THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



shoots are boiled a few minutes, until they become 

 soft ; they are principally served to table on a 

 toast with melted butter ; seasoned, they also make 

 an excellent soup. 



This vegetable is cultivated very extensively for 

 the London markets ; and it must appear almost 

 incredible to those who have not witnessed the 

 loads of this article daily heaped on the greenstalls 

 of the metropolis for the space of three months, 

 that forty acres are under asparagus in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London at one time. Willmott, a 

 great grower, at Deptford, has had eighty acres 

 entirely under this crop. 



Until towards the end of the seventeenth century, 

 a large quantity of remarkably fine asparagus was 

 exported from Holland, the deep, rich, moist soil 

 of that country being genial to its growth. 



Asparagus is propagated only by seed, which, as 

 well as one and two or three-year old plants, may 

 be purchased of the nurserymen or seedsmen ; 

 when a new plantation is formed, the latter practice 

 is generally adopted in order to save time. 



There are three varieties of the asparagus named 

 in the seedsmen's catalogue, but there is a great 

 similarity between them, and I doubt if these sup- 

 posed varieties were cultivated in the same soil and 

 atmosphere, whether there would be found any dif- 

 ference between them, except, perhaps, in the 

 colour. The following is a description of them: 



1. Battersea is famed for producing fine aspa. 

 ragus, the heads being large, full, and close, and 

 the tops tinted with a reddish green colour ; this is 

 the sort generally cultivated by market-gardeners. 



