22 



ASPARAGUS, 



leaves, and display an aggregation of jagged purple floretSj 

 producing a fine appearance. When ripe seed is wanted, 

 those heads in ilower a.re to be bent down, and retained in 

 that position, so as that the caKx may throw^ oif the autum- 

 nal rains. In general, however, the seed is not perfected 

 in our [the British] climate." — Loudon. Armstrong says, 

 " Every gardener, who understands his trade, will take care 

 to set apart a few of the finest heads of his own crop for 

 seed ; but, as the stock is upright^ and the head so formed 

 as to receive and hold water, it often happens that the 

 seeds rot. To prevent this, the stems of the plants, so set 

 apart, should be tied to stakes driven into the ground near 

 them, and gradually bent, so as to give to the heads that 

 degree of declination, that will be sufficient to carry off the 

 water, that may fall upon them." 



Use, — In England, the full heads only are eaten, always 

 boiled. In Italy, they eat the young heads raw, with oil, 

 salt and pepper. The stalks are eaten in France and Ger- 

 many, boiled and seasoned with butter and vinegar. The 

 flowers have the property of rennet, and have sometimes 

 been used as a substitute for that article. 



A S P A R A GU S . — Asparagus officina lis, — Soil, — A sp ar agu s 

 ground should be light, yet rich : a sandy loam, well mixed 

 with rotten dung, or sea-weed, is recommended. 



Preparation. — A good quantity of dung trenched twelve 

 ©r fifteen inches below the surface. 



Propagation. — It is best to raise this plant from seeds, 

 although the sprouts from seeds will not be fit to cut so 

 soon by a year as from the roots. The seeds should be 

 dead ripe, when gathered, and taken from the strongest 

 aud most compact shoots. 



Quantity of seeds 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. The seeds may be sown as early as the season 

 will permit in the spring, or (according to Cobbett) "three 

 weeks, or about, before the frost sets in" in the fall — and 



