202 GARDENING. 



eties, the fine, the curled, the variegated, and the 

 large-rooted. Of these the curled is the most deli- 

 cate, but most apt to degenerate. The large-rooted 

 is the hardiest, least liable to change, most abun- 

 dant in foliage, and quicker in renewing itself. 

 These circumstances give it the preference. 



Parsley will grow in almost any soil, but prefers 

 that which is light, and fresh, and rich. It is best 

 sown in the spring in a well-laboured bed, manured 

 with old and thoroughly rotted dung, and in rows 

 sufficiently far apart to admit the hoe and the 

 weeder. The cultivator must not be out of pa- 

 tience at the slowness with which it shows itself. 

 It seldom appears before forty days, and not always 

 at the end of that term. Hoeing and watering are, 

 however, all it requires after it does appear. The 

 leaves are cropped in the fall, and hung up in bun- 

 dles for winter use. If the soil in which the plants 

 grow be stiff and moist, the roots ought to be cov- 

 ered in the fall, otherwise there is a risk of their 

 being thrown out by the frost. 



PARSNIP (Pastinaca). Of this there are five spe- 

 cies, but one of which (Pastinaca Sativa) is admit- 

 ted into the garden. This has two varieties, the 

 round or turnip parsnip, and the Siam, neither of 

 which is much known. 



Like other tap-rooted plants, the pastinaca thrives 

 best in a rich, deep, friable soil, growing in the 

 drills where it was originally sown, and undisturbed 

 by transplanting. The rows should be twelve or 

 fourteen inches apart, and four of these in a bed, 

 and the plants themselves should not stand nearer 

 together than eight inches. 



The first crop may be sown in March, as no de- 

 gree of cold injures either the seed or the plant ; 

 but the seedtime of the main or winter crop need 

 not begin till the first of June, as enough of the sea- 

 son will then be left to mature it, and as the hard- 

 est frosts but make it better. It is evidently a plant 



