spargagus, sperage, or spar- row-grass; a genus of the monogynia order, belong- ing to the hexandra clas of plants.

Species. Of this genus there are ten species; but the only one cultivated in the gardens is that with an upright herbaceous stalk, brilly leaves, and equal flipula, or the common asparagus. The other spe- cies are kept only in the gardens of the curious for the sake of variety.

Culture. The garden asparagus is with great care cultivated for the use of the table. The propagation of this useful plant is from seed; and as much of the seeds depends upon the goodness of the seed, it is much better to save it than to buy it at the shops. The manner of saving it is this: Mark with a stick some of the finest buds; and when they are run to berry, and the stalks begin to dry and wither, cut them up; rub off the berries into a tub, and, pouring water upon them, rub them about with your hands; the hulls will break and let out the seed, and will swim away with the water in pouring it off; so that in repeating this two or three times, the seeds will be clean washed, and found at the bottom of the tub. These must be spread on a mat to dry, and in the beginning of February must be sown on a bed of rich earth. They must not be sown too thick, and must be trod into the ground, and the earth raked over them smooth: the bed is to be kept clear of weeds all the summer; and in October, when the stalks are withered and dry, a little rotten dung must be spread half an inch thick over the whole surface of the bed. The spring following, the plants will be fit to plant out for good; the ground must therefore be prepared for them by trenching it well, and burying a large quantity of rotten dung in the trenches, so that it may lie at least six inches below the surface of the ground: when this is done, level the whole plot exactly, taking out all the loose stones. This is to be done just at the time when the asparagus is to be plant- ed out; which must be in the beginning of March, if the soil is dry, and the season forward; but in a wet soil, it is better to wait till the beginning of April, which is about the season that the plants are begin- The season being now come, the roots must be carefully taken up with a narrow-pronged dung-fork, shaking them out of the earth, separating them from each other, and observing to lay all their heads even, for the more convenient planting them, which must be done in this manner. Lines must be drawn, at a foot distance each, straight across the bed; these must be dug into small trenches of six inches deep, into which the roots must be laid, placing them against the sides of the trench with their buds in a right position upwards, and so that, when the earth is raked over them, they may be two inches under the surface of the ground. Between every four rows a space of two feet and a half should be left for walking in, to cut the asparagus. When the asparagus is thus planted, a crop of onions may be sown on the ground, which will not at all hurt it. A month after this, the asparagus will come up, when the crop of onions must be thinned, and the weeds carefully cleared away. About August the onions will be fit to pull up. In October following, cut off the shoots of the asparagus within two inches of the ground, clear well all weeds away, and throw up the earth upon the beds, so as to leave them five inches above the level of the alleys. A row of colworts may be planted in the middle of the alleys, but nothing must be now sown on the beds. In the spring the weeds must be hoed up, and all the summer the beds kept clear of weeds. In October they must be turned up, and earthen again, as the preceding season. The second spring after planting, some of the young asparagus may be cut for the table. The larger shoots should only be taken, and these should be cut at two inches under ground, and the beds every year managed as in the second year. But as some people are very fond of early asparagus, the following directions are given by which it may be obtained any time in winter:

Plant some good roots at one year old in a moist rich soil, about eight inches apart; the second and third years after planting, they will be ready to take up for the hot-beds; these should be made pretty strong, about three feet thick, with new stable-dung that has fermented a week or more; the beds must be covered with earth six inches thick; then again a ridge made at one end, begin to lay in your plants, without trimming or cutting the fibres, and between every row lay a little ridge of fine earth, and proceed thus till the bed is planted; then cover the bed two inches thick with earth, and encompass it with a straw-band, and in a week, or as the bed is in the temper, put on the frames and glases, and lay on three inches thick of fresh earth over the beds, and give them air and add fresh heat to them as it requires. These beds may be made from November till March, which will last till the natural grass comes in.

