ASPARAGUS 



I 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



HE word ' ' asparagus ' ' is said to be of Persian 

 origin. In middle I<atin it appears as spara^ 

 gus; Italian, sparajio; old French, esperaje; 

 old English, sperage, spar age, sperach. The 

 middle Latin form, sparagus, was in English changed 

 into sparagrass, sparrow-grass, and sometimes simply 

 grass, terms which were until recently in good literary 

 use. In modern French it is asperge; German, spargel; 

 Dutch, aspergie; Spanish, esperrago. 



The original habitat of the edible asparagus is 

 not positively known, as it is now found naturahzed 

 throughout Europe, as well as in nearly all parts of 

 the civilized world. How long the plant was used as 

 a vegetable or as a medicine is likewise uncertain, but 

 that it was known and highly prized by the Romans 

 at least two centuries before the Christian era is his- 

 torically recorded. According to Pliny, the Romans 

 were already aware of the difference in quality, that 

 grown near Ravenna being considered best, and was 

 so large that three spears weighed one pound. The 

 elder Cato has treated the subjedt with still greater 

 care. He advises the sowing of the seed of asparagus 

 in the beds of vine-dressers' reeds, which are culti- 



