On the Culture of Parsnips, 177 



does not yearly plant a proportionate quantity, for the pur- 

 pose of fattening his hogs and cattle, or of feeding his milch 

 cows. 



A few years ago, the culture of potatoes was substituted 

 by some farmers to that of parsnips, and apparently with 

 advantage; but further experience has brought them back 

 again to their former practice. Potatoes produce more 

 weight and nieasure on a given extent of ground, and may 

 be cultivated with less exp'.nse ; still the parsnip is found to 

 answer best for the farmer's purpose. A perch of the island, 

 which is twenty-four square feet, will produce on an average 

 crop, seven cabots of potatoes, each weighing forty pounds; 

 the same extent in parsnips will only average six cabots, 

 which weigh only thirty-five, pounds each, making twenty 

 pounds weight in favour of the potatoes; — but they are not 

 so nutritious as parsnips. 



Parsnips will thrive almost any where, but better in a 

 deep stiff loam. They are generally cultivated in the island 

 after a crop of barley, in the following manner. — At the 

 end of January or the beginning of February, the soil, which 

 requires for that purpose to be stirred from the bottom, is 

 either dug with spades after a skimming plough, or with 

 two ploughs of different shapes following one another. The 

 latter of the two, invented some years ago by a farmer in 

 the island, will go to a depth of fifteen inches. In both 

 these ways the neighbouring farmers assist each other : in 

 the season, it is not uncommon to see forty or fifty men in 

 one field digging after a plough. When the large plough 

 is used, less men are required, but more strength of cattle ; 

 two oxen and six hordes are the team generally used. Those 

 days are reckoned days of recreation, and tend to promote 

 social intercourse among that class of men. 



After the ground has been tilled in this way, it is coarsely 

 harrowed, and a sufficient number of women are provided 

 to plant beans. These are dibbled in rows three by three' 

 : : : ; : ; ; : : ^t the distance of five feet from row to row. 

 Two women may plant one vcrgee in a day : two vergees 

 and a half being equal to an English acre. Three sixtenniers 

 of parsnip seed (about | of a Winchester bushel) are then 

 sown upon each vcrgee, and the whole is finely harrowed. 



This crop now requires no attendance till the month of 

 May, when weeding becomes necessary. This is the most 

 expensive part of the culture. It is generally done by hand, 

 with a small weeding fork ; and as the parsnips require to 

 be kept very clean, the expense is proportionate to the 

 quantity of weeds. This last summer four women were em- 



Vol. 35. No. 143. March 1810. M ployed 



