ASP 
one of the most valuable esculent vegetables 
of the kitchen-garden ; it has erect, her- 
baceous stalks, three or four feet in height, 
and very fine bristly leaves : it is a peren- 
nial fibrous-rooted vegetable, the roots be- 
ing of many years duration, but the tops or 
stalks annual. The plants being raised 
from seed, after having acquired a period 
of three or four years growth, produce 
proper sized asparagus, of which the same 
Toots furnish an annual supply for many 
years, continuing to rise in perfection for 
six or eight weeks in the summer season, 
the shoots afterwards run up to stalks and 
flowers, and perfect seeds in autumn. But 
besides the crop raised in the summer sea- 
son, it may also be obtained in perfection 
during the winter, and early in the spring, 
by the aid of hot-beds. 
Asparagus is always three years at least, 
from the time of sowing the seed, before the 
plants obtain strength enough to produce 
shoots of due size for the table ; that is, one 
year in the seed-bed, and two after being 
transplanted, though it is sometimes three 
or four years after planting before they pro- 
duce good full-sized shoots. But the same 
bed or plantation will continue producing 
good asparagus ten or tw r elve years, and 
even endure fifteen or twenty years. How- 
ever, at that age the shoots are generally 
small, and the whole annual produce incon- 
siderable. A new plantation should, there- 
fore, be made every eight, ten, or twelve 
years, as may be judged necessary. When 
new plantations of asparagus are required 
to be raised in the quickest manner for use, 
it should be done by purchasing ready- 
raised year-old plants of the nursery-men 
or kitchen-gardeners, as in this way a year 
may be gained. 
Asparagus, in chemistry. This plant 
has been lately analyzed : the filtered juice 
had the appearance of whey, and reddened 
the infusion of litmus. When heated, it 
deposited flakes, which were considered as 
albumen. When left a long time to evapo- 
rate in the open air, a quantity of asparagin, 
and of saccharine matter, having the ap- 
pearance of manna, separated in crystals. 
See Asparagin. 
Asparagus stone, in mineralogy, found 
only at Caprera in Murcia, a province of 
Spain, which has been considered by some 
French chemists as a chrysolite. Colour, 
asparagus-green, sometimes passing to a 
greenish white or pistachio-green, some- 
times between orange and yellowish brown ; 
always crystallized in equiangular six-sided 
ASP 
prisms ;■ frangible, brittle. Specific gra» 
vity 3.09. It dissolves in the nitrous acid 
with effervescence, but does not exhibit a 
phosphoric light when laid on coals. Its 
constituent parts are, 
Lime .53.38 
Phosphoric acid. ..45.72 
99.04 
ASPERUGQ, in botany, a genus of the 
Pentandria Monogynia class of plants, the 
flower of which consists of one rotated pe- 
tal, divided into several segments at the 
limb; and its calyx, which is divided like 
the flower-petal, contains the seeds, which 
are four in number, and of a roundish com- 
pressed figure. There are two species. 
ASPEKULA, woodrvffe, in botany, a ge- 
nus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class of 
plants, the flower of which consists of one 
petal, divided into foursegments atthe limb ; 
and its fruit is composed of two roundish, 
dry berries, adhering together, in each of 
which is a single seed of the same roundish 
shape. 
There aTe eleven species. The common 
sweet-scented woodruffe is a native of many 
parts of Europe, in woods and shady places. 
The scent is pleasant, and when dried, dif- 
fuses an odour like that of vernal grass. It 
gives a grateful flavour to w ine ; and when 
kept among clothes, it not only imparts an 
agreeable perfume to them, but is said to 
preserve them from insects. 
ASPHALTUM, in chemistry, one of 
the proper bitumens, found in great abun- 
dance in different countries, especially in 
the island of Trinidad, on the shores of the 
Red Sea, and in Albania, where it is found 
in vast strata. It is supposed that it was 
first liquid, and that it acquired solidity by- 
exposure to the air. Its colour is black, 
with a shade of brown, red, or grey. Its 
specific gravity varies. That of Albania, as 
ascertained by Klaproth, was 1.80 ; but it 
was somewhat contaminated with earth. 
Kirwan, in purer specimens, found the spe- 
cific gravity to vary from 1.07 to 1.16. 
Klaproth has lately published an analysis of 
the asplialtum of Albania. He found it in- 
soluble, both in acids and alkalies, as also in 
water and alcohol ; but soluble in oils, pe- 
troleum, and sulphuric ether. Five parts 
of rectified petroleum dissolved one part of 
asplialtum without the assistance of heat, 
and formed a blackish brown solution, which 
by gentle evaporation left the asplialtum in 
the state of a black brown shining varnish. 
The solution in ether was of a pale brown 
