ASPARAGUS 
I 
HISTORICAL SKETCH 
HE word ‘‘asparagus’’ is said to be of Persian 
origin. In middle Latin it appears as spara- 
gus, Italian, sparajio; old French, esperaje; 
old English, sferage, sharage, sperach. ‘The 
middle Latin form, sfarvagus, was in English changed 
into sparagrass, sparrow-grass, and sometimes simply 
grass, terms which were until recently in good literary 
use. In modern French it is asferge; German, spargel; 
Dutch, asfergie; Spanish, esperrago. 
The original habitat of the edible asparagus is 
not positively known, as it is now found naturalized 
throughout Europe, as well as in nearly all parts of 
the civilized world. How long the plant was used as 
a vegetable or as a medicine is likewise uncertain, but 
that it was known and highly prized by the Romans 
at least two centuries before the Christian era is his- 
torically recorded. According to Pliny, the Romans 
were already aware of the difference in quality, that 
grown near Ravenna being considered best, and was 
so large that three spears weighed one pound. The 
elder Cato has treated the subject with still greater 
care. He advises the sowing of the seed of asparagus 
in the beds of vine-dressers’ reeds, which are culti- 
