Then look at ASPARAGUS. The gardener who could persuade the heads of this department to pop up in succession, from January to December would earn more money than the Prime Minister. The favourite vegetable of the ancient Romans was introduced by them, with their accustomed unselfishness, into Britain, where it has since flourished--more particularly in the alluvial soil of the Thames valley in the neighbourhood of Mortlake and Richmond, ground which is also especially favourable to the growth of celery. In an ancient work called _De Re Rustica_, Cato the Elder, who was born 234 B.C., has much to say--far more, indeed, than I can translate without the aid of a dictionary or "crib"--about the virtues and proper cultivation of asparagus; and Pliny, another noble Roman, devotes several chapters of his _Natural History_ (published at the commencement of the Christian era) to the same subject. "Of all the productions of your garden" says this Mr. Pliny, "your chief care will be your asparagus." And the cheerful and sanguine householder of to-day who sows his asparagus, and expects to get it "while he waits" has ample consolation for disappointment in the reflection that his labours will benefit posterity, if not the next tenant. The foreigners can beat us for size, in the matter of asparagus; but ours is a long way in front for flavour. In France the vegetable is very largely grown at Argenteuil on the Seine, a district which has also produced, and still produces, a wine which is almost as dangerous to man as hydrocyanic acid, and which was invariably served in the restaurants, after the sitting had been a lengthy one, no matter what special brand might have been ordered. English hosts play the same game with their "military" ports and inferior sherries. The Argenteuil asparagus is now grown between the vines--at least 1000 acres are in cultivation--hence the peculiar flavour which, however grateful it may be to Frenchmen, is somewhat sickly and not to be compared with that of the "little gentleman in Green," nearly the whole of whom we English can consume with safety to digestion. According to Greek mythology, asparagus grew in the Elysian fields; but whether the blessed took oil and vinegar with it, or the "bill-sticker's paste," so favoured in middle-class kitchens of to-day, there is no record. It goes best, however, with a plain salad dressing--a "spot" of mustard worked into a tablespoonful of oil, and a dessert-spoonful of tarragon vinegar, with pepper and salt _ad lib_.