Cultivation of Arabic Land. Parfnips. 05 



muft be done to the growth of the roots. But indrpendent of this, fuch a method 

 muft be uneconomical from the great lofs that mud be fuftained in rendering the 

 tops dry and proper for being put together in ftacks. It is a much lefs waftcful 

 practice to take up fuch crops gradually, making ufe of the tops in the feed 

 ing of hogs, neat cattle, horfes, or fheep: all of which are extremely fond of 

 them. 



When it is thought neceffary to warn the roots before they are made ufe of in 

 the feeding or fattening of animals, it may be performed with eafe and expedition 

 in the lame manner as has been recommended for potatoes. 



Parfnips. This is another plant of the tap-rooted kind that has been occafion- 

 ally cultivated, though in a very limited manner, for the purpofes of hufbandry. 

 The garden parfnip * is the fort employed in field culture : which when properly 

 cultivated has a long flefhy root, confiderably larger than the carrot, and equally 

 fweet, nutritious, and juicy ; and, from its being capable of withftanding the fe- 

 verity of the winter feafon, is probably better adapted to the northern parts of the 

 ifland. From its eafy culture, and the great quantity of food that it affords, it 

 would feem to demand more attention than has hitherto been bcftowed upon it by 

 the Britifh farmer. 



The foils moft fuited to this plant are thofe of the rich, deep, mellow, loamy 

 or fandy kinds, in which the roots can run down to a great depth, and diftend 

 themfelves with facility. On the gravelly and the pure clayey foils they can ne 

 ver be cultivated to much advantage-^ 



Whatever the nature of the foil may be on which this root is cultivated, it 

 muft, in the fame manner as for carrots, be broken up to a confiderable depth, 

 and have the mould brought into a fine ftate of pulverifation. In diftricts where 

 the plant is grown for the purpofes of hufbandry, there are two different methods 

 purfued : the firft is that of ploughing the ground by means of a light plough, 

 which is regulated in the fore part by two wheels being fixed to it, one of which 

 runs in the furrow, and the other on the unploughed land, the former being four 

 teen or fifteen inches higher than the latter, and which opens down and turns the 

 mould to the depth of about five inches ; after which, the furrow is dug down 

 with a fpade, fo as to form a trench of about fixteen inches in depth, proceeding 

 in the fame way till the whole of the field is prepared : but the latter, which is 

 by means of two ploughs of different kinds, one following in the fame track after 

 the other, is by much the moft expeditious and economical. The light plough 



* Pa&tinaca sativa. t Hazard, in Bath Papers. 



