A Wild Vegetable
The asparagus is, of course, a native wild plant, not altogether uncommon, but research, which has been very active and successful at the County Trial Grounds, has vastly improved the type of plant, and discoveries have been made in the last year or two. The difference between a good type and an indifferent type is immense, both in yield and flavour. Botanic- ally the plant is interesting. There are female and male plants, and on the whole the male plants that do not produce berries are rather the more prolific. It would pay private gardeners to grow plants from seed, for the roots lose fertility after ten or twelve years and should be replaced. Experiments (of which Evesham seemed to have little knowledge) are being carried out at Wye College in Kent in the hope that asparagus may become a comparatively cheap vegetable. The methods of cultivation and the varieties of plant are, I believe, of American origin. There is an American variety that is marvellously productive ; but it is a question whether the life of the individual roots will be long enough in England. They are apt to lose fertility not after ten but after two or three years.
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