CHAPTER XVII. 



PARSNIP (Pastinaca saliva.) CARROT 

 (DaucusCarota.) REET(Beta Vulgar is.) 



481. The Parsnip is a native of England, of the Continent 

 of Europe, and of Asia, but in its wild state is useless, if not 

 poisonous. It has become naturalized as a wild plant in the 

 United States, (Gray;) and when once established as a weed, 

 is very difficult to exterminate) while the root diminishes in 

 size. Formerly, it was in more general use than at present, and 

 it is now more cultivated in Catholic countries than in Protest 

 ant. Shakespear refers to it in the old proverb that &quot; smooth 

 words butter no parsnips.&quot; It is cultivated both as a field and 

 garden crop ; and in the Channel Islands, (Jersey, Guernsey, 

 and Alderney,) and in parts of France, it is greatly depended 

 on for fattening hogs and cattle, and as food for milch cows, for 

 all which purposes it is perhaps superior to any other root. 



482. There is probably only one species, but several vane* 

 ties, of which, in Great Britain and America, the Large Jcr* 

 sey is considered the best for field culture. Of this there aro 

 two sub- varieties, (a,) the fusiform, which strikes deeply into 

 the earth, and (7&amp;gt;J the napiform y which becomes thick, and 

 grows near the surface. French writers mention three varie* 

 ties as worthy of attention; fcjthe Coquaine,vfit\\ a long root, 

 and tall leaves; (d,) the Lisbonnaise, with a shorter ?.nd thicker 

 root ; and (c t ) the Siam, small, and of a yellowish tinge, tender, 

 and richer in flavor than the others. Any of these, however, 

 will degenerate in poor soil, or by careless culture. 



