames at night.

FORCING IN THE FIELD

Forcing asparagus where it is grown in the field has a twofold advantage
over removing the roots to a warm place. First, it saves the trouble and
expense of transplanting them, which must be done with much care; and,
second, it saves the plants from being ruined by the forcing process.
Plants forced in the field where they grow will, if given good care,
regain their vigor in a season or two, and may be used again for
forcing. By this latter method a better quality and a larger quantity of
marketable asparagus is also secured.

Various means have been devised to force asparagus in the field, where
it is so well established that it continues growth in the summer as
though it had not been forced the previous winter. A simple and rather
common method of accomplishing this is to place barrels over clumps of
asparagus very early in the spring and pile fermenting manure about
them, the warmth from the manure forcing the shoots into rapid growth.
When the forcing season is over and the danger from frost is past the
barrels are removed, and the plants con