10 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



obtained from the wild plant between 1848 and 1850, by selecting the 

 seed from the best-rooted plants of each generation raised from the 

 seed of the wild plant. 



This was done by the late Professor James Buckman in the garden 

 of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He collected the seed 

 from wild plants of the neighbourhood in 1847 (fig. 3). " In 1848 

 they were sown, and in the spring of 1849 the reserved roots were 

 dug up and the best put aside for transplanting. Late in the summer 

 '<)f 1849 the seed was collected, and sown in 1850. The result of the 

 'second sowing was that the leaves in all indicated an advance to the 

 cultivated form. Some specimens were much finer than others, of 

 good size and tolerably smooth outline "* (fig. 4, A). 



FIG. 3. THE WILD PARSNIP (annual). One- fifth natural size. 



Professor Buckman called the best " The Student," and sent the 

 seed tfr Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading. It was sent out by 

 them, and greatly improved subsequently. It gained many prizes as 

 one writer observes, " This is the twelfth year in succession we have 

 been awarded first honours for ' Student. ' ' Another writer says : 

 " I had a fine crop of parsnips from the 'Student,' half a yard long and 

 four or five inches round " (fig. 4, B). The following are some con- 

 spicuous differences between the wild parsnip and the ' ' Student " : 



The root of a wild plant grown by the roadside in Dorset had a 

 tough, wiry root, tapering somewhat from the crown. The leaves had 

 * Journ. of the Royal Agr. Soc. of Eng. xv. pt. 1, p. 125 (1854). 



