Book VI. THE PARSNEP. 865 



certain mode of procuring genuine and new seed, but still it will be found advisable to 

 change it occasionally. 



5470. The diseases of carrots are only those which are common to most plants, such as 

 mildew, insects, &c. The mildew and worms at the root frequently injure crops, and 

 are to be guarded against as far as practicable by a proper choice of soil, season of sowing, 

 and after-culture. 



Sect. IV. The Parsnep. — Vastindca satlva L. ; Pentdndria Digynia L., and Umbel- 

 liferte J. I.e Panais, Fr. ; Pastinake, Ger. ; Pastinaca, Ital. ; and Zanahoria, Span. 

 *5471. The parsnep is a biennial plant with a fusiform root like the carrot, and nearly 

 equal in its products of nutritive and saccharine matter. It is a native of most parts of 

 Europe and generally cultivated in gardens, but is only of late and very partial intro- 

 duction as a field plant. Its culture has been chiefly confined to the Island of Jersey, 

 where it attains a large size, and is much esteemed for fattening cattle and pigs. It 

 is considered rather more hardy than the carrot, and its produce is said to be greater. It 

 may be sown either in autumn or spring, and its seed admits of drilling by machinery. 

 The plants when they come up are more easily recognised than carrots, and consequently 

 their culture is on the whole more simple, less dependent on manual labour, and, 

 therefore, more suited to farming. For the rest, their culture is the same as that of the 

 carrot. 



5472. The variety best suited for the field is the large Jersey, the seed of which should 

 be procured from the island, as that of the garden parsnep sold by the seedsmen never 

 attains the same size. 



5473. The soil, preparation, and manure for this plant are the same as for the 

 carrot. 



5474. The quantity of seed for sowing in drills is from four to five pounds per acre, 

 and for broad-cast six or eight pounds. It must always be new, as two years' 

 seed does not come up freely. It may or may not be prepared by steeping ; but it re- 

 quires no earth or sand, or rubbing, like carrot seed, as it passes freely through the same 

 drill that will sow tares or peas. 



5475. The time of sowing is generally about the middle of February; but some sow 

 in September, in which case the seed does not vegetate till early in spring. The latter 

 method, however, is obviously against the culture of the soil, which must thus remain a 

 year in a consolidated state. 



5476. The manner of soiling is generally in drills at fifteen or eighteen inches' distance ; 

 but some sow broad-cast, and harrow in the seed ; and in Jersey parsneps and beans are 

 generally cultivated together. The beans are first dibbled in, and afterwards the parsnep 

 seed scattered over the surface and harrowed. It is acknowledged that a good crop of 

 both plants is never obtained ; and therefore, though this mode may be found to answer 

 in the mild climate of Jersey, it is not to be imitated in other places. Drills and broad- 

 cast without any intermixture of plants are the only advisable modes. 



5477. The after-culture and taking up are the same as for the carrot, with this difference, 

 that the parsnep when sown broad-cast is generally thinned out to twelve inches, at an 

 average, plant from plant ; and, when in rows eighteen inches apart, to nine inches in 

 the row. 



•5478. The produce is said to be greater than that of carrots ; and the economical ap- 

 plication the same. In the fattening of cattle it is found equal if not superior, perform- 

 ing the business with as much expedition, and affording meat of exquisite flavour and a 

 highly juicy quality. The animals eat it with much greediness. It is reckoned that 

 thirty perches, where the crop is good, will be sufficient to fatten a perfectly lean ox of 

 three or four years old, in the course of three months. They are given in the proportion 

 of about thirty pounds' weight morning, noon, and night ; the large ones being split in 

 three or four pieces, and a little hay supplied in the intervals of those periods. Indeed, 

 the result of experiment has shown that not only neat cattle, but hogs and poultry, be- 

 come fat much sooner, and are more bulky, than when fed with any other root or vege- 

 table ; and that the meat is more sweet and delicate. The parsnep is excellent food for 

 cows ; and, with hay during winter, the cows of Jersey and Guernsey yield butter of a 

 fine yellow hue, of a saffron tinge, as excellent as if they had been in the most luxuriant 

 pasture. In these islands beans are cultivated along with parsneps, in double rows, 

 twelve feet asunder, and the beans eighteen inches apart every way. The beans are 

 planted first, and the ground afterwards harrowed, and the parsneps sown broad-cast. 

 (Com. to B. of Agr. vol. i. p. 215.) 



5479. Parsnep leaves, being more bulky than those of carrots, may be mown off before 

 taking up the roots, and given to cows, oxen, or horses, by which they will be greedily 

 eaten. 



5480. The use of the parsnep in domestic economy is nearly the same as that of the 

 carrot. 'Iliey are much esteemed to salt fish, and are sometimes roasted for that purpose. 



? K 



