644 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



is there eaten by the horses and oxen as grass. In its native state, it is so dwarfish in 

 appearance, even when in flower, that none but a botanist attending to the minute struc- 

 ture, would consider it as the same species with our cultivated plant. This vegetable is 

 cultivated extensively for the London market ; and it is estimated, that in the parish of 

 Mortlake alone, there are generally about eighty acres under this crop. One grower 

 there, Biggs, has sometimes had forty acres under asparagus at one time. A great deal 

 is also grown near Deptford, and one grower there, Edmonds, has had eighty acres en- 

 tirely under this crop ; a thing, Neill observes, which must appear almost incredible to 

 those who have not witnessed the loads of this article daily heaped on the green-stalls of 

 the metropolis for the space of nearly three months. Asparagus, this author adds, was 

 a favorite of the Romans ; and they seem to have possessed a very strong-growing variety, 

 as Pliny mentions, that, about Ravenna, three shoots would weigh a pound ; with us, six 

 of the largest would be required. It is much praised by Cato ; and as he enlarges on the 

 mode of culture, it seems probable that the plant had but newly come into use. In this 

 country, Dutch asparagus was preferred in the end of the 17th century ; and this variety 

 is still distinguished for affording the thickest shoots. In a garden formed at Dunbar, 

 in the very beginning of the 18th century, by provost Fall (a name well known in the 

 mercantile world), asparagus was for many years cultivated with uncommon success. 

 The variety used was the red-topped, and it was brought from Holland. The soil of the 

 garden is little better than sea-sand. This was trenched two feet deep, and a thick layer 

 of sea-weed was put in the bottom of the trench, and well pressed together and beat down. 

 This was the only manure used, either at the first planting, or at subsequent dressings. 

 There was an inexhaustible supply of the article generally at hand, as the back-door of ' 

 the garden opens to the sea-shore. (Ed. Encyc. art. Hort.) 



3857. Use. The esculent part is the early shoots or buds, when three or four inches 

 high, and partially emerged from the ground in May and June. They are in great 

 esteem in Britain, and on the continent ; and this plant has, in consequence, been culti- 

 vated for an unknown period. In Paris it is much resorted to by the sedentary operative 

 classes, when they are troubled with symptoms of gravel or stone. 



3858. Varieties. There are two varieties cultivated : viz. 



; The red-topped ; rising with a large head, full, close, and I The Battersea, Deptford, Large Gravesend, Large Reading, 



of a reddish-green Dutch, Cork, and Early Mortlake are sub-varieties. 

 The green-topped ; rising with a smaller head, not generally 



so plump and close, but reckoned better flavored * 



3859. Estimate of sorts. Both varieties are in great estimation : the red-topped is most 

 generally cultivated by market-gardeners, and the green-topped in private gardens. Both 

 succeed by the same mode of culture. 



3860. Propagation. Asparagus is propagated only from seed, though the roots might 

 be divided Uke those of the garden-ranunculus, if thought necessary. It is best, however, 

 to raise the plant from seed ; and it is of considerable importance to gather it from the 

 strongest and most compact shoots ; such seed, as might naturally be expected, yielding 

 by far the best plants. Seed, as well as one and two year-old plants, may be purchased 

 from nurserymen and market-gardeners : and when a new garden is formed, the latter 

 practice is generally adopted for the first plantation, in order to gain time. 



3861. Quantity of seed or roots. If sown to transplant, for a bed four feet and a half 

 wide by six feet in length, one quart of seed will be requisite. If sown to remain, for 

 a bed four feet and a half wide by thirty feet in length, one pint is necessary. If plants 

 a year old are wanted for a plantation, then, for a bed four feet and a half wide by thirty 

 feet in length, to contain four rows of plants, nine inches distant in the row, one hundred 

 and sixty plants will be requisite. 



3862. Sowing, and culture in seed-bed. It is generally sown broad-cast on a four-feet 

 bed, in March, not very thickly, often with a thin sprinkling of onions or radishes. The 

 seed being slightly trodden in, the bed is raked smooth, and after the plants make their 

 appearance, they are to be kept as free from weeds as possible, and the ground stirred with 

 a narrow hoe once or twice during the summer. In the end of October following, the 

 roots are protected from the frost by spreading over the ground some rotten dung or litter, 

 which remains till March or April, according to the season, when the plants are trans- 

 planted to a compartment prepared for their final culture. 



3863. Judd {Hort. Trans, vol, ii.) sows in drills eighteen inches apart, burying the seed two inches : 

 the object is to admit of stirring between. He keeps the plants thin, and if the weather proves dry, waters 

 once a week or fortnight. 



3864. Soil and preparation. " Asparagus-ground should be light, yet rich ; a sandy 

 loam, well mixed with rotten-dung or sea-weed, is accounted preferable to any. The 

 soil should not be less than two feet and a half deep ; and before planting a bed, it is 

 considered good practice to trench it over to that depth, burying plenty of dung in the 

 bottom, as no more can be applied there for eight or ten years. It can scarcely, there- 

 fore, be too well dunged ; besides, although the plant naturally grows in poor sandy soil, 

 it is found that the sweetness and tenderness of the shoots depend very much on the 



