PARSLEY 



PARTHEXOCISSUS 



2477 



The addition of a bit of parsley foliage, finely chopped, 

 heightens the flavor of soups, fish, and the like. The 

 principal use of this vegetable, however, is for garnish- 

 ing meats and fish and other dishes, and for this pur- 

 pose it seems to be the vegetable par excellence, equally 

 desirable in the home as on the hotel table. 



A very few plants of parsley will suffice for the home- 

 garden, and any spot of good soil will do for starting 

 them from seed. Sow as early in spring as practicable, 

 either in an early hotbed or coldframe, or in open 

 ground. Parsley seed germinates somewhat slowly, 

 and the plants are feeble at first. In open ground, early 

 sowing aids the plants to get ahead of the weeds. In 

 larger patches the rows should be a foot apart, and 

 seed sown rather thinly in shallow drills. Thin the 

 plants to stand 4 to 8 inches apart, and cultivate 

 same as carrots. Gather the leaves as needed. For 

 use in winter and early spring, start plants in open 

 ground in early fall, and on the approach of cold weather 

 set them in a corner of the greenhouse bench, or in a 

 box or keg filled with rich loam placed in a light kitchen 

 or cellar window. Old roots, if still vigorous, may be 

 lifted in autumn and treated the same as seedlings. 

 Parsley will stand considerable frost. Although biennial 

 or perennial, a new stock should be started every year. 

 The plants usually bear better if the leaves are removed 

 a few at a time rather than to have the entire crown cut 

 at once. 



When the plant is a year old (sooner or later), it 

 throws up seed-stalks, and produces seed in abundance, 

 even under glass protection. By keeping the seed-stalks 

 closely cut out, the season of leaf-yield may be pro- 

 longed for a time. Seed is easily gathered and cleaned. 



The varietal differences lie chiefly in the foliage, 

 which in some sorts is rather coarse, as in the Plain or 

 Common, or more finely divided, as in the Curled, 

 Double Curled, Moss Curled, and Fern-leaved. 



T. GREKEB. 

 L. H. B.f 



PARSNIP (Pastinaca saliva, which see). Fig. 2765. 

 A favorite vegetable, cultivated for its edible root, 

 which is used mostly in winter and spring. 



The average home-gardener thinks much of quick 

 results. The drawback to parsnip-growing, in his esti- 

 mation, is the length of time the crop requires for its 

 development. When seed is sown, in early spring, the 

 harvest seems a long way off. To offset this disadvantage, 

 however, parsnips become available as green material 

 when other things fresh from the garden are very scarce 

 or entirely absent, that is, in open spells in winter, and 

 in the very early days of spring. A crop of good straight 

 roots may not be so easily produced as a crop of smooth 

 carrots, but when once grown it does not burden one 

 with much responsibility in regard to storage or keep- 

 ing, which is an important point in its favor. The roots 

 may be left in the ground where they grew or stored in 

 moss or sand in the cellar. The winter freezing in the 

 ground does not injure them; in fact, some growers 

 suppose that it improves the quality. This ability to 

 withstand the winter makes them valuable also as food 

 for cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry in the early spring, 

 in case the table or market should not call for them at 

 that time. If dug hi autumn, they may be stored in a 

 cool, moist cellar (or buried) as other roots are kept. 



The best soil for parsnips is a clean rich loam, which 

 offers no obstruction to the uniform expansion of the 

 roots. Straight deep roots must have a deep soil. Pre- 

 pare it the same as for beets or carrots, or for any other 

 garden crop. The seed should be strictly fresh, as it 

 soon loses its vitality. Seeds germinate rather slowly 

 and therefore the ground should be clear of roots and 

 seeds of weeds, otherwise the young plants may be 

 smothered. Sow hi early spring, preferably with a 

 garden seed-drill, J^ to 1 inch deep, in rows 15 to 20 

 inches apart hi the garden, and somewhat farther hi 

 field culture, in the place where the plants are to stand. 



Be prompt in thinning the young seedlings to 6 to 12 

 niches apart in the row; at the same time pull up or cut 

 out all weeds. The free use of the hand wheel-hoe will 

 keep the patch clean until the entire surface of the 

 ground is covered with foliage, thus preventing further 

 growth of weeds. Tillage may then cease. 



Seed is easily grown. 

 Plant the roots in spring 

 in any good soil, and 

 gather the seed-heads in 

 summer when most of the 

 seeds hi them are mature. 

 Dry them on sheets, and 

 then thrash or strip. 



The varieties of parsnip 

 are few hi number. For] 

 shallow, stony or other- 

 wise unfavorable soils the 

 best varieties are the 

 Round or Early Short 

 Round; for better soils 

 the Half-Long, Student, 

 or Hollow Crown; and for 

 deep clean soils the Long 

 Smooth. T. GREINER. 

 L. H. B.| 



PARSONSIA (after 

 John Parsons, a Scotch 

 naturalist). Apocynaceae. 

 Twining shrubs with op- 

 posite Ivs. : calyx 5-parted, 

 glandular or naked, or with 

 5 scales; corolla salver- 

 shaped, tube short; lobes 

 overlapping to the right; 2765. Parsnip, 



stamens inserted in the 



tube, filaments often twisted, anthers conniving over and 

 adhering to the stigma, cells spurred and empty below; 

 disk of 5 lobes or scales; ovary 2-celled, cells many- 

 ovuled. About 20 species in Trop. Asia, Austral., and 

 New Zeal. The genus as here defined is that of Robert 

 Brown; some recent authors have revived the older 

 genus of the same name of Patrick Browne, making it 

 supplant the usual species of Cuphea (p. 913). P. 

 Pdddisonii, R. T. Baker, is reported as under cult. 

 It is a woody climber with glabrous sts., attaining a 

 height of about 15 ft., and with stalked obovate- 

 lanceolate Ivs. This species produces tubers the size 

 of beet-root, which are used as food by colonists as well 

 as natives of New S. Wales. R.H. 1901:322 (note). 



PARTHENIUM (ancient name transferred to this 

 plant). Compdsitae. About a dozen perennial or annual, 

 mostly canescent or pubescent, rather coarse herbs or 

 shrubs of the western hemisphere, only rarely taken to 

 gardens and apparently not domesticated. The heads 

 are only inconspicuously rayed and not specially showy, 

 the ray-florets about 5. P. integrifblium, Linn., the 

 AMERICAN FEVERFEW, or PRAIRIE DOCK, has been 

 offered as an ornamental hardy herbaceous perennial, 

 but the plant is desirable only for foliage effects; and 

 the fls. are not attractive. It is pictured in B.B. 3:411 

 and described hi American manuals; it grows on dry 

 soils from Minn, to Ga. : stout, to 4 ft., from a tuberous 

 rootstock: Ivs. ovate or ovate-oblong: heads many in a 

 dense corymb, the rays whitish. The so-called "guayule 

 rubber" of Mex., P. argentdtum, Gray, the difficulty of 

 growing which has caused much discussion, is reported 

 as being under cult, in Mexico City by M. Calvino. 

 It is unknown hi horticulture. 



PARTHENOCISSUS (Greek, parthenos, virgin, and 

 kissos, ivy; translation of its French name). Syn. 

 Quinaria, Psedera. Vitacex. Woody vines planted 

 chiefly for their handsome foliage. 



