UMBELLIFERjE. CV. PASTINACA. 



339 



Lent root, being eaten with salted fish. " In the north of Scot- 

 land," Mr. Neill observes, " parsnips are often beat up with po- 

 tatoes and a little butter; of this excellent mess the children of 

 the peasantry are very fond, and they do not fail to thrive upon 

 it. In the north of Ireland a pleasant table beverage is pre- 

 pared from the roots, brewed along with hops. Parsnip wine is 

 also made in some places ; and they afford an excellent ardent 

 spirit when distilled after a similar preparatory process to that 

 bestowed on potatoes, destined for that purpose." The following 

 are the varieties : 



1 Common parsnip, large swelling parsnip, swelling parsnip. 

 The leaves are long ; roots generally from 20-30 inches long, 

 and from 3-4 in diameter. 



2 Guernsey parsnip, Jersey parsnip, panais long of the French, 

 panais coqune of Guernsey. The leaves are somewhat stronger 

 and taller than those of the common sort. The roots are also 

 larger and more perfect, about 3 or 4 feet long. 



3 Hollow-crowned parsnip, hollow-headed parsnip, panais 

 Lisbonaise of Guernsey. In this variety the leaves are shorter 

 and not so numerous as in the common parsnip ; the roots are 

 oblong, about 1 8 inches long, more swollen at the top, and not 

 tapering gradually, but ending rather abruptly, about 4 inches 

 in diameter at the shoulder. 



4 Turnip-rooted parsnip, panais rond, Siam parsnip. The 

 leaves of this sort are few, and do not exceed 12 or 13 inches ; 

 the roots are from 4-6 inches in diameter, funnel-shaped, taper- 

 ing very abruptly, with a strong tap-root, the whole being from 

 12-15 inches long. The shoulder is broad, and grows above 

 the surface of the soil. The flavour of this parsnip is superior, 

 and when dressed is of a yellower colour than the other varieties. 



Soil. The soil most proper for the parsnip should be light, 

 free from stones, and deep. It should be dug or trenched 

 before sowing, at least 2 spits deep ; and the manure should 

 either be perfectly decomposed, or if recent, deposited at the 

 bottom of the trench. 



Seed estimate and sowing. Sow in the end of February, or 

 in March, but not later than April, and for a seed-bed 5 feet by 

 20, the plants to remain thinned to 8 inches' distance, half an 

 ounce of seed is the usual proportion. Having prepared either 

 beds 4 or 5 feet wide, or one continued plot, sow broadcast, 

 moderately thin, and rake the seed well into the ground. 



Culture. When the plants are about 1-2 or 3 inches high, 

 in May or June, let them be thinned and cleared from weeds, 

 either by hand or by small hoeing, thinning them from 8 to 12 

 inches' distance. Keep them afterwards clean from weeds, till 

 the leaves cover the ground, after which no further culture will 

 be required. The roots will be pretty large by the end of Sep- 

 tember, from which time a few may be drawn for present use : 

 but the parsnip is far best at full maturity, about the close of 

 October, indicated by the decay of the leaf. The root will re- 

 main good for use till April and May following. 



Preserving during winter. The parsnip is not so liable as the 

 carrot to be hurt by frost if left in the ground. But it would 

 be proper in the beginning of November, when the leaves decay, 

 to dig up a portion of the roots, and to cut the tops off close, 

 laying them in sand, under cover, ready for use in hard frosty 

 weather. The rest will keep good in the ground till they begin 

 to shoot in the spring : then in February or March dig them up ; 

 cut the tops off; and, preserved in sand, the roots will remain 

 sound till about the end of April. 



To save seed. Transplant some of the best roots in February, 

 2 feet asunder, inserted over the crowns ; they will shoot up in 

 strong stalks, and produce large umbels of seeds, ripening in 

 autumn. 



