Journal of the Horticultural Society of London. 277 



vetch, and erect bean have sprung from one type, and are convertible, to 

 what result does that fact lead us ? Can we maintain a multiplicity of cre- 

 ated roses, cistuses, potentillas, cornflags, and irises, in the face of that 

 fact? Are we not forced thereby to the points, which I urged above thirty 

 years ago, that the genera are the substantial divisions in botany ; that the 

 asserted difference between the species and local varieties of botanists has 

 no firm basis ; and that it is a matter deserving grave consideration, whether 

 even a multitude of established genera are not variations from fewer origi- 

 nal kinds, of which the real limitation maybe found in a higher position 

 amongst tribes, classes, or orders? And, if that point be established; as I 

 humbly think it must be in the vegetable kingdom, upon what footing will 

 the species and vaiieties of zoologists stand, when the analogies between 

 plants and animals are fully considered, which it is not my province, and 

 which I do not pretend to have sufficient depth of knowledge, to investigate?" 

 —p. 103. 



In our early vohimes, (T. 11. and III), we gave two cap- 

 ital articles on the cultivation of asparagus, which is rarely 

 seen in good perfection. As many of our present readers may 

 not possess those volumes, we extract the substance of a paper 

 on its culture, as detailed in the first part of Vol. II. : — 



"In selecting the ground for permanent beds, choose a piece free from 

 trees, and sloping to the south, if possible. I should prefer a strong sandy 

 loam of the depth of three feet; if not naturally so deep, make it that depth 

 artificially. Take out a trench two feet six inches wide and three feet deep, 

 laying one third of the soil on the vacant ground where you commence, and 

 carrying the other to the place where you intend to finish. Suppose the 

 trench to be now taken out, and the ground ready for trenching, lay over the 

 whole surface six inches in depth of dung from old hotbeds, shaking it well 

 with a fork. Turn in the first spit and crumb with a full-length spade into 

 the bottom of the trench, mixing the dung and soil thoroughly together with 

 a fork ; then throw on the other soil, until the second trench is the same 

 depth as the first ; and so proceed until you come to the last trench, into 

 which throw half the earth taken back, and add dung equal to that for the 

 first spit, mixing it and the soil well together with a fork, as before. Now 

 that the ground has been once trenched over, and the bottom spit thorough- 

 ly mixed, tread the whole surface, and again lay on it about six inches in 

 depth of dung, shaking it well as before. Then proceed to trench the 

 ground back, leaving the bottom spit that has been mixed with manure un- 

 molested. Proceed as before : after the first spit and crumb have been 

 turned in, mix the dung and soil well together with a fork, which will be 

 two thirds of the trench mixed, throwing on the top the remainder of the 

 earth unmixed with dung, until you come to the first spit that has been 

 mixed, and so continue until the ground has been all trenched a second 

 time ; then throw in the earth laid out at the commencement of the trench- 

 ing, adding dung equal to that for the spit just thrown in, and well mixing 



VOL. Xni. — NO. VI. ^ 