**Medicinal Uses.** The roots have a bitterish mucilaginous taste, inclining to sweetness; the fruit has much the same kind of taste; the young shoots are more agreeable than either. Asparagus promotes appetite, but affords little nourishment. It gives a strong ill smell to the urine in a little time after eating it, and for this reason chiefly is supposed to be diuretic: it is likewise esteemed aperient and debilificant; the root is one of the five called opening roots. Some suppose the shoots to be most efficacious; others the root; and others the bark of the root. Stahl is of opinion that none of them have any great share of the virtues usually ascribed to them. Asparagus appears from experience to contribute very little either to the exciting of urine when suppressed, or increasing its discharge; and in cases where aperient medicines generally do service, this has little or no effect.

**Aspect,** in astronomy, denotes the situation of the planets and stars with respect to each other.

There are five different aspects. 1. Sextile aspect is when the planets or stars are 60° distant, and marked thus *+. 2. The quartile, or quadrature, when they are 90° distant, marked □. 3. Trine, when 120° distant, marked Δ. 4. Opposition, when 180° distant, marked §. And, 5. Conjunction, when both in the same degree, marked σ.

Kepler, who added eight new ones, defines aspect to be the angle formed by the rays of two stars meeting on the earth, whereby their good or bad influence is measured: for it is to be observed, that these aspects being first introduced by astrologers, were distinguished into benign, malignant, and indifferent; the quartile and opposition being accounted malign; the trine and sextile, benign or friendly; and the conjunction, indifferent.

**Aspen-tree,** in botany. See Populus.

**Asper,** in grammar, an accent peculiar to the Greek language, marked thus ('). And importing, that the letters over which it is placed ought to be strongly aspirated, or pronounced as if an b were joined with them.

**Asper, or Aspre,** in commerce, a Turkish coin, three of which make a medine. See Medine.

**Aspera arteria,** in anatomy, the same with the windpipe or trachea. See Anatomy, no 380.

**Asperifoliate,** or asperifolious, among botanists, such plants as are rough-leaved, having their leaves placed alternately on their stalks, and a monopetalous flower divided into five parts.—They constitute an order of plants in the Fragmenta methodi naturalis of Linnæus, in which are these genera, viz. tournefortia, ceriote, symphytum, pulmonaria, anthusa, lithoppermum, myototis, heliotropium, cynoglossum, asperugo, lycoptis, echium, horrago; magis minusive cleraceae, mucilagineae, & glutinosae sunt. Lin. In the present system, there are among the pentandria monogynia.

**Asperity,** the inequality of the surface of any body, which hinders the hand from passing over it freely.—From the testimony of some blind persons, it has been supposed that every colour hath its particular degree of asperity: though this has been denied by others. See the article Blind.

**Asperosa,** a town of Turkey, in Europe; it is a bishop's see, situated on the coast of the Archipelago. E. Long. 25. 20. N. Lat. 40. 58.

**Asperugo,** small wild bugloss, in botany; a genus of the pentandria monogynia clas. There are two species, viz. the procumbens, or wild buglos, a native of Britain; and the Ægyptiaca, a native of Egypt. Horses, goats, sheep and swine eat the first species; cows are not fond of it.

**Asperula,** woodroof; a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the hexandra clas of plants, of which there are two species, the cynanchica and the odorata. Both of them grow wild in Britain, so Asphaltites are seldom admitted into gardens. The first is found on chalky hills. The latter is a low umbelliferous plant, growing wild in woods and copses, and flowering in May. It has an exceeding pleasant smell, which is improved by moderate evaporation; the taste is sublimate, and somewhat astringent. It imparts its flavor to vinous liquors, and strengthens the tone of the bowels; it is recommended in obstructions of the liver and biliary ducts, and by some in epilepsy and palus; modern practice has nevertheless rejected it. The smell of it is said to drive away ticks and other insects. The roots of the first are used in Sweden to dye red.