PARK. 



PARSNIP. 



subsoils burned ; but not by burning the turf 

 even here, for that is the only thing that can 

 be commended on the spot that will cause fer- 

 mentation in the soil when it is ploughed in." 

 See PEAT SOILS. 



PARK. A considerable extent of pasture and 

 woodland, surrounded or adjoining the country 

 residence of a man of wealth, devoted to pur- 

 poses of recreation or enjoyment, but chiefly 

 to the support of a herd of deer, though some- 

 times to cattle and sheep. Parks were origi- 

 nally nothing more than portions of forest 

 scenery appropriated by the lord of the soil for 

 the exclusive use of animals of the chase; but 

 this is now become, ingnany cases, a seconda- 

 ry consideration, and the chief uses of a park 

 are as indications of wealth and extent of ter- 

 ritory, and as grazing ground for domesticated 

 animals. 



PARSLEY, CULTIVATED (Jlpium petrosi- 

 linum}. There are two varieties of this well- 

 known plant, the common plain-leaved, and 

 the curly-leaved. It is somewhat singular that 

 the first should be most cultivated, notwith- 

 standing the superior beauty of the latter, as 

 well as by reason of its curled leaves rendering 

 it more easily to be distinguished from the 

 JEtkusa, or fool's parsley, a variety of the hem- 

 lock, often occurring in gardens : it requires 

 much care in saving the seed, otherwise it 

 degenerates into the plain-leaved. Parsley 

 is raised from seed, which is recommended 

 usually to be sown annually ; but if never per- 

 mitted to run to seed, and the stalks are cut 

 down as often as they rise, it will last for 

 several years. It may be sown from the close 

 of February until the middle of June, and this 

 is repeated about the middle of September, for 

 the supply of winter and spring ; but this is 

 unnecessary if the plants are not allowed to 

 seed. The seed is to be inserted moderately 

 thick, in narrow drills barely an inch deep, 12 

 inches apart if in a bed by itself, or in a single 

 one round the edge of a bed ; the mould being 

 .raked level, and the stones immediately over 

 them gathered off. The plants will not make 

 their appearance in less than three or four, 

 and sometimes six, weeks. When two or three 

 inches high, it may be gathered from as re- 

 quired. In early June, when the plants make 

 a show for seed, the stems should be cut down 

 close to the bottom, and again in September, if 

 it has acquired a straggling, rank growth ; this 

 will cause it to shoot afresh, and acquire a 

 strong growth before the arrival of severe 

 weather. On the approach of frost, if protec- 

 tion is afforded to the plants by means of haulm 

 or reed pannels, so supported as not to touch 

 them, it will preserve them in a much better 

 stale for use in winter and spring. To save 

 seed, nothing more is necessary than to allow 

 some of the plants to run up in June; they 

 should not, however, be allowed to stand nearer 

 than 18 inches to each other. The seed ripens 

 in early autumn, and, when perfectly dry, may 

 be beaten out, and stored. 



PARSLEY, THE COW. For rough cow- 

 parsley, see CICELY. Smooth cow-parsley, see 

 CHERVIL. 



PARSLEY, THE FOOL'S. See FOOL'S 

 PARSLEY. 

 872 



PARSLEY, THE HEDGE. See HEDGE- 



PARSLEY. 



PARSLEY, HAMBURGH (Jpium Wfolium). 

 This esculent is likewise known by the name 

 broad-leaved and large-rooted parsley. It is 

 cultivated for its root, which attains the size of 

 a middling parsnip, boiling exceedingly tender 

 and palatable. It is eaten both as a sauce to 

 flesh-meat and in soups, &c. It is propagated 

 by seed, which may be sown at monthly inter- 

 vals from February until the middle of June. 

 It is sown either thinly in drills, 9 inches 

 apart, or broadcast and raked in. The plants 

 appear in about a month after sowing, and 

 when of tolerable growth require to be thinned 

 to 9 inches asunder, and cleared from weeds 

 either by hand or the hoe ; which latter opera- 

 tion being performed as often as weeds appear, 

 is the only cultivation required. By the end of 

 July or during August, the earliest sowings 

 will have acquired a sufficient size for occa- 

 sional use ; but they seldom attain their full 

 growth until Michaelmas ; and the latest crops 

 not until the following year. On the arrival 

 of -frost some of them must be taken up, and 

 after the removal of the superfluous fibres, de- 

 cayed leaves, &c., buried in sand