92 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND vOTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 4, 1887. 
teen exhibited in three out of the four classes and taken the prize in 
two. It is more hold and striking than Lady Blucher, the variety it 
most resembles, both in foliage and flower. The leaf is more bold, fleshy, 
flabby, and deeply serrated than that of Lady Blucher. The pip is cir¬ 
cular, but has too many petals, tolerably flat, but has a habit of cupping 
its points ; edge when green very light green, impure and beaded, often 
grey, sometimes white ; colour usually a light Bishop’s purple, but some¬ 
times deepening to a maroon, occasionally hardly enough of it; paste 
very good in form and substance ; eye alwaj s too large, irregular, light 
greenish yellow, tolerably stable ; anthers very visible though not pro¬ 
jecting; good trusser. 
Lightbody’s Star of Bethlehem. —Said to be the male parent of Sir 
John Moore. Pip pointed and too numerous in petals, but flattens as 
well as that of any Auricula ; superb trusser ; edge a pure but not very 
deep green ; colour dark plum ; paste of sufficient breadth, but undefined 
at its outer edge ; eye lemon, too large, with projecting anthers ; plan 
of average size with healthy foliage, slightly serrated. A singularly rich 
and flat-looking flower. 
Litton's Imperator. —A small but free-growing healthy plant with 
narrow, smooth, recurved foliage, having its outer edges often lighttr 
than the centre ; perpetually splitting its heart and so sending up two 
or more independent trusses on long lanky stems. The flower is very 
showy. Pip large, angular, flat ; edge pure, deep green ; colour a rich 
dark brown, not always broad enough, but always lively from its irre¬ 
gular pencillings ; paste circular, of sufficient breadth, but thin, and 
undefined at its outer edge (a great fault in any Auricula) ; eye of proper 
size, yellow, anthers not projecting ; good trusser. It is impatient of cold 
in spring. 
Olliver's Lovely Ann. —A thin flimsy flower, which nevertheless lasts 
the longest of all in its perfection, but is never either more nor less than 
second-rate. Pip pointed though often circular ; edge light green, 
rarely pure, often grey, but its characteristic state is green ; colour 
always too narrow, of a maroon so dark as to be a black ; paste even, 
defined, sufficient ; eye good yellow, not deep, but lasting, anthers low. 
The green edge though light, like that of Morris’s Green Hero and 
Excellent, has the appearance of leaf green rather than as belonging to 
a flower. Moderately even in its truss. Foliage flimsy, deeply serrated ; 
constitution healthy. 
Olliver's Lady Ann Wilbraham. —A small plant, but of great value, 
though of low price. Pip large, full, flat, pointed; edge grass green, 
pure ; colour deep maroon boldly put on, but not too broad ; paste 
angular, defined, of good substance ; eye deep yellow, good, with anthers 
sufficiently low ; first-rate trusser. Its angularity prevents refinement 
or it would be surpassed by none. Foliage broad, veined, darkish green, 
not abundant. 
Smith Lycnrgvs. —A fine bold flower that trusses well. Pip circular, 
but not flat ; edge deep green, impure, beaded ; colour bold, black at 
first opening, expanding to a rich full brown afterwards, of good breadth ; 
paste circular, of sufficient width, defined ; eye good bright cowslip, 
which stands, circular, with short stamens. Foliage curled, long, much 
serrated. 
Smith's Lord John Rvssell. —A small-growing plant with serrated 
foliage. Pip pointed, with too many petals, flat; edge tolerably pure, 
of the light green of Lovely Ann ; colour reddish brown ; paste fairly 
even, defined, sufficient; eye much too large, but not “goggle,” because 
it is circular and quite closed by the stamens, so that probably it would 
hardly seed, lemon coloured ; but it is a pretty thing. 
Trail's Mayflower. —Like Olliver’s Lovely Ann, from which it differs 
in the tint of colour and and in the form of its pencillings. Pip medium 
sized, angular, nearly flat; edge apple green, impure, circular ; colour 
plum, wholly in rays, of fair breadth ; paste fair but not perfect; eye 
too broad, greenish yellow, bleaches ; anthers projecting. Foliage thin 
in substance, much serrated. 
Yate's Morris's Green Hero. —A late bloomer, with broad, smooth, 
deep green foliage that is apt to leave a considerable length of stalk 
naked. There should therefore be left a corresponding space between 
the surface of the soil and the rim of the pot at potting time. It is a 
coarse flower, and has never been a favourite, though few are more 
striking at first siuht. Pip large, fairly rounded, flat; edge of the 
deepest and purest green, but suggesting the idea of a leaf rather than 
of a flower, much too broad ; colour very dark maroon, only half its 
proper breadth, paste good ; eye orange ; medium trusser. 
(To be continued.) 
ASPARAGUS CULTURE. 
Having a few chapters to write on Asparagus culture, the matter 
may be taken in hand now, and the information can be stored for use 
at a convenient and seasonable time. Delicious, wholesome, and 
nutritious, Asparagus is the most esteemed of spring and early summer 
vegetables. It is a well-known cultivated, though not common British 
plant, its habitat being the sea coast and salty inland fens. Wherever 
found wild the soil is sandy, or a mixture of mud with sand, an infallible 
guide to its successful cultivation. However, many plants would be 
precluded were a strict adherence kept to those for which the soil is 
suited naturally, but by draining, tillage, and manuring, the soil, what¬ 
ever it may be, is made capable of growing a variety of useful products. 
Therefore it is not so much a question as to what the soil is best adapted 
for, but rather what it can be made capable of producing by cultivation. 
