1887] History of Garden Vegetables. 129 
sis” figures one fifteen inches in diameter. The long period during 
which the larger part of the present varieties have been known 
seems to justify the belief that modern origination has not been 
frequent. “Le Jardinier Solitaire,’ 1612, describes early varie- 
ties,—le Blanc, le Rouge, and le Violet; Worlidge, in 1683, says 
there are several kinds, and he names the tender and the hardy 
sort. McMahan names the French and two varieties of the 
Globe in America in 1806; “ L’Hort. Français,” 1824, names the 
Blanc, Rouge, Violet, and the Gros vert de Laon; Petit, “ Nouv. 
Dict. du Jard.,” 1826, adds Sucre de Genes to the list; Noisette, 
in 1829, adds the Camus of Brittany. 
The name given by Ruellius* to the artichoke in France, in- 
1536, is a@rticols, from the Italian articoclos. He says it comes 
from arcocum of the Ligurians, coca signifying the cone of the 
pine. The Romans call it carchiophos, and the plant and the 
name came to France from Italy. The names I have seen as- 
signed are in alphabetical order: Arabs, £harchiof, hirshuf,? raxos, 
harxos ;3 Berber, taga ;* Egypt, charsjuf;* Flanders, artisjok ;5 
France, carciophe $ artichaut ;3 Germany, strobildorn,? artischoke ;5 
Hindustanee, Aunjir ;? Holland, artisjok ;5 India, hunjeer, atee- 
chuk ;* Italy, carciofo, articiocca,s archichiocco ;*® Persia, kungir ;* 
Portugal, alcachofra ;5 Spain, alcachofas cardo de conners 
Asparacus. Asparagus officinalis L. 
The cultivated asparagus seems to have been unknown to the 
Greeks of the time of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, and the 
word asparagos seems to have been used for the wild plant of 
another species. The Romans of the time of Cato, about 200 
B.C., knew it well, and Cato’s? directions for culture would answer 
fairly well for the gardeners of to-day, except that he recom- 
mends starting with the seed of the wild plant, and this seems 
good evidence that the wild and the cultivated forms were then 
of the same type as they are to-day. Columella,*° in the first cen- 
tury, recommends transplanting the young roots from a seed-bed, 
and devotes quite a space to their after-treatment, and he offers 
: Sape De ae .» 1536, 644. 2 Birdwood, Veg. Prod. of Bomb., 165. 
ist., I age ii. 1436. 4 De Candolle, Orig: des Pl. Cult., 74- 
s a Les pi. Pot. 14. 6 Cast. ora: 1617, 9I. 
7 Tragus, 1552, 866 . 8 Speede, Ind. Handb. of Gard., 164, 
> 9 Cato, c. irot COE ks esac agre pe 
