Morning journal and courier., 1894-03-20
A Vegetable Win a Pedigree.

IFrom Chanbers' JournKll
 Of all the plants used for food, there .s none which has been 20 long kpown, or has hsd, % to ssy. % distinguished Hns- sgs ss aspsrsgus. Its record, in fact, reaches back to alnosf the commencement of authentic history, ss it is mentioned by the comic poet Crsttnus, who died about k25 B. O., and vAsa contemporary of, though slightly older than, Aristophanss. Among the Romans slso the tasty veesta- hls was held in hieA esteem. Cato the elder-not the gentleman who was of opln- Ion that Plato reasoned we'll, but his great grandfather, who insisted upon the de- struction of Carthage, and who was born SS4 E. O.-wrote a work, which is still er- sant, 'De Re Rustics,' ard in it he treats at length Of the virtues and proper cultiva- ton of asparagus. Piiny also in his Nat urai History lsbout 60 A. D has much 10 say on the tubiect "Of all the produc- tions of your garden" he feelIngly ob- serves. "your chisf care win be your G. pAragus; and he devotes severai chspters and parts of chapters to its many bsnsf- cent qualities and the best modes of rsis- ing It. He asserts that, even in his day, the soil about Rsvenpa was so fsyorable to It's production that three heads grown In that district had been known to weigh a Roman pound. As, however, this pound seems to have bsen equal to only about eleven of our ounces, 1t would apparently have required four of the stalks 10 reach pound of our weight; but this result, considering the state of horticulture in those days, may be looked upon as won dsrful enough, and has in point of fact only been equalled in our own times.
 IL is possible, however, that, asparagus being essentially 6 southern plant, the original stock found in Italy was of e more vigorous growth than that of more northern climes.~ It occurs all round the shores of the Mediterranean, and branches on into four or five distinct species be- sides the one ordinarily used for edible purposes In Britain we have iu q wild state only the latter. and even that is con- med to few favored districts- With us It Is never found away from the sea-cosst; and although, according to old botanical books, 1t extended in former timss all along the channel, and even up to the lat itude of London, Cornwall and Devon shire seem to be TOW the only counties where 1t can be met with. Whitening de- clares that in his day Qsl2D 1t grew not only at Hsrwich, but also st Grsvesend,
 
 say that st present it would scarcely repay botsnist to lock for wild asparagus st Greenwica, nor would HsrwIeh or Graves end bs much more likely places. Probs- ply the only remaining spots where it could now be discovered with any certain sy would be about the Lizard and one or two other places in Cornwall Opposite Kynan's Cove, in the latter county, the so- called Asparagus Island is yet covered with 1t, and offers pretty spectacle ss the tall testhery stalks wave to and fro in the breeze.
 In France and Germany, however, the plant Is much more common; nor ts 1t con- fined entirely to the coasts. Gillet ssys that it grows alec In woods and sandy meadows; and with regard to Germany, Wagner gives ss its habitat '1hedges, bushy places and fertile mountain mead owe" In some parts of The RassiAn steppes ii is said to grow SO Abundsntly that the cattle eat it like grsss; but it must be remembered that in all theee conn. tries more than one kind of asparagus is found-sometimes three or four different kinds-snd 1t is quite possible that some of them may be OccssiOnslly mistaken for the veritsble or edible article.