250 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



but if you would have a hardy crop of 

 immense roots, use the Altringham 

 green top, the flavour of which is ex- 

 cellent, but its shape is not always very 

 regular. As the tops rise out of the 

 ground, earth them up, and thus 

 save the waste which a green top ne- 

 cessitates. I should recommend this 

 sort to every grower who aims at 

 quantity combined with excellence, 

 but where handsome roots are re- 

 quired, take Surrey, or James's. For 

 allotment purposes, the white Belgian 

 is very useful, and will always com- 

 mand a market as cattle feed. 



The parsnip is one of the most ac- 

 commodating of roots, and hence, in 

 cottage gardens it is often subjected to 

 very bad treatment. This is just the 

 sort of crop on which a poor man 

 should bestow his best energies, for its 

 wholesome, nutritive, and palatable 

 properties render it one of the best 

 additions to the table that the garden 

 has to offer. Like the carrot, it requires 

 a deep light soil, free from stones, and 

 thoroughly pulverised by exposure to 

 frost. On gravel or clay it does but 

 poorly, but it will produce a fair crop 

 on very poor soil, and will even prosper 

 under the shade of trees. One of the 

 many errors prevalent in its cultivation 

 by cottagers, is the practice of sowing 

 broadcast, and very thick. The seed 

 should always be sown in drills, not 

 less than ten inches apart and in rich 

 soil, or one that has had a good layer 

 of manure at the bottom of the second 

 spit; they should be twelve inches 

 apart, and will pay much better than 

 if crowded. It cannot have too open 

 a situation, or too rich a soil, provided 

 there is no fresh manure in it. 



Sow from the middle of February 

 to the end of March. After the first 

 week in April is too late to do justice 

 to it, but the seed may be sown as late 

 as the first week in May, and still pro- 

 duce a crop worth harvesting. In 

 Guernsey, where they grow the parsnip 

 better than anywhere else in the world, 

 January is the general sowing season, 

 and in field culture the seed is often 

 put in in September, and makes enor- 

 mous roots by the next autumn, but in 

 gardens they are apt to bolt in spring 

 if sowed the previous autumn. 



The beds should be four feet wide. 



Sow in drills half an inch deep ; when 

 the seedlings are large enough to handle, 

 thin them out to ten inches apart, and 

 keep the ground clear of weeds by 

 handpicking and hoeing. An occa- 

 sional looking over the beds will be 

 necessary, for seeds that have lain 

 dormant will spring up late in the 

 season, and must be pulled out, and 

 after a period of dry weather the 

 ground will get caked, so that rain 

 will hardly find its way to their roots. 

 For this reason it is best to seize the 

 last opportunity, just before the leaves 

 meet across and prevent such an 

 operation, to loosen the top soil between 

 the rows, and Gidney's Drill hoe will 

 be the best tool for the purpose. Send 

 the point down as deep as you can, 

 and loosen the surface well about them 

 without going so near the roots as to 

 injure them. The first shower after- 

 wards will go clean down, and you 

 will literally see them grow for the 

 remainder of the season. There is 

 not much choice of sorts ; the hollow 

 crowned is that most in use, and is 

 unexceptionable for shape and flavour. 

 The Guernsey come to a larger size 

 and are excellent roots, and perhaps, 

 better than the other for allotments. 



Turnips are frequently a cause of dis- 

 appointment in small gardens, but where 

 there is a good open space, there is not 

 a more useful or profitable crop. 

 They do not require a rich soil, and 

 will come well without manure on land 

 that was manured for the previous 

 crop ; at the same time heavy manu- 

 ring may be practised to advantage. 

 They are hardy things; they follow 

 nicely on the heels of summer things, 

 such as potatoes, peas, &c, and may be 

 sown at almost any season of the year. 

 The use of liquid manure is strikingly 

 exemplified in the culture of turnips, 

 and on small farms — where improve- 

 ments are not as rapid as they should 

 be — it would always pay well to give 

 the ground a good soaking with liquid 

 manure, and then sow Swedes at once. 

 They would only want hoeing and 

 thinning afterwards, so as to leave them 

 finally at nine or ten inches apart, 

 and a heavy crop would be certain — 

 liquid manure renders this crop ad- 

 ditionally profitable, and it is one that 

 exhausts the land as little as any. 



