390 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



nips begin to be commonly eaten with the winter store of dried 

 fish in the western and northern islands of Scotland. It is 

 certain that parsnips are among the oldest inmates of the 

 kitchen garden in England. Miller, gardener to the Apothe- 

 caries' Company at their Chelsea garden in the last century, 

 says : " These roots are sweeter than carrots, and are much 

 eaten by those who abstain from animal food in Lent, or eat 

 salt fish on fast-days. They are highly nutritious. In the 

 north of Ireland they are brewed instead of malt with hops, 

 and fermented with yeast. The liquor thus obtained is agree- 

 able. Hogs are fond of these roots, and quickly grow fat with 

 them." Old Gerarde, the author of the ' Herbal,' who died at 

 the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, says, " There is a good and 

 pleasant food or bread made of the roots of parsnips, as my 

 friend Master Plat hath set forth in his book of experiments." 

 Miller says, besides, " With attention to the soil, the season for 

 sowing, cleaning, and earthing the plants, and raising the seed 

 from the largest and best parsnips, there is no doubt but the 

 crop would answer much better than a crop of carrots. They 

 are equal to them, if not superior, in fattening pigs ; for they 

 make the flesh whiter, and the animals eat them with more 

 satisfaction. Clean washed and sliced among bran, horses eat 

 them greedily, and thrive with them ; nor do they heat horses, 

 or, like corn, fill them with disorders." 



" In France and our islands adjoining to it parsnips are held 

 in high esteem both for cattle and swine. In Brittany this 

 crop is said to be little inferior in value to wheat. Milch cows 

 fed with it in winter give as much and as good milk, and yield 

 butter as well-flavoured, with parsnips as with grass in May 

 and June." 



It is doubtful, however, if the climate of Scotland be well 

 suited for parsnips as a crop ; and it is alleged that though 

 parsnips have the property of making horses sleek and fat, 



