JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 8, 1882. 1 
471 
Belianee (Mellor).—White ; in the style of Smiling Beauty, tube 
a deeper yellow. 
Dr. Kidd (Douglas).'—White ; edge and paste good, body 
colour irregular, tube pale. 
Brunette (Pohlman).— Dark self ; a bold flower with good edge 
and den=e paste, tube yellow. A strong grower. 
Bingdove (Horner).—Self ; paste narrow, good petal, and good 
edge. 
Bhie Goivn (Mellor).—Purple self; tube too wide, paste not 
circular, notched on edge. 
Mrs. Fife (Fife).—Plum self; fine-shaped flower, with good 
tube and paste. Very promising. 
Mrs. Douglas (Simonite).—Purple self; a strong grower, good 
edge, but paste too narrow.— George Bcdd. 
EARLY PURPLE ARGENTEUIL ASPARAGUS. 
Notwithstanding the generally received opinion that there 
is only one variety of Asparagus, long observation has convinced 
me that not only is there a material dissimilarity in size, shape, 
and colour of Asparagus, but also in precocity of maturity as well 
as in the precocity of annual growth, and that in these features 
the Early Purple Argenteuil is an especially marked variety. I 
have grown Connover’s Colossal and The Giant, but when these 
arrived at full maturity I could not distinguish much difference 
in them from the old and usual type. The Early Argenteuil is of 
large size and of good shape without the protuberant head and 
narrow neck sometimes seen in Asparagus ; the points of the 
young shoots are also of a distinct pinkish purple colour. I have 
planted this variety singly, the plants from 4 to 5 feet apart each 
way ; and also in beds, the rows 18 inches and 2 feet apart, and 
18 inches from plant to plant; but I prefer plenty of room, which 
is one of the French secrets of success, and the single-plant mode 
I find not only the most productive but the most profitable. 
Some very fine heads have this year been cut from the beds made 
in 1879, but from the single plants put out the same year the 
Asparagus has been much superior, some of the young shoots 
reaching 3^ inches in circumference and of corresponding length, 
the length, however, depending upon the depth of the covering or 
blanching material (decayed dung mixed with light soil and free 
from stones), which I have drawn up to the plants just previous 
to their showing above ground, and again in about ten days, from 
3 to 4 inches being added on each occasion. All my plants were 
one year old from seed at the time of planting ; and although the 
knife has been more sparingly used, some very fine heads have 
this year been cut from the plantations made in 18S0. 
There is a tendency in the Early Argenteuil variety to produce 
a second or autumn growth, and last season not only would it have 
been possible to have had Asparagus in September before the sum¬ 
mer growth was cut away and the beds received their winter 
dressing, but again on the 21st of December I cut some good 
heads, attributable, doubtless, partly to the season, but I have 
noticed the second growth in a less degree in previous years. This 
season Asparagus showed at the Experimental Garden as early as 
the 15th of March, and on the 6th of April cutting commenced in 
earnest, and will be continued only to the end of May. As many 
as seven or eight large heads at a time have been taken from 
plants put out singly. 
A winter dressing of decayed dung is annually applied, and last 
year early in spring a moderate application of salt and nitrate of 
soda was given, tried on different plants ; but as the latter is con¬ 
siderably more expensive I shall in future use salt, there being 
apparently no corresponding advantage in the use of the nitrate. 
The soil, which is a sandy loam resting on a subsoil of sand or 
gravel, received at planting time no other treatment beyond being 
well and deeply manured as for any ordinary crop ; but of course 
this treatment would not apply to ground of a heavy character or 
with a wet subsoil. After cutting ceases the plants are well se¬ 
cured to stout stakes, as the growth made is very strong and rapid, 
mostly from 6 to 8 feet in height, and unless prompt attention be 
given to the support of the plants they will be materially injured 
by the winds. 
The ground between the plants on the single system may be 
utilised for early Cauliflowers or some other crop for the first two 
years. In France these hillocks of Asparagus are grown amongst 
Vines and Haricot Beans, but then greater space still is allowed 
between the plants. After the second year the shade from the 
Asparagus, when it makes its full summer growth, is too great for 
most crops, but I think seed Onions might be profitably grown the 
third season, as they would not interfere largely with the root- 
growth of the Asparagus, which eventually will take full possession 
of the intervening spaces to a great depth. The flavour aud 
quality of the Early Argenteuil variety is all that can be desired, 
1 
but I have an impression that the flavour of Asparagus generally 
depends more upon its growth and after-treatment than upon the 
variety ; flavour must, however, always be a matter of opinion, 
and so must the question of green or white Asparagus. Person¬ 
ally, however, I much prefer the well-blanched deeply-cut growth, 
of which, if made rapidly in warm weather, every particle will 
not only be eatable but much superior to the ordinary green 
Asparagus usually seen in local markets. The plants, too, are not 
drawn upon so much as when a considerable underground growth 
is allowed to be wasted, and from observation I feel sure that if 
the heads be allowed to get much above ground before being 
gathered the productive powers of the plant for the season will be 
materially lessened. The blanched growth of Asparagus requires 
considerably more cooking than the time usually accorded to this 
vegetable, and for want of this much of the white growth, other¬ 
wise highly flavoured, is wasted.—T. Laxton, Bedford. 
IXIOLIRIONS. 
The two “Ixia Lilies” known to horticulturists-namely, Ixio- 
lirion montanum and I. tataricum, are both attractive border 
Fig. 93.—Ixiolirion montanum. 
plants, and form welcome additions to any collection of barfly 
favourites. They are suggestive of Camassia esculenta in the 
form and colour of the flowers, especially the first-named, which 
is represented in our woodcut (fig. 93), but they are not quite so 
strong-growing as that, though very free and floriferous. 1. mon¬ 
tanum has been found in Persia upon the hills about Teheran and 
in other similar districts of temperate Asia. But it is quite hardy 
in the neighbourhood of London permanently planted out in the 
borders. A moderately good soil appears to suit it better than 
one that is very rich, as in the latter case the growth is excessively 
luxuriant and the flowers proportionately few. In a well-drained 
position where the bulbs become thoroughly matured flowers arc 
