92 ASPARAGUS. 
raw with their food. This has particularly been the 
case, and from time immemorial, with the inhabitants 
of Egypt. By stimulating the stomach, they are sup- 
posed to favour digestion. Some persons have imagined 
that they possess a large portion of alimentary matter ; 
but others say that they afford little or no nourishment, 
and that, when eaten freely, they produce flatulencies, 
occasion thirst, head-achs, and turbulent dreams. 
Onions have so much acrimony as generally to affect 
the breath for many hours : but when boiled or roasted, 
this is, in a great measure, dissipated, and they then ex- 
hibit some sweetness, with a considerable portion of 
mucilaginous matter. Onions are of great use in seve- 
ral culinary preparations, but particularly in soup and 
pickles. They are employed in medicine chiefly as 
poultices for swellings; and have been recommended by 
some persons, to be rubbed on bald parts of the head, 
to promote the growth of the hair. 
105. ASPARAGUS ( Asparagus officinalis), is a well known 
plant, the young shoots of which are a favourite culinary ve- 
getable. 
Few circumstances in the phenomena of vegetation 
are more remarkable than the gradual enlargement of 
size, and improvement of quality, which have taken, 
place in the cultivation of asparagus. It grows wild on 
the pebbly beach near Weymouth, and in the island 
of Anglesea : but its stem, in these situations, is not 
usually thicker than a goose's quill, and its whole 
height does not exceed a few inches ; whereas in gar- 
dens its stem is sometimes near three quarters of an 
inch thick, and its height, when at maturity, is four or 
five feet. 
Asparagus is one of the greatest delicacies which our 
kitchen gardens afford, and it is particularly estimable 
from the early season at which it is produced. Even in 
the open ground, it is in perfection for the table about 
the end of April ; and when forced, by being planted 
in hot-beds under glass, it may be cut much earlier. 
