as it is practised in Guernsey. 409 



It is indeed said, that in other countries, where this method hds 

 been tried, it has not been found to answer so well as the system 

 of broadcast culture. 



The first weeding is performed about the middle of May, or 

 it maybe earlier or later according to the state of the plants ; it 

 is repeated when necessary, till the beginning of July. The di- 

 stance at which the plants are allowed to remain, is greater in 

 Guernsey than in England, where they are suffered to stand at 

 six inches asunder. 



Although the general practice is that which 1 have now de- 

 scribed, the seed iy sometimes sown at the latter end of Septem- 

 ber or beginning of October, and the plants are found to pas»* 

 the winter well, and produce a good crop. It is supposed that 

 they may thus become strong before they can be injured by 

 weeds. There is also some variation in the time of the spring 

 sowing. Where the soil is a rich sandy and dry loam, the seed 

 is sown early in January; but the general period of sowing over 

 the whole island, is from the middle of February to the beginning 

 of March, except in stiff and wet lands, where it is deferred for 

 a fortnight. 



The produce per acre is considerably greater than that of 

 the carrot, A good crop in Guernsey is considered 17,000 lbs. 

 per vergee, or about 44,000 lbs. per English acre. This is a 

 less heavy crop than the turnip, but it is much more consider- 

 able than that either of the carrot or potatoe. If we considei 

 at the same time that the quantity of saccharine, mucilaginous, 

 and, generally speaking, of nutritious matter in the parsnip, bears 

 a far larger proportion to the water, than it does in the turnip, 

 its superiority in point of produce will appear in this case also 

 to be greater. 



The roots are dug up about the middle of August, when they 

 are thought to be most nutritious, and to fatten animals better 

 than after the leaves are decayed. I do not understand tluit the 

 green tops are used in Guernsey, although in England they have 

 l)een found as useful for live stock, as other green food, either 

 consunjed in the field, or cut off when the roots are taken up. 

 The quantity dug up at this season is not more than is required 

 for two or three days consumption. It is only in October that 

 the root is fully ripe, when it may be dug up with forks, and pre- 

 served dry in slieds during the winter; but it is usually left in the 

 ground in Guernsey, where frost is rare, and taken up as it is 

 wanted. 



The parsnip is considered by tlie farmers of Guernsey as the 

 best fallow crop known, and as in the greatest degree inlluencing 

 the su1)sec|uent crop of grain. In Jersey, it is the usual practice 

 to follow it by wheat. As it draws its nourishment from the 



deeper 



