Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-04-27
Asparagus.

The Boston Journal Of Chemistry has
the following history of this vegetable,
which holds an important place in the
garden catalogue;
THE plant comes from the wild va
riety, which grows freely in England and
Italy II may be indigenous to this coun-
try, but we do not know OF localities
where the wild plant is found. Pliny
states that asparagus, which formerly grew
wild so that every man might gather II,
was in his time carefully cherished in gar
dens particularly at Ravena, where the
cultivated plant was so large that three
heads you'd soetgh a pound. 1t this is true
the ancient Roman gardeners beat US most
decidedly, for with our colossal and other
varieties, we have not attained TO a size
approaching this. The English and the
Dutch cultivators have, however, pro-
duced enormous plants. Evelyn, in his
'Acetaria' tl699), says that next 70 flesh,
nothing is so nonrishing as sparagus; II
was sometimes eaten raw with oil and
vinegar, but was more delicate IL
speedily boiled, so as not to lose its
color" He tells us that he did not think
the large Dutch kind, which was raised
in highly matured beds, SO sweet and
agreeable as those of moderate size, and
yet 10 show what soitiHl, c9iunt and indus
Try will effect, the honorable and learned
Charles hatton made my wife II
present of sixteen sparagus, the whole
bundle containing only sixty, weight
sixteen and one-quarter pounds So
allowing four ounces to each sparagus, one
was as much rs one would desire To eat,
and what was most observable, they were
not raised or forced by any extraordinary
compost, but grown in u more natural
sweet, rich, and well cultivated soil about
Battersea. Miller, in his Dictionary,
states that friend of his procured some
seed of the wild kind, which he cult
waited with great care In very rich ground
yet could not get the roots 10 produce 4
stem more than half the size of the gar
den kind which grew on the same bed, bu
he always found the Wild sort came up ter
days or a week earlier In the spring, ant
the shoots were exceedingly sweet. Leon
ard Meager, in his English Gardener,
published in 1858, Informs us that in his
time the London market was well supplied
with forced asparagus; the method EN-
plOyed was placing the roots on warm
manure. beds. A Mr.. Grayson, of Mort
lake, snce produced 100 heads that
weighed forty-twO pounds. We read In
Keysler's Travels that at Darmstadt, in
1890, very large asparagus was grown
the heads of some weighed half pound
several hundreds Of these heads were sent
as a present 10 the Elector Palatine.'
A successful grower, Mr.. iIadwen, OF
Worcester, gives the following directions
for It's cultivation, in the Massachusetts
Pi0ughDsan. ...
There are many ways Ia which AZ.
paragus has been successfully grown.
have grown Il for about thirty years MS q
market vegetable. have raised IL from
the seed, and it still remains in the bed
where ii was originally planted. Perhaps
il is unnecessary To state that the ground
should be made rich in the commence
ment, and continued rich throughout tho
after years of its growth. My practice
formerly was TO SOW asparagus In rows
some two and half feet apart, after en-
riching the ground, thinning out the
plants TO about eight inches in the row. u
has been my practice 10 top-dress the bed
with well decomposed manure every
spring, and the constant accumulation by
the top-dressing tsometimes putting on
sand, ii on clay soil } is congenial 10 tho
growth of asparagus, and you will sc
good returns. Asparagus Is crop which
remains In the ground tor long time
My bed, which has been planted for abou
thirty years, was never more productive
than the last season. i have younger
beds, but / find that / get the larRcs
stalks from the old ones. II Is vegetable
which we all know something OF AS an
old farmer once said: IL is like pork II
the cellar 20 have good bed ofasparagus.
II IL the earliest vegetable we have, ant
always satisfactory on the table"
Early in May is the time usually select
ed for transplaniing. Those who cult
vam on considerable scale raise chiefly
from seed, but where only small ted IL
proposed for family use, II il easily trans
planted.
--On a certain occasion, before the poe