AS A DECORATIVE PLANT 49 



plant, and as a plant for the cool greenhouse and for 

 the stove for it possesses beauty of foliage, flower 

 and fruit, is easily multiplied by seed or division, 

 and, provided it has rich loamy soil, ample pot-room, 

 and plenty of water, is a rapid and vigorous grower, 

 making growths of six feet or even longer. The 

 flowers, which are borne in abundance under favour- 

 able conditions, are white and possessed of a pleasant 

 fragrance. The Royal Horticultural Society gave an 

 Award of Merit to the variety Compacta in 1898. 



Asparagus plumosus and A. tenuissimus somewhat re- 

 semble one another in the light and fragile character 

 of their stems and foliage, and also in the treatment 

 suitable for their growth and health. Both may be 

 readily multiplied either by seeds or by cuttings. To 

 effect the latter, take off the young side shoots close 

 to the old stem to a butt of about four inches, from 

 April to June, and place in light soil in a close propa- 

 gating case. Both A. tenuissimus and A. plumosus may 

 be kept for some time as dwarf compact pot plants 

 by cramping their roots in a . small space, but given 

 room they both produce long shoots and develop in- 

 dividual character. In A. plumosus cristatus each branch- 

 let ends in a divided crest after the style of the crested 

 ferns. All the species of asparagus like abundance of 

 light, and although, like the garden A. officina/is, they 

 are mostly long-suffering, they yet well repay generous 

 and careful treatment. 



