184 



PARSLEY. 



and now is used for dropsy in Holland. It is a garnish to meats, and 

 removes the ta-ste and smell of onions. It is a fine pot and seasoning 

 herb, and gives an agreeable flavor to stews and soups. To preserve 

 it for seasoning meats &c. it should be gathered dry, put into a tin. 

 roasting screen and placed by a large fire, where it becomes brittle ; 

 then rub it tine and put it up in glass bottles. Parsley is eaten greed- 

 ily by sheep and cures them of the rot, and also some diseases of the 

 horse; it also improves the flesh of sheep. Curled-leaf kind is the 

 finest of several varieties. It is sown in March or April, and is 6 

 weeks in coming forth. With care, it may be kept green through the 

 winter. It is said to be poisonous to fowls. Celery is a species of 

 the same genus. For curing the liver-rot in sheep, it is sown among 

 pasture grasses. The curled leaf and Hamburg, or large rooted parsley 

 are principally cultivated for culinary uses in soups, &c. 



The resemblance of cultivated parsley to fools parsley," or lesser 

 hemlock, has banished it from many gardens, as that is poisonous. 

 The one can hardly be detected from the other. The leaves of the 

 poisonous plant are darker green ; and if bruised, emit an unpleasant 

 odor, very different from that of parsley, and, when in flower, it has 

 what is termed a beard hanging from every umbel. In the garden 

 parsley there is but one leaflet at the umbel, and the hairs are very 

 fine. 



Parsley is raised from seed sown early in spring, commonly in single 

 drills around the edges of beds. The leaves may be plucked in a few 

 weeks, and a succession springs forth through the year, till May ; 

 when they run, bloom and seed in Aug. Horses and rabbits are very 

 fond of it. It poisons birds and sometimes occasions epilepsy, or ag- 

 gravates it in persons eating it, and it also inflames the eyes. The 

 roots and seed are employed in medicine. The seeds are soaked 12 

 hours in water, mixed with sulphur, before sown, and should not be 

 over a year old. The plants should be watered, and on gathering 

 them, they are cut close and regular. The Hamburg parsley is sown 

 in mould, well dug, in drills, 9 inches apart, or broad-cast and raked 

 in ; they are afterwards thinned to 9 inches. The Siberian, or sin- 

 gle-leafed, may be sown early in fields with spring grain, or grass. It 

 should be brought to the table with onions. 



ENDIVE, or Succory cichorum endivia, C. 19. 0. 1. Compositee, 

 sp. 5-7. A. 2 ft. A hardy plant from China, introduced and now nat- 

 uralized here. It is cultivated as a winter and spring salad, and also 

 for stews, &c. The French make great use of it raw, in salads, boil- 

 ed, fried with meats, and as a pickle. It never disagrees with the 

 stomach, but is cool and refreshing. It grows spontaneously in this 

 country. The tops are profitable for cattle. In France the roots of 

 C. intybud, dried and combined with coffee, give a more mellow and 

 fragrant taste to it, greatly increasing its tonic and exhilarating quali- 



