The Portland daily press., 1894-03-24
A vegetable with a Pedigree.

OF all the plants used for food, there
is none which has been SO long known,
or has had, so to say, SO distinguished
a lineage as asparagus. Its record, in
fact, reaches back to almost the COM
mencement of authentic history, as it is
mentioned by the comic poet Cratinus,
who died about 1875 B. c., and was a con-
temporary of, though slightly older
than, Aristophanes Among the Ro-
mans also the tasty vegetable was held
in high esteem. Cato the elder not the
gentleman who was of opinion that
Plato reasoned well. but his great grand
father, who insised upon the destruction
of Carthage, and who was born as4 B.
C.-wrote work, which is still extant,
"De Re Rustica,n and in it ne treats at
length OF the virtues and proper cultiva-
tion of asparagus. Pliny also in his
Natural History" (about go A. d. has
much to say on the subject. OF all
the productions of your garden" he
feelingly observes, your chief care will
several chapters and parts of chapters to
it's many benefcent qualities and the
best modes of raising it. He asserts
that, even his day, the soil about
Ravenna was SO favorable to it's produc-
ton that three heads grown in that dis
trict had been known to weigh a Roman
pound. AS, however, this pound seems
TO nave Doou oQ udl 10 only dUOuG eIeV6n
of our ounces, it would apparently have
REQ uired four OF the stalks to reach a
pound of our weight; but this result.
considering the state of horticulture in
those days, may be looked upon as won
derful enough, and has in point --of fact
only been equalled in our own times
It is possible. however, that, aspara-
gus being essentially Southern plant,
the original stock found in Italy was of
wi
more northern chimes. 1t occurs all
round the shores of the Mediterranean,
and branches off into -four or five dis
tinct species besides the one ordinarily
used for edible purposes. In Britain we
have in wild state only the latter, sand
even that is ..conf1ued to few favored
districts. With us, it is never found
away from the sea-coast and although.
according to old botanical books, it ex-
Channel, and even up to the latitude of
London. Cornwall and Devonshire seem
to be now the only counties where it
can be met with. whitening declares
that in his day Qs12) it grew not only
at Harwich but also at Gravesend, and
even at Greenwich. 1t is needless to saw
that at present it would scarcely repay
Greenwich, nor would Harwich
or Gravesend be much more
likely places. Probably the only re-
naming spots where it could now be dis
covered with any certainty would be
about the Lizard and one or two other
places in Cornwall. Opposite Kynans'
Cove, in the latter county. the so-calIed
Asparagus.Island is yet covered with
it. and offers a pretty spectacle as the
tall feathery stalks wave TO and fro in
the breeze. In France and Germany.
however, the plant IS much more COM
mon; nor is it .confined entirely to the
coasts. Gillet says that it grows also
in woods and sandy meadows; and with
regard to Germany, Wagner gives As
its habitant hedges, bushy places, and
fertile mountain meadows" In some
parts of the Russian steppes it is said.to
grow so abundantly that the cattle eat
it like grass; but it must be remem-
bered that in all these countries more
than one kind of asparagus is found
sometimes -three or four different kinds
and 1t is quite possible that some of
them may be occasionally mistaken for
the verltable or edible article. Cham
ber's Journal.