196 THE PARSNIP. — KOHL RABI. 



Both practical experiment and scientific analysis 

 prove this root to be eminently adapted to dairy stock, 

 where the richness of milk or fine-flavored butter is any 

 object. For mere milk-dairies, it is not quite so valua- 

 ble, probably, as the Swedish turnip. The culture is 

 similar to that of carrots, a rich, mellow, and deep 

 loam b<nug best; while it has a great advantage over the 

 carrot in being more hardy, and rather less liable to 

 injury from insects, and more nutritive. For feeding 

 and fattening stock it is eminently adapted. 



To be sure of a crop, fresh seed must be had, as it 

 cannot be depended on more than one year. For this 

 reason, the largest and straightest roots should be 

 allowed to stand for seed, which, as soon as nearly ripe, 

 should be taken off and spread out to dry, and carefully 

 kept for use. For field culture the hollow-crowned 

 parsnip is the best and most profitable ; but on thin, 

 shallow soils the turnip-rooted variety should be used. 

 Parsnips may be harvested like carrots, by ploughing 

 along the rows. Let butter or cheese dairymen give 

 this crop a fair and full trial, and watch its effect on the 

 quality of the milk and butter. 



The Kohl Rabi (Brassica oleracea, var. caulorapa) is 

 also cultivated to a considerable extent in this country, 

 to feed to stock. It is supposed to be a hybrid between 

 the cabbage and the turnip, and is often called the cab- 

 bage-turnip, having the root of the former, with a tur- 

 nip-like or bulbous stem. The special reason for its 

 more extensive cultivation among us is its wonderful 

 indifference to droughts, in which it seems to flourish 

 best, and to bring forth the most luxuriant crops. It 

 also withstands the frosts remarkably, being a hardy 

 plant. It yields a somewhat richer quality of milk than 

 the ordinary turnip, and the crop is generally admitted 

 to be as abundant and profitable. I have seen very 



