ASP 
alter, tribus aut quatuor fpinis ad eundem exortiim. 
C. B. P. 490. 
y. Asparagus ( Declinatus ) caule inermi ramis declina- 
tis foliis fetaceis. Prod. Leyd. 29. Afparagus with a 
} fmooth jtalk , declining branches , and brijtly leaves. 
S, Asparagus (. Afiaticus ) aculeis foiitariis caule erecto 
foliis fafciculatis, ramis filiformibus. Lin. Sp. Plant. 
313. Afparagus with Jingle fpines , an upright Jlalk , leaves 
growing in clufters , and very Jlender branches. 
9. Asparagus ( Capenfis ) fpinis lateralibus terminalibuf- 
que, ramis aggregatis foliis fafciculatis. Lin. Sp. 
Plant. 314. Afparagus with fpines growing on the fide s 
and ends of the branches , which are in bunches , and leaves 
coming out in clufters. 
10. Asparagus ( Sarmentofus ) foliis foiitariis lineari lan- 
ceolatis caule flexuofo aculeis recurvis. Flor. Zeyl. 
124. Afparagus with Jingle, narrow, fpear-Jhaped leaves, 
a flexible Jtalk, and recurved fpines. Afparagus acule- 
atus Zeylanicus maximus farmentofus. H. L. 62. 
The firft fort is the common Afparagus, which is 
cultivated for the ufe of the table, and may have pro- 
bably been brought by culture to the perfection it now 
is, from the wild fort, which grows naturally in the 
fens of Lincolnfhire, where the Ihoots are no larger 
than draws ; but if fo, it mud have been from very 
long culture and good management ; for a friend 
of mine, who procured fome feeds of the wild fort, 
which he cultivated with great care, in very rich 
. ground, yet could not bring the roots to produce 
Ihoots more than half the fize of the garden kind, 
which grew on the fame ground •, but he always found 
. the wild fort came up a week or ten days earlier in 
the. fpring, and the dioots were exceeding fweet. 
I have lately had fome doubt, whether the fort of Af- 
paragus which grows naturally in England, was the 
fame with that mentioned by Cafper Bauhin, becaufe 
, Tournefort and Yaillant both affert that they had cul- 
tivated that wild fort in the royal garden at Paris fe- 
veral years, and it had never altered, therefore I pro- 
cured fpecimens of that, which I find to be extremely 
different from theEnglifh fort. The leaves are much 
finer and fliorter, and are produced in much larger 
clufters the branches grow much clofer together, 
and the foot-ftalks of the flowers are longer ; there- 
fore I believe it to be a diftindt fpecies from our wild 
fort, which appears to me undoubtedly the fame as 
the Garden Afparagus. 
The Garden Afparagus is propagated by feeds, in the 
procuring of which, there fhould be particular care 
to get it from a perfon of fkill, who may be depended 
upon for his choice of the fnoots, and integrity in Ap- 
plying with his beft feeds. But where a perfon is 
in pofleflion of fome good beds of Afparagus, it is 
much the beft way to fave it himfelf ; in order 
to which, a fufRcient number of the faireft buds 
fhould be marked early in the fpring, and permitted 
to run up for feeds ; becaufe thofe which run up after 
the feafon for cutting the Afparagus is over, are ge- 
nerally fo backward, as not to ripen the feeds unlefs 
the fummer is warm, and the autumn very favoura- 
ble. In the choice of the buds to be left for feeds, 
there muft be great regard had to their fize and 
roundnefs, never leaving any that are inclinable to be 
fiat, or that foon grow open headed, always choof- 
ing the roundeft, and fuch as have the clofeft tops. 
