835. The cultivation of asparagus in the Mauritius affords a proof of the great difference between the culture of a plant in a temperate climate and between the tropics. Asparagus in the Mauritius appears above ground a fortnight after being sown; and in two months shows flowers, which it does not in Britain in less than two years. From the time of sowing to that of cutting for the table occupies no more than ten or fourteen months; and at the end of two years the beds, being exhausted, are destroyed. In Britain, asparagus beds last half a century. In the Mauritius, asparagus is forced by inundating the beds with water: in Britain, the same effect is produced by covering them with warm dung. Three crops of peas from three successive generations are obtained in the same season. (Ibid., p. 485.)
