ASPARAGUS. 



17 



nothing to say ; it is a question of taste solely, but, the taste 

 being denned, it is an easy matter for the cultivator to gratify it ; 

 in other words, we can produce Asparagus in the Continental style 

 without difficulty, and the reason English Asparagus is green, is 

 simply that the English people prefer it so. 



Discussion. 



Monsieur Henri de Vilmorin said it gave him much 

 pleasure to throw what light he could on the cultivation of 

 Asparagus. He had carefully studied the growth of the vegetable, 

 and was in a position to state that the production of large 

 samples was the result of both selection and cultivation. He 

 did not agree with the statement that the selection of seed from 

 the centre of the plant was of importance. He, moreover,, 

 believed that it was made to divert attention from the point of 

 real importance, which was to select seed from the plants pro- 

 ducing stems of the greatest thickness. As the strength of each, 

 plant was necessarily limited, those plants producing but few 

 stems produced the strongest shoots, and were consequently 

 selected for the supply of seed. The great French growers, he 

 said, gave more space than that advised by Mr. Hibberd, the 

 usual distance being 4 feet in the rows and 3 feet between 

 the rows ; but of course the produce would not pay, unless it 

 were of such good quality as to command the highest possible 

 price. An abundance of manure was used ; and, in order to 

 expose the crowns to the influence of the atmosphere, some of 

 the soil was in autumn removed from about them, and the 

 crowns again covered in the spring to assist in blanching the 

 heads. 



With regard to what Mr. Veitch had said in his opening- 

 address about the multiplicity of names of vegetables, Mons. 

 Vilmorin remarked that seedsmen were bound to supply what 

 their customers required, and that the varieties of vegetables 

 differed considerably in their adaptability to the various countries* 

 and the different parts of each country. The cultivator was the 

 best judge as to what would suit the conditions under which he 

 had to produce his supplies, and the seedsman was bound to 

 meet his requirements. At the same time it was highly impor- 

 tant that cultivators should be educated to appreciate the finest 

 kinds in the several sections, as a little difference in the time of 



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