SPARAGUS, SPERAGE, OR SPARROWGRASS: A genus of the monogyne order, belonging to the hexandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 11th order, Sarmatianae. The calyx is quinquepartite, and erect; the inferior petals are bent outwards; the berry has 3 cells, and contains 2 seeds.—The species are 10; but the only one cultivated in the gardens is that with an upright herbaceous stalk, brittle leaves, and equal stipula, or the common asparagus. The other species 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 success 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 fairest 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 planted 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 beginning to shoot. 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 earthened 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 against 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 compass 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