52 



have no doubt upon our minds that — as in many si- 

 milar instances — '* the muck heap" has elevated the 

 Asparagus of the beach into the Asparagus of the 

 garden. It is quite true that some gardeners have 

 failed in effecting this change ; but, on the other 

 hand, Miller and some more practitioners, equally 

 trustworthy, succeeded in their experiments directed 

 to the same point ; and, in cases like these, one affir- 

 mative testimony is unshaken by a thousand nega- 

 tives.* 



Cato flourished about 150 years before the Chris- 

 tian era, and in his work, just quoted, we have a full 

 detail of the mode of cultivating the Asparagus pur- 

 sued by the Romans. These directions are an epi- 

 tome of those which occur in Abercrombie, Miller, or 

 any other standard work on horticulture. They are 

 as follow : — " You must well work a spot, says Cato, 

 that is moist, or which has richness and depth of soil. 

 Make the beds so that you may be able to clean and 

 weed them on each side ; let there be a distance of 

 half a foot between the plants. Set in the seed, two 

 or three in a place, in a straight line ; cover with 

 mould; then scatter some compost over the beds. 

 At the vernal equinox, when the plants come up, weed 

 often, and take care that the Asparagus is not plucked 



* Even Cato was aware that the Wild Asparagus (Corruda,) 

 planted in rich moist soils, beconaes that which is cultivated. 

 {De Re Rustica, 6.) 



