318 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



garden for family use, and on the farm for stock. What renders it 

 particularly desirable in the family, is its being kept in the ground 

 without injury till spring, when there are but few fresh vegetables 

 that can be had. It is known also that the flavor of the parsnip is 

 improved by remaining in the ground. The customary mode of pre- 

 paring them for the table is to boil them with meat ; this gives 

 additional richness to their juices ; and a still further improvement in 

 them is effected, if afterwards cut into slices and fried brown. The 

 slices should be thin, and sometimes, if designed to be very nice, 

 the slices before being fried, are dipped into a batter of flour, butter, 

 and eggs. Parsnips, as well known, are sweet, and in a small degree 

 aromatic, and they contain a moderate percentage of vinous substance 

 They are sometimes mashed with potatoes and butter and mixed 

 with milk. They also make a kind of marmalade that is by many 

 highly relished. 



Of late years the parsnip has been highly commended for field 

 culture, yielding a large crop, and being among the most nutritious 

 of vegetables for most kinds of stock. Some have fatted pork upon 

 it without any other feed ; and the pork was of the best quality. 

 Beef is fatted with it, and in the London market such beef is highly 

 prized, and commands the highest price. Dairy cows eat them as 

 readily as they would carrots ; and the quantity and quality of the 

 milk are essentially promoted. The butter made from cows fed with 

 parsnips is peculiarly rich. Horses and sheep, too, are not less dis- 

 posed to feed upon them, and to give evidence that they are conducive 

 to thrift. It is estimated that parsnips may be raised cheaper than 

 potatoes. Twelve hundred bushels have been obtained from a single 

 acre ; and with the same degree of culture, in ordinary seasons, not 

 more than three hundred bushels of potatoes could be had from it. 

 They are rarely injured by insects ; and they penetrate so deep into 

 the ground as not to be effected by drought. However, they require 

 a rich mellow soil, and in the early part of the season, to*be properly 

 thinned out and kept free from weeds. 



PARING AND BURNING. This is an operation, in modern 

 agriculture, which consists in cutting a thin slice from the surface of 

 land which is overgrown with grass, heath, fern, or any other plant 

 which form a sward by matting together of their roots. The sods 

 are allowed to dry in the sun, to a certain degree, after which they 

 are arranged in heaps, and burnt slowly, without flame or violent 

 heat. The result is a mixture of burnt earth, charred vegetable fibre, 

 and the ashes of that part which is entirely consumed. The object 

 of this operation is two-fold first, to kill the insects and destroy use- 

 less and noxious weeds completely ; and secondly, to obtain a power- 

 ful manure, impregnated with alkaline salts and carbonaceous matter, 

 which experience has shown to be a very powerful promoter of vege- 

 tation. The instruments by which this is effected, are either a com- 



