HISTORY AND COOKERY 51 



Island, near the Lizard Point. It is even said to be 

 commonly found in the Elysian fields. For many hun- 

 dred years, however, it is as "cultivated asparagus" 

 alone that the plant has been seriously related to culinary 

 art; and Meager, writing about 1 680, says that even 

 then abundance of forced asparagus was to be obtained 

 at the Central London Market. Gerard and Parkinson 

 have each something to say of the vegetable, and Evelyn, 

 in his " Acetaria," reports the high opinion which his 

 contemporaries had of it : " Next to flesh, nothing is so 

 nourishing as asparagus." This, unfortunately, is not a 

 verdict which we can support in these days of physio- 

 logical and chemical research. As showing the com- 

 position of two vegetables typical of those dealt with 

 in this book, the following table (after Kbnig) may be 

 of interest : 



Celery. Asparagus. 



Water .... 84-09 93*32 



Nitrogenous matters . 1-48 1-98 



Fat .... 0.39 0.28 



Sugar .... 0-77 0-40 

 Other non-nitrogeneous 



extractions . v 11*03 2 '34 



Cellulose . . . 1-40 1-14 



Ash . . . ' . . 0-84 0-54 



CONSTITUENTS OF THE ASH 



Potash . . . . 43*19 3 I '3 



Soda . . > . n*59 



Lime . . . .13*11 10-48 



Magnesia ". i . . 5*82 4*9 



Iron oxide . .' . 1*41 2-99 



Phosphoric acid . . 12-83 20-12 



Sulphuric acid . . 5-58 6-36 



Silica . . ' . . 3-85 6-60 



Chlorine . . . 15-87 



