umbelliferyE. 153 



when growing wild in their native haunts and transplanted to the garden. The 

 Parsnip is one of the hardiest of our esculent vegetable productions, as is proved by 

 the fact of its having withstood the intense frost of 1838 in the open ground. There 

 are four varieties ; viz., the common, Guernsey, hollow-crowned, and round or turnip- 

 rooted. The hollow-crowned has been found the best. The seed should be sown in 

 March, as early in that month as the soil and the weather will permit, in shallow drills 

 18 inches apart, and the young plants thinned out afterwards. They are taken up 

 late in the autumn, when the roots have attained their full size. The roots are not in 

 perfection for culinary purposes until their first season's growth is completed, which is 

 indicated by the decay of the greater part of the leaves. Some may then be taken up, 

 their tops cut off, but not too closely, and the roots stored in sand in a cool place, so 

 as to guard against the stimuli of light and heat as much as possible. In Jersey the 

 Parsnip forms one of the most important crops, and the preparation of the land, which 

 requires unusually deep ploughing, is one of the most laborious tasks of the small 

 farmer in the early spring. In that mild climate the roots are generally ready to take 

 up in September. It is reckoned that 30 perches of Parsnips will fatten an ox of 

 three or four years old, with a small quantity of hay, supplying him with food for three 

 months. One farmer in Jersey is recorded to have raised upwards of fourteen 

 thousand pounds of Parsnips upon a quarter of an aci'e of land ; and even larger crops 

 are said to have been obtained, which is the more remarkable, as little manure but 

 sea-weed is used. These large Parsnips are inferior to the smaller varieties, and it is 

 said that those grown on poor land are sweeter and pleasanter to the taste than those 

 out of a richer soil. The great quantity of starch and sugar yielded by the Parsnip 

 would naturally siiggest their fattening nature as a food. In an analysis of the con- 

 stituents of 1 lb. of Parsnips given by Dr. Lankester, in his Guide to the Food Collec- 

 tion at the South Kensington Museum, we find that it contained 13 oz. 53 grs. of 

 water, 87 grs. of albumen and casein, 210 grs. of sugar, 245 grs. of starch, 35 grs. of 

 fat, 52 grs. of gum, 1 oz. 123 grs. of woody fibre, 70 grs. of ashes. From this it will 

 be seen that Parsnips as an article of diet are much inferior to potatoes, as a substitute 

 for which they have been recommended. 



Gerarde tells us that that " there is a pleasant food or bread made of the roots of 

 Parsnips," which, however, he only relates on the authority of his friend Mr. Plat, 

 " having made no tryal of it nor meane to do." 



GENUS XXVIIL—H. ERACLEUM. Linn. 



Calyx-limb of 5 small teeth. Petals obovate, notched, with an 

 inflexed lobe ; the exterior ones generally radiant and bifid. Cre- 

 mocarp oval or orbicular, compressed from back to back of the 

 mericarps, surrounded by a flat border ; columella free, bipartite ; 

 mericarps flattened from back to face, with the 3 dorsal ridges very 

 faint, the lateral ones developed into a rather broad flat border ; 

 interstices each with a single vitta, w^hich is thickened at the 

 lower end, and does not reach more than about halfway down the 

 mericarp. Involucre generally of few leaves. 



Large herbs with sub-ternately pinnate leaves with the leaflets 

 generally cut, the lowest pair on rather long stalks ; and large 



VOL. lY. X 



