THE ASPARAGUS. 



665 



same purposes as garlic, but now comparatively neglected. It differs from 

 garlic in having the bulbs smaller, milder to the taste, and in producing 

 bulbs on the joints of the stem, as well as at its base. 



1478. Substitutes for alliaceous plants are to be found in the genus 

 Allium, of which there are several indigenous species, and a number in gar- 

 dens which are natives of other countries. Three cruciferous plants, by no 

 means rare, also taste and smell of garlic, viz., Peltaria alliacea L., a per- 

 ennial from Austria ; Thlaspi alliaceum Z,., a biennial from the South of 

 Europe ; and Alliaria officinalis Andrs. (Jack-by-the-hedge), a perennial, 

 a native of Britain. The latter is used as greens or spinach in many parts of 

 the country. 



Sect. Yl. — Asparagaceous Esculents. 



1479. The asparagaceous esculents belong to various natural orders, but 

 the principal are the asparagus, the sea-kale, and the artichoke ; there are 

 a few others of less note. They are all comparatively plants of luxury, 

 though the asparagus and the sea-kale ma}' with propriety be cultivated in 

 the garden of the cottager, who if he does not use the produce, may sell it. 



SuBSECT. I. — The Asparagus. 



1480. The asparagus., Asparagus officinalis L. ; (Asperge Fr.^ is an 

 asphodelaceous perennial, found in light sandy soils on the sea-shore in 

 Britain and other parts of Europe ; often where it is covered by drifting 

 sand, and watered by salt-water during spring- tides. It is also found in 

 abundance in sandy steppes in the interior of Russia. It has been in culti- 

 vation, for its stalks when they are just emerging from the ground, as a 

 culinary esculent, from the time of the Greeks ; coming into use in the open 

 ground in May, and lasting till the middle of J une, and procured by forcing 

 during the winter and spring months. The shoots or buds, more or less 

 blanched according to taste, are boiled and served on toasted bread with white 

 sauce, and the smaller shoots, which are allowed to become green, are cut 

 into pieces about the size of peas, and used as a substitute for that legume. 

 There scarcely can be said to be any particular variety, though the pre- 

 ference is generally given to seed saved atBattersea, Gravesend, or Mortlake, 

 places famous for the large size to which asparagus has been grown for the 

 London market. 



1481. Soil., and sowing or planting the asparagus. — Asparagus can only be 

 growTi large, and succulent, on a soil sandy, deep, light, more especially on 

 the surface, from vegetable matter, and well enriched with animal manure. 

 The toughness and stringyness of the London asparagus are owing to the sur- 

 face soil through which it sprouts being too deep, and not sufficiently light. 

 In consequence of this the w^oody fibre of the sprouts has time to strengthen 

 and harden; whereas, were no other covering than leaves or even leaf- 

 mould used, the sprouts would be quite tender throughout the greatest 

 part of their length. From the asparagus being a sea-side plant, it may 

 be inferred that salt water might be occasionally beneficial, and hence 

 fresh stable- dung mixed with sea- weed has long been found the best 

 manure for asparagus in Scotland ; and night-soil the best at St. Sebastian, 

 where the surface of the beds is only about three feet above high-water 

 mark. {G. C. 1842, p. 1870 Fi'om this last circumstance, and from the 

 nature of the asparagus grounds at LTlm and Augsburg on the Danube, and 



