28 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



wild in Essex, in a meadowe adioining to 

 a myll beyond a village called Thorp, and 

 also at Singleton, not farre from Carbie, and in 

 the meadowes neereMoulton in Lincolnshire: 

 likewise it groweth in great plenty neere 

 vnto Harwich, at a place called Landam- 

 erlading." Miller was of opinion, that the 

 common asparagus which is cultivated for 

 the use of the table, might probably have 

 been brought by culture to its present per- 

 fection, from the wild sort, which grows na- 

 turally in Lincolnshire, where the shoots are 

 no larger than straws. It is well known how 

 much the asparagus is improved in size since 

 Gerard's time (1597) ; and it might be still 

 farther improved, if our gardeners were to 

 import roots of this plant from the borders 

 of the Euphrates, where it grows to an extra- 

 ordinary thickness. 



The colony of the Joxides in Caria had a 

 singular custom respecting asparagus, which, 

 according to ancient tradition, owed its ori- 

 gin to the following story : — Perigone, hav- 

 ing been pursued by Theseus, threw herself 

 into a place thickly filled with asparagus and 

 reeds ; and prostrating herself, made a vow, 

 that if these plants would hide her from 

 Theseus, she would never pull or burn them. 



