Asparagus officinalis
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| 2004年6月 |
地中海沿岸原産と考えられるアスパラガスは，古代ギリシャから野生種の若い芽が食材として利用され，ローマ時代には，農民が現在と同じ種を大がかりに栽培していたと考えられる．栽培法は幾つかの農書に収載され，太く柔らかな芽を得うるために，湿度の高い肥沃な土地が栽培に適しており，アシとの共作や，播種・中耕・除草・施肥などの方法が細かく指示されていて，重要な換金作物として認識されていたことがうかがえる．
共和政後期の著名な雄弁家であり監察官でもあった★マルクス・ポルキウス・カト・ケンソリウス（大カト，Marcus Porcius Cato Censorius, 234 B.C.－149 B.C.) の『農業論，デ･アグリ･クルトゥラ (De Agri Cultula)』には，畑での栽培法が細かく記載されている．
（英訳W. D. Hooper
et H. B. Ash, Loeb Classical Library, London (1934)，和訳はこれより私訳）
161 Method of planting asparagus: Break up thoroughly ground that is moist, or is heavy
soil. When it has been broken, lay off beds, so that you may hoe and weed them
in both directions without trampling the beds. In laying off the beds, leave a
path a half-foot wide between the beds on each side.
Plant along a line, dropping two or three
seeds together in a hole made with a stick, and cover with the same stick.
After planting, cover the beds thickly with manure; plant after the vernal
equinox. When the shoots push up, weed often, being careful not to uproot the asparagus with the weed.
161 アスパラガスの栽培法 湿ったまたは粘土質の土をよく耕す．苗床に踏み入らず，両側から雑草をぬき，鋤き返しが出来るように苗床を作る．苗床を作るにあたっては，半フィートの幅の道を両側に作る．一直線上に杭で穴をあけ二，三粒ずつ一緒に入れて播き，同じ杭で覆土する．種播きは春分の直後に行ない，その後苗床を厚く肥料で覆う．発芽後は，雑草と一緒にアスパラガスを引き抜かないように注意して，頻繁に除草する．
The year it is
planted, cover the bed with straw through the winter, so that it will not be
frostbitten. Then in the early spring uncover, hoe, and weed.
The third year
after planting burn it over in the early spring; after this do not work it
before the shoots appear, so as not to injure the roots by hoeing. In the third
or fourth year you may pull asparagus
from the roots; for if you break it off, sprouts will start and die off. You
may continue pulling until you see it going to seed. The seed ripens in autumn;
when you have gathered it, burn over the bed, and when the asparagus begins to grow, hoe and manure.
種を播いた最初の年には，冬の間は床を藁で覆って霜の害から守り，早春に覆いの藁を取りはらい，土を鋤き返し，除草する．
三年目の早春には，覆いの藁を燃やす．この後はアスパラガスの芽が出ないうちは，アスパラガスの根を痛めないよう，鋤き返しの作業をしてはいけない．三年目四年目には，アスパラガスを根元から収穫できる．途中で折ると，新芽が発生して枯れてしまう．種をつけるようになるまでは収穫し続けることができる．秋に種が熟したら，集めて床の上で燃やし，アスパラガスが生育するに従い，鋤き返して肥料を施す．
After eight or
nine years, when it is now old, dig it up, after having thoroughly worked and
manured the ground to which you are to transplant it, and made small ditches to
receive the roots. The interval between the roots of the asparagus should be not less than a foot. In digging, loosen the
earth around the roots so that you can dig them easily, and be careful not to
break them. Cover them very deep with sheep dung; this is the best for this
purpose, as other manure produces weeds.
そして八・九年後，すっかり古くなってしまったら，（新しい場所の）土をよく耕して肥料を施してから掘り上げ，小さな溝を作って，そこに株分けする．その根を一フィート以下の間隔で植える．掘りだす際には容易に掘り出せるように，根の周囲の土をやわらかくし，折らないようにすることが肝要である．（株分けした根は）ヒツジの糞で上を厚く覆う．この目的には羊の糞が最適である．というのは，他の動物の堆肥では雑草が生えるからである．
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| L. JUNIUS MODERATUS COLUMELLA from Wiki-commons public domain |
帝政ローマ時代のもっとも重要な農書の著作者★コルメッラ (Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella; 4 – c. 70 AD) の12巻よりなる ”Res rustica（農業書）” は完全な形で保存されていて，ローマ帝国の農業を理解する上によい資料であり，後世のPliny the Elder に引用されている．無記名者に英訳された完本が1745年に出版された．和訳はこれよりの私訳．
“L. JUNIUS MODERATUS COLUMELLA 0F
HUSBANDRY. IN TWELVE BOOKS: AND HIS BOOK CONCERNING TREES.