Apportioning ground to the crops it is most suitable for, good as it is 
from a commercial point of view, is often, and we may say generally 
inapplicable to plots of garden ground devoted to a supply of vegetables 
for home use. Very often so much is made of the requirements of 
certain plants as regards soil as to be a stumblingblock in the way of 
cultivation. Grant Asparagus to be naturally a seaside plant requiring 
a sandy soil, what is to hinder a sandy and saline soil being prepared for 
it inland? If the soil be wet—water lodging within 3 feet of the 
surface—it can be drained ; if heavy, it can be made light and porous ; 
if shallow, it can be deepened ; and if poor it can be enriched. Any 
soil can be made to grow Asparagus. 
Dbaining. —Asparagus being a seaside and fen plant, it may appear 
unnecessary and against the nature of the plant to drain the soil, but I 
have no doubt the native Asparagus lies considerably above low-water 
mark, and though it may be submerged by high water, the p-ound on 
which it grows is as long a time out of as underwater, the soil being such 
as to allow the water to drain away freely. Land inundated by tide is 
very different from ground occasionally or periodically flooded by fresh 
water, and that is different from ground which has water stagnant in the 
subsoil. The tidal water is merely a thorough soaking with water twice 
a day through a sieve-liko soil, and is consequently healthful, but the 
flood and lodging water is stagnating and decomposing—self-poisoning 
and corrupted. In one Asparagus luxuriates, whilst in the other it does 
not thrive ; therefore it is not a bog plant in any sense, but a free open 
soil and air-loving plant, free to take in water, and equally' free to part 
with superfluity. This is decided in cultural practice, at least I have 
never seen Asparagus worth the name in ground with water lodging 
within 3 feet of the surface. Warps or alluvial soils grow splendid 
Asparagus. They are liable to inundation, but it is only periodically or 
for a brief period, and when long continued it is most disastrous to 
Asparagus from the decay of the crowns, and where the water is stagnant 
the roots will not enter it, and those that descend into the soil in summer 
perish with the wet of winter. The soil for Asparagus should be well 
drained, and if inundation be practised provide means for its passage 
from the soil deeper than the Asparagus roots. 
Soils vary, so must the drainage. There is sandy soil with a thin 
crust of ameliorated soil, due to decay of the natural vegetation or a 
long course of cultivation ; the subsoil clay or marl, and above this 
water stagnant, the land giving a plentiful crop of Thistles and Horse¬ 
tails. At the depth of drains—viz., 3 to 4 feet, these soils arc a quick¬ 
sand, the drains soon fill unless preventive measures are taken when 
laying the drains. When the drains are cut a little of the finer parts 
of ditch brushing or straw should be scattered in the cutting, and the 
drain tiles, which should be 3 inch, laid upon it with a true fall and 
solid, and a little of the same placed over the tiles and pressed down 
This will still the sand, and the drains will work for many years. I 
know some down over half a century as good as ever, only attend to the 
outlets. Being a good drawing soil the drains may be 27 feet apart. 
Other description of soil may be drained in the ordinary way, and so as 
to run off all water beyond the soil’s retentive power within 3 feet of the 
surface. 
Soils.— These vary considerably, therefore a few observations on 
some of them may be given, and in preparing the ground for Asparagus 
we render it capable of supporting every description of vegetable crop, 
therefore permanently improved. i 
Handy Soil .—It may be 3 feet or more deep—sand intermixed with 
loam, with a thin crust of ameliorated soil. Such can be trenched its 
full depth, but the trenching must be only stirring, not changing the 
surface soil for the underlying soil, for the top soil must not be put 
under a foot of poor sand, as would be the case were the soil trenched 
in the ordinary way, but in turning or loosening some of the top soil will 
be mixed with that lower down, and vice versa, which is an advantage 
both ways— i.e. the top will beitlie better of a little of the sand, and the 
bottom will be richer for the top soil. Any soil that can be had should 
be added and intermixed, and almost anything will do if only it be free 
of the roots of coarse weeds. Likewise a thin soil over gravel—loosen it 
as deep as the ground soil admits, and the under strata to the extent of 
breaking up the pan. A good sandy loam with good soil, 18 inches to 
2 feet deep, will only need trenching two spits deep, turning the top 
soil under, and loosening the soil at the bottom of the trenches to the 
depth of a foot or more, but not bringing it up, for at the surface we 
must have good soil, and no other to any great extent. 
Friable Loam .—Beyond trenching as deeply as the good soil 
warrants nothing is required, and in dealing with these observe the same 
conditions in respect cf loosening the bottom, and bringing up bad soil. 
Mix the soil as much as liked, but keep the top soil much as it was. 
Loams inclined to clay will be the better for an admixture of sea sand 
a 3 inch thickness being mixed with the top spit. In all soils _for 
Asparagus the l eaning should be to sand. 
Allvvial .— In these we have what has been mud mixed with sand, &c. 
Some of the warps are almost devoid of sand, but they grow splendid 
Asparagus and Potatoes. If we go down we find sand or silt, and in 
trenching such bring some of it up and mix with the surface. If the 
under strata be unfavourable—and the less we have to do with clay the 
better—only break it up, applying a 3 or 6 inch layer of sand, and mix it 
with the top foot or 18 inches depth of soil. If the soil be fairly sandy, 
merely turn it over and it will grow anything. 
C lays .—These are the worst of all for Asparagus. Perhaps there is only 
a spit or so of fairly ameliorated soil. The best thing possible is to bum 
some of the underlying stubborn soil, and spread it on the surface. Stir 
as deeply on the good soil, allow and loosen as deeply as convenient; 
but the “ pan ” must be broken. Failing burning bring on some road 
sidings, the rubbish from an pld building—anything sandy or gritty, and 
