By the common people onions are frequently eaten raw with their food. This has particularly been the case, and from time immemorial, with the inhabitants of Egypt. By stimulating the stomach, they are supposed to favour digestion. Some persons have imagined that they possess a large portion of alimentary matter; but others say that they afford little or no nourishment, and that, when eaten freely, they produce flatulencies, occasion thirst, head-achs, and turbulent dreams. Onions have so much acrimony as generally to affect the breath for many hours: but when boiled or roasted, this is, in a great measure, dissipated, and they then exhibit some sweetness, with a considerable portion of mucilaginous matter. Onions are of great use in several culinary preparations, but particularly in soup and pickles. They are employed in medicine chiefly as poultices for swellings; and have been recommended by some persons, to be rubbed on bald parts of the head, to promote the growth of the hair. 105. _ASPARAGUS_ (Asparagus officinalis), _is a well known plant, the young shoots of which are a favourite culinary vegetable_. Few circumstances in the phenomena of vegetation are more remarkable than the gradual enlargement of size, and improvement of quality, which have taken place in the cultivation of asparagus. It grows wild on the pebbly beach near Weymouth, and in the island of Anglesea: but its stem, in these situations, is not usually thicker than a goose's quill, and its whole height does not exceed a few inches; whereas in gardens its stem is sometimes near three quarters of an inch thick, and its height, when at maturity, is four or five feet. Asparagus is one of the greatest delicacies which our kitchen gardens afford, and it is particularly estimable from the early season at which it is produced. Even in the open ground, it is in perfection for the table about the end of April; and when forced, by being planted in hot-beds under glass, it may be cut much earlier. Asparagus continues in season till about the end of June. It is usually raised from seed, in beds formed for the purpose: and the plants should remain three years in the ground before they are cut: after which, for several years, they will continue to afford a regular annual supply. During the winter, they are secured from the effects of frost by the beds being covered some inches thick with straw or litter. In the cutting of asparagus, the knife is passed three or four inches beneath the ground. The plants are cut by sloping the blade upward; and the white part that we see, is that which had not previously been exposed to the air. The smallest plants are suffered to grow for the purpose of producing berries to re-stock the beds, and keep them continually in a state of supply.