Translated into English, with several
Illustrations from Pliny, Cato, Varro, Palladius, and other antient and modern
AUTHORS.
この書では数カ所で Asparagus に言及しているが（Book X: p444, 570「（初夏に）つやつやとしたにアスパラガスの芽がでる」, Book XI: p488 「二月にアスパラガスを植えたり種を播いたりする」），特にBook XI の Chap. III. p 493に詳しい栽培法が載っている．
Chap. III.
About the first
of October, chervil, as also the pot-herb orrach, which the Greeks call
ασπάραγος must be put under-ground, in a place that is not very cold: for, it
the country has very hard winters, the plants must be transplanted from the
place where they were seated close together, and separated to a greater
distance the one from the other. The same method is observed in the sowing of
poppy and dill, as of chervil and orrach.
The
seeds of garden asparagus, and of
that which the peasants call corruda (wild asparagus)
are almost two years in preparing : when, in a fat and well-dunged soil, you shall
have put them under-ground, so as to place into every little trench you have
made for them, as much seed as your three fingers can hold ;
十月の始めに（中略）庭用アスパラガスと，農民たちがコルードと呼ぶ野生のアスパラガスの種を播くが，収穫？までは殆ど二年かかる．肥えてよく肥料が施された土壌では，三本指でつまめるほどの量の種を，そのために作ったそれぞれの溝の中に播いて上に土を十分にかける．
commonly after the fortieth day they are twisted and interwoven with one another, and make, as it were, an unity, or one united mass ; which small roots, thus twisted and connected, the Kitchen-gardeners call spunges : and it is proper, that, after twenty-four months, they be transplanted into a sunny place, sufficiently moist, and well dunged : but the trenches or furrows are made at the distance of one foot the one from the other, and not more than three- fourths of a foot in depth, into which the little spunges are so thrust down, that, after the earth is put upon them, they may easily spring up.
commonly after the fortieth day they are twisted and interwoven with one another, and make, as it were, an unity, or one united mass ; which small roots, thus twisted and connected, the Kitchen-gardeners call spunges : and it is proper, that, after twenty-four months, they be transplanted into a sunny place, sufficiently moist, and well dunged : but the trenches or furrows are made at the distance of one foot the one from the other, and not more than three- fourths of a foot in depth, into which the little spunges are so thrust down, that, after the earth is put upon them, they may easily spring up.
通常四十日ほどで，それらはよじれ互いに絡まりあい，そうであった様に一本になって一つの塊になる．その小さな根は捩れて繫がりあう．野菜を育てる園芸家はこれを「スプンゲ (spunge)」と呼ぶ．適切に育てられると，二十四ヵ月後に，日当たりのよく，湿潤で，よく施肥された場所に移植できる．しかし溝や畦は互いに一フィートは離し， 3/4フィートの深さにすべきであり，そこに土をかけた後で容易に芽が出るように小さな「スプンゲ (spunge)」（の芽）を押し込む．
But, in dry places, the feeds or plants
must be placed in the lower parts of the furrows, that they may abide, as it
were, in little chanels or troughs : but in such as are ousy*, on the contrary,
they must be placed in the uppermost back of the ridge, lest they be hurt with
too much moisture.
しかし乾燥した土地においては，播種と地植えは（畦と畦との間の）低い部分にすべきであり生育もその場所でよく，小さな水路や水溜りでも同様である．しかしこれに反し，ヤナギと同様に水分があまりにも多い土地では過剰の湿度で害を受けることのないように畝の最上部に植えるべきである．
Then the first
year, after they have been thus planted, the asparagus, which they shall send forth, must be broken off short ;
for if you should pull it up from the bottom, the little roots being as yet
tender and weak, the whole little spunge
will follow : the rest of the years it must not be cropped, but plucked up by
the root ; for, unless you do so, the stalks that are broken off short, hurt,
and give pain to the eyes of the spunges,
and, as it were, blind them, and do not suffer them to put forth the asparagus.
このようにして植えられた最初の年には，アスパラガスの出てきた芽は短く折り取らねばならない．もし，根元から引っこ抜いたら，まだ柔らかく弱い小さな根が若い「スプンゲ (spunge)」全体が続いて（抜けて）くるからである．その年の残りは収穫はせず，根の周りの除草を行なう．そうしないと莖が短く折られ，損じられ，（次の年芽の出る）「スプンゲ (spunge)」の目（eye）に損傷を与えるからである．そのようであるなら，目か潰されていて，アスパラガスを発生しない．
Moreover, every stalk, which springs up last in Autumn, must not be intirely taken away, but some of them must be left, and set apart for seed. Then, after it has made its prickle, the feeds themselves being gathered, the haulm must be thoroughly burnt in its own place, just as it is ; and then all the furrows must be sarcled, and raked at the same time, and the weeds taken out of them ; and presently after, either dung or ashes thrown into them, that the juice of them, trickling down with the rains the whole Winter, may come to the root.
