CHAPTER IV. 



ASPARAGINOUS PLANTS. 



This division comprises five sections of 

 esculents, cultivated more as articles of 

 luxury than of general utility ; they 

 nevertheless form a most important divi- 

 sion in garden arrangement, often occu- 

 pying an eighth part of the whole extent. 



§ 1. — ASPARAGUS. 



Natural history. — Asparagus {A spa ragus offici- 

 nalis L.) belongs to the natural order Asphode- 

 lese, and to the class Hexandria, and order Mono- 

 gynia, in the Linnaean arrangement. The name 

 is derived from (A. intens) sparasso, to tear, on 

 account of the strong prickles with which some 

 of the species are armed. It is by no means a 

 genus having much floral attraction, most of 

 the species being rude climbers, with insignifi- 

 cant flowers ; in general natives of warm 

 countries, and of little value either in the arts 

 or in domestic economy. One is a native of 

 Siberia ; and the common cultivated sort is a 

 native of light sandy soils on some parts of our 

 sea-shores, as well as of the salt-water steppes 

 of Russia — where it becomes covered with sand 

 and salt water during high tides — and other 

 parts of the north of Europe. 



It is said to attain an extraordinary size in a 

 wild state on the banks of the Euphrates, and 

 it has been suggested that roots of it should be 

 imported to this country ; we believe, however, 

 that it owes its great size there to local circum- 

 stances, and that roots from these would with 

 us become no larger than our own. The first 

 notice taken of it as a cultivated plant is about 

 200 years B.C., in the time of Cato the elder, 

 who lays down very sensible rules for its culti- 

 vation — much, in fact, as at present practised 

 — and very wisely recommends that the beds 

 should only be allowed to remain in a bearing 

 state for nine years. Suetonius, in his Life of 

 Augustus, informs us how partial that emperor 

 was to asparagus; and Erasmus confirms this. 

 Pliny, in book xix. chap. 4, tells us that it 

 was cultivated in the gardens at Ravenna in 

 his time, of an enormous size, so that three 

 heads would weigh a pound. Mr Grayson, of 

 Mortlake, near London, has produced 100 

 VOL. II. 



heads that weighed 42 lb., perhaps the largest 

 ever grown in Britain. Gerard is the first Eng- 

 lish author who notices it, and calls it sperage, 

 a name, within our own recollection, used by 

 some old gardeners. He derives the name as- 

 paragus from the Latin asparagi, which he 

 translates to signify " the first sprig or sprout 

 of every plant, especially when it be tender." 

 Gerard wrote in 1597. It is most extensively 

 cultivated around London, many hundred acres 

 being occupied with it — some individuals, such 

 as Mr Grayson, having from 30 to 40 acres under 

 this crop alone. Around Paris and Vienna it 

 is extensively grown, and that to great perfec- 

 tion. Meager, in his "English Gardener," p. 

 188, informs us that in his time (1670) the Lon- 

 don market was well supplied with forced as- 

 paragus ; and the means employed then were 

 much the same as those at present in use, 

 namely, placing the roots on warm dung-beds. 



Uses. — Its delicate flavour is rather deterio- 

 rated than improved by those additions which 

 a skilful chef de cuisine deems necessary in the 

 preparation of most other vegetables. It is 

 usually boiled and served alone, to be eaten 

 with melted butter and salt. It is also served 

 on toasted bread, with a plain white sauce. The 

 small heads are cut into pieces of f of an inch 

 each, and served plain boiled as a substitute for 

 green pease. In this latter way much of what is 

 called the sprue, or small heads — or grass, as all 

 asparagus is called — which reaches Covent-Gar- 

 den Market is disposed of. Medically it is con- 

 sidered diuretic, and in Paris is much used by 

 people of sedentary occupations, like tailors, 

 weavers, authors, &c, when they are troubled 

 with symptoms of stone or gravel. It is said to 

 promote appetite, and hence is served at an 

 early period of the dinner. It is considered 

 anti-scorbutic, and very good in dropsical cases, 

 but is to be avoided by those troubled with 

 gout. The roots possess those healing proper- 

 ties more than the sprouts or buds ; and, if we 

 are to believe Galen, Hoffman, Dr James, &c, 

 it is because the roots contain more of the salt, 

 from whence they derive that quality, than any 

 of the parts grown above ground, which cannot 

 imbibe it so copiously as the root itself receives 

 it from the ground. It operates with much 

 effect on the urinary organs, as all who eat it 

 copiously know full well. But the most extrar 



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