Chap. 42.J WILD AUD CULTIVATED ASPAEAGUS. 189 



out streaked branches from the head : asparagus admits, also, 

 of being grown from seed. 



Cato * has treated of no subject with greater care than this, 

 the last Chapter of his work being devoted to it, from which 

 we may conclude that it was quite new to him, and a subject 

 which had only very recently occupied his attention. He re- 

 commends that the ground prepared for it should be a moist or 

 dense soil, the seed being set at intervals of half a foot every 

 way, to avoid treading upon the heads; the seed, he says, 

 should be put two or three into each hole, these being made 

 with the dibble as the line runs for in his day, it should be 

 remembered, asparagus was only grown from seed this being 

 done about the vernal equinox. It requires, he adds, to be 

 abundantly manured, and to be kept well hoed, due care being 

 taken not to pull up the young plants along with the weeds. 

 The first year, he says, the plants must be protected from the 

 severity of the winter with a covering of straw, care being 

 taken to uncover them in the spring, and to hoe and stub up 

 the ground about them. In the spring of the third year, the 

 plants must be set fire to, and the earlier the period at which 

 the fire is applied, the better they will thrive. Hence it is, 

 that as reed- beds 51 grow all the more rapidly after being fired, 

 asparagus is found to be a crop remarkably well suited for 

 growing with them. The same author recommends, however, 

 that asparagus should not be hoed before the plants have made 

 their appearance above-ground, for fear of disturbing the roots ; 

 and he says that in gathering the heads, they should be cut 

 close to the root, and not broken off at the surface, a method 

 which is sure to make them run to stalk and die. They should 

 be cut, he says, until they are left to run to seed, and after the 

 seed is ripe, in spring they must be fired, care being taken, as 

 soon as they appear again, to hoe and manure them as before. 

 After eight or nine years, he says, when the plants have be- 

 come old, they must be renewed, after digging and manuring 

 the ground, by replanting the roots at intervals of a foot, care 

 being taken to employ sheep's dung more particularly for the 

 purpose, other kinds of manure being apt to produce weeds. 



!Nb method of cultivating this plant that has since been tried 

 has been found more eligible than this, with the sole exception 

 that the seed is now sown about the ides of February, by laying 

 50 De Re Rust. c. 161. 51 See B. xvii. c. 47. 