Field culture of the parsnip. The parsnip has been partially 

 introduced of late years as a field plant, and is nearly equal to 



the carrot in its product of nutritive and saccharine matter. 

 Its culture as a field plant has chiefly been confined to the island 

 of Jersey, where it attains a large size, and is much esteemed 

 for fattening cattle and pigs. It is considered rather more 

 hardy than the carrot, and its produce is said to be greater. It 

 may be sown either in autumn or spring, and its seeds admit 

 of drilling by machinery. The plants, when they come up, are 

 more easily recognised than carrots, and therefore their culture 

 is on the whole more simple, less dependent on manual labour, 

 and therefore more suited to farming. For the rest their cul- 

 ture is the same as that of the carrot. The variety best suited 

 for the field is the Large Jersey, the seed of which should be 

 procured from the island, as that of the garden parsnip sold by 

 seedsmen never attains the same size. The quantity of seed 

 required for sowing in drills is from 4 to 5 Ibs. per acre, and 

 for broad-cast 6 or 8 Ibs. It must always be new, as two year 

 old seed does not come up freely. It may or may not be 

 prepared by steeping, but it requires no earth or sand intermixed 

 with it, as it passes freely through the same drill that will sow 

 tares or pease. The time of sowing is generally about the 

 middle of February ; but some sow in September, in which case 

 the seed does not vegetate till early in spring. This last method 

 is obviously against the culture of the soil, which must thus 

 remain a year in a consolidated state. The manner of sowing 

 is generally in drills 15 or 18 inches distant; but some sow 

 broad-cast and harrow in the seed ; and in Jersey, parsnips and 

 beans are generally cultivated together. The beans are first 

 dibbled in, and afterwards the parsnip seed scattered over the 

 surface and harrowed. It is acknowledged that a good crop of 

 both plants is never obtained ; and therefore, though this mode 

 may be found to answer in the mild climate of Jersey, it is not 

 to be imitated in other places. Drills or broadcast, without any 

 intermixture of plants, are the only adviseable modes. The 

 after culture of the parsnip is the same as that for the carrot, 

 with this difference, that the parsnip, when sown broad-cast, is 

 generally thinned out to 12 inches at an average, plant from 

 plant, and when in rows 18 inches apart, to 9 inches in the row. 

 The produce of the parsnip is said to be greater than that of 

 the carrot, and the economical application the same. In the fat- 

 tening of cattle it is found equal if not superior, performing 

 the business with as much expedition, and affording meat of 

 exquisite flavour, and a highly juicy quality. The animals eat 

 it with much greediness. It is reckoned that thirty perches, 

 where the crop is good, will be sufficient to fatten an ox 3 or 

 4 years old, when perfectly lean, in the course of 3 months. 

 They are given in the proportion of about 30 pounds weight 

 morning, noon, and night ; the large ones being split in 3 or 4 

 pieces, and a little hay supplied in the intervals of those periods. 

 And when given to milch cows with a little hay in the winter 

 season, the butter is found to be of as fine a colour and as 

 excellent a flavour as when feeding in the best pastures. In- 

 deed, the result of experiment has shown that not only in neat 

 cattle, but in the fattening of hogs and poultry, the animals 

 become fat much sooner, and are more bulky than when fed 

 with any other root or vegetable ; and that, besides, the meat 

 is more sweet and delicious. The parsnip leaves being more 

 bulky than those of carrots may be mown off before taking up 

 the roots, and given to cows, oxen, or horses, by whom they 

 will be greedily eaten. Their produce in nutritive matter is 

 99 parts in 1000, of which 9 are mucilage and 90 sugar. Ge- 

 rarde says, that a very good bread was made from them in his 

 time. They afford as much spirit as the carrot. The parsnip 

 being more hardy and luxuriant than the carrot, is less liable 

 to the mildew and worms ; but equally so to become forked if 

 the soil be not deep and well pulverised, and if the manure be 

 not minutely divided and equally distributed. 

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