VAEIETIES. 



131 



" late " being in this, as in some other cases, 

 applied by different seedsmen to the same variety, 

 when, as in this case, it is of intermediate season. 

 Since the introduction of such extremely early sorts 

 as the Extra Early Erfurt, this and other mid- 

 season varieties are more often called ''late." The 

 Asiatic seems to have originated from the Early 

 London, of which it is regarded as merely a 

 stronger growing and later variety. The first men- 

 tion I find of it is in Hovey's Magazine, in 1845, 

 where Large Asiatic and Walcheren are called the 

 two most noted varieties. In 1849 the same maga- 

 zine states that it was sent out by the London 

 Horticultural Society. In 1850 a writer in the 

 Gardener's Chronicle mentions this and Walcherea 

 as his two favorite varieties. In 1854, J". D. Browne 

 describes the Large, Late Asiatic in the report of 

 the Enited States Department of Agriculture as 

 larger and taller than Early London. 



In 1855 this variety is mentioned in the American 

 edition of "Xeill's Gardener's Companion" as having- 

 recently come much into use. As this edition was taken 

 from the- fourth Edinburgh edition, the actual date 

 here referred to was probably much earlier. Three 

 other varieties, scarcely differing in character, are 

 mentioned — the Early, Late and Reddish -stalked. 

 The Large Asiatic is now extensively grown in 

 Northern India, where it seeds freely, but has a 



