SUCCULENT ROOTS. 247 



not fail to thrive upon it.' From the same authority 

 we learn that in the north of Ireland an agreeable 

 beverage is prepared from the roots brewed with hops. 

 In some places a species of wine is also made from 

 them, and a very pure spirit is obtained when parsnips 

 are distilled after a similar preparatory process to that 

 used with the carrot. In Catholic countries the parsnip 

 is more abundantly employed for human food than in 

 Britain. It was, however, formerly held in much 

 greater estimation here than it is at present. This 

 root is wholesome as well as hardy, but, as the soil 

 which is most favourable to its production as human 

 food is also best adapted for the growth of the potato, 

 which is both more productive and more nutritious 

 than the parsnip, the culture of this plant as a culinary 

 esculent has declined ; and the use of it with salt fish 

 in Lent may perhaps be regarded more as the relic of 

 an old custom than as a choice arising from any par- 

 tiality for the peculiar flavour of the parsnip in combi- 

 nation with this particular kind of viand. 



The nutritious matter in parsnips is found by 

 analysis to be ninety-nine parts in a thousand, of 

 which nine parts are mucilage, and the remaining 

 ninety are saccharine matter. 



The SKIRRET Slum Sisarum differs from the 

 roots already mentioned, in being a perennial. This 

 plant is not a native of England, or of any part of 

 Europe. It is indigenous to China, but was introduced 

 into this part of the world some centuries back, being 

 known in British horticulture so early as about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century. It was formerly 

 much more prized than it is at present. Worlidge, a 

 writer in the latter end of the seventeenth century, 

 described it as the ' sweetest, whitest, and most whole- 

 some of roots.' The skirret is one of those plants 

 which are now neglected, because we are become 

 acquainted with others more pleasant to th taste, and 