Moreover, every stalk, which springs up last in Autumn, must not be intirely taken away, but some of them must be left, and set apart for seed. Then, after it has made its prickle, the feeds themselves being gathered, the haulm must be thoroughly burnt in its own place, just as it is ; and then all the furrows must be sarcled, and raked at the same time, and the weeds taken out of them ; and presently after, either dung or ashes thrown into them, that the juice of them, trickling down with the rains the whole Winter, may come to the root.
Then in the
Spring, before it shall begin to sprout, let the earth be stirred with a forked
irontool, that the style may the more easily spring up, and shew itself, and become
thicker and fuller when the ground is loosened.
更に前年の秋に伸びた全ての莖を全部取り去ってはいけない．何本かは種を取るために別にしておかねばならない．刺（状の葉）を茂らせ，種を集めた後， haulm をその場所でそのまま完全に燃やし，全部の（畝と畝との間の）溝の除草を行い，同時に（熊手で）かき集め，雑草を完全に除く．冬の間に降る雨によって滴り落ちた抽出液が根に届くように，その直後に堆肥か灰を溝に投入する．
春になったら，地面が融解したときに，若芽がより容易に出てきて姿を見せ，太く，充実しているように，芽が出る前に，地面を鉄製のフォーク（またぐわ）で掻き回す．
★パッラディウス（Palladius
Rutilius Taurus AEmilianus）は紀元後4–5世紀に活躍したローマ時代の著述家で，特に14巻からなる『農業』（Opus agriculturae, sometimes known
as De re rustica）でよく知られている．この書にもアスパラガスの栽培についての記事があり，ここでも湿地でアシと一緒に栽培する利点が述べられている．
THE FOURTEEN BOOKS OF Palladius Rutilius Taurus AEmilianus, ON AGRICULTURE, translated into English By T.OWEN, M. A. et. al. LONDON: J. WHITE (1807).（和訳はこれよりの私訳）
BOOK III. FEBRUARY. （二月の農作業）
XXIII. OF PLANTATIONS OF REEDS AND ASPARAGUS, AND OF THE PLANTS OF WILLOWS
AND BROOM, AND OF MYRTLE AND LAUREL NURSERIES.（アシとアスパラガスの畑について，また，ヤナギとエニシダ，及びミルテとゲッケイジュの育種について）
'Reeds are to be
planted at this season in very small trenches; the eyes of the reed being set
in all the trenches, which ought to be at the distance of half of a foot from
each other. If we consult the advantage of a warm and dry province, we must
allot wet vallies, or such as are well watered, to the reed plantations. If the
country is cold, let them be raised in mode- rate situations, but in such as
lie to receive the moisture of the villa yard. We may sow the seeds of asparagus among these, that they may grow
together, because asparagus is
cultivated and and burnt in the same manner as the reeds. If the plantations
are old, let them be weeded at this season, those parts being cut off, which
are to be cleared from the root; that is, those shoots that are decayed, and
such as have no eyes for propagation. We are now to set the plants of willows,
and of all such kinds as are to be applied to the use of the arbustum, or
broom, if it is wanting. We are also to set myrtle and laurel-berries in
nurseries, or if they are already set, we are to trim them. - - -
アシはこの季節（二月）に非常に小さな（浅い？）溝に植えるべきである．アシの芽がでる部位（eye）は互いに半フィートはなれた距離で溝に置く．もし暖かい乾いた地方を利用するならアシの畑のためには，谷やそのようなよく水が得られる土地を使うべきである．寒い地方において栽培する場合には，やや温和な環境で，しかし別荘の庭の湿度を受けるようなところに置いて育てるようにする．我々はアスパラガスの種をその間に播種し，共に育てることができる．というのも，アスパラガスはアシと同じように栽培され，燃やすことが出来るからである（灰は肥料となる）．畑が古くなった場合には，この季節に根元からきれいにするために抜き，切断する．なぜなら，これらの芽は壊れており，繁殖のための芽がでる部位eye を持っていないからである．そこで，（この後に）我々はヤナギを植える． arbustum, or broom,（エニシダ，箒に使う）が必要とされている場合には，これら全ての種類の栽培法が適用できる．（この季節）ミルテとゲッケイジュの苗を植えるし，既にある場合は剪定する．（以下略）