But as feveral of thefe produce only male flowers 
which are barren, a greater number of buds fhould 
be left, than might be neceffary, if there could be a 
certainty of their being all fruitful. When the buds 
are left, it will be proper to thruft a flick down by 
each, but there muft be care had in doing this, not 
to injure the crown of the root. Thefe flicks will 
ferve as marks to diftinguifh them from the others 
when they are all run up. Toward the end of Sep- 
tember the berries will be fully ripe, when the Italics 
fhould be cut off, and the berries ftripped into a tub, 
in which they may remain three weeks or a month to 
fweat, by which means the outer hufks will be rotten ; 
• then fill the tub with water, and with your hands 
break all the hufks by fqueezing them between your 
hands. Thefe hulks wall all fwim upon, the watgfif 
but the feeds will fink to the bottom ; fo that by pour- 
ing off the water gently, the hufks will be carried 
along with it, and by putting frefh -water two or three 
times, and ftirring your feed about, you v/ill make.it 
entirely clean : then fpread the feed upon a mat or 
cloth, and expofe it to the fun and air in dry weather, 
until it is perfectly dry, v/hen it may be put into a 
bag, and hanged up in a dry place till the beginning 
of February, which is the proper feafon for fowing 
it ; at which time you muft prepare a bed of good 
rich earth made very level, whereon you muft low 
your feeds (but not too thick, which wall csufe the 
plants to be fmall ;) then tread the bed all over to 
bury the feed in the ground, and rake it over fmooth. 
The following, fummer keep the ground diligently 
cleared from weeds, which will greatly add to the 
flrength of the plants ; and toward the latter end of 
October, when the haulm is quite withered, you may 
fpread a little rotten dung over the furface of the 
ground, about two inches thick, which will preferye 
the young buds from being hurt with the frofts, &c. 
The fpring following the plants will be fit to plant 
out for good (for plants of more than one year’s 
growth are unfit to remove, as I have often experi- 
enced ; for young plants are much better than old, 
and will produce finer roots :) you muft therefore 
prepare your ground by trenching it well, burying 
therein a good quantity of rotten dung at the bottom 
of each trench, that it may lie at leaft fix inches be- 
low the furface of the ground ; then level the whole 
plot very exaftiy, taking out all large ftones : but 
this fhould not be done long before you intend to 
plant your Afparagus, in which you muft be govern- 
ed according to the nature of your foil or the feafon ; 
for if your foil is dry and the feafon forward, you 
may plant early in March ; but in a wet foil, it is bet- 
ter to wait till the end of that month, or the begin- 
ning of April, which is about the feafon that the 
plants are beginning to fhoot. I know many people 
have advifed the planting of Afparagus at Michael- 
mas, but this I have experienced to be very wrong ; 
for in two different years I was obliged to tranfplant 
large quantities at that feafon, but I had better have 
thrown away the plants for upon examination in the 
fpring, I found moft of the roots were grown moul- 
dy, and decaying, and I am fure, not one in five of 
them fucceeded, and thofe which did were fo weak, 
as not to be worth their Handing. 
The feafon being come for planting, you muft, with 
a narrow pronged dung-fork, carefully fork up the 
roots, fhaldng them out of the earth, and feparating 
them from each other, obferving to lay their heads 
even, for the more convenient planting them, which 
muft be performed in this manner : 
The plot of ground being levelled, you muft begin 
at one fide thereof, ranging a line very tight crofs the 
piece, throwing out a trench exaflly ftrait, by the line 
about fix inches deep, being careful not to turn up 
the dung ; into which trench you may lay your roots, 
fpreading them with your fingers, and placing them 
upright againft the back of the trench, that the buds 
may Hand forward, and be about two inches below 
the furface of the ground, and at twelve inches dis- 
tance from each other 5 then with a rake,, draw the 
earth into the trench again, laying it very level, which 
will preferye the roots in their right pofition •, then 
remove the line a foot farther back, and make ano- 
ther trench in the like manner, laying therein your 
plants as before directed, and continuing, the fame 
diftance row from row, only obferving between every 
four rows, to leave a diftance of two feet four inches 
for an alley to go between the beds to cut the Afpa- 
ragus, &c. 
The plot of ground being fjniftied and levelled, you 
may fow thereon a fmall crop of Onions, which will 
not hurt the Afparagus, provided the Onions are not 
too clofe, and tread in the feeds, raking the ground 
level ~ ° 
U 
