276 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



very much the character of a larch tree, having its 

 minature parts more light and elegant, and the colour 

 of a more lively green. The flowers, which wave in 

 graceful panicles, are of a yellow hue and of a fra- 

 grant smell. They are followed by round berries of a 

 bright orange-red. 



The head of the young shoot of asparagus is edible 

 just as far as the part which is to flower extends; 

 and thus one who eats a head of asparagus eats in 

 that little space the rudiments of many hundreds of 

 branches arid many thousands of leaves. 



Asparagus is distinguished into two varieties, the 

 red and the green: the first is a larger kind, growing 

 fuller and closer; though handsomer in appearance, 

 it is not considered of so good a flavour as the green. 

 In consequence of its being more showy, it is, how- 

 ever, held in greatest esteem with market-gardeners. 

 This kind has been cultivated with great success in 

 soils consisting of little else than sea sand, dressed 

 annually with sea- weed; and by attending to this mode 

 of culture it is probable that asparagus might be rear- 

 ed on many spots on the coast, that will hardly pro- 

 duce any other vegetable. 



A large quantity of asparagus is raised for the 

 London market. Battersea, Mortlake, and Deptford, 

 at each of which places the soil is light and friable, are 

 the chief localities for its cultivation. The breadth 

 of land in asparagus-beds, in the parish of Mortlake 

 alone, is estimated to be nearly a hundred acres; 

 one of the principal growers having sometimes forty 

 acres under this crop. The largest cultivator in 

 Deptford has eighty acres entirely laid out in aspa- 

 ragus beds. 



Although the natural soil of this plant is poor 

 and light, beds for asparagus can scarcely be too 

 highly manured, since its good quality depends on 

 the quickness of its growth, which is accelerated by 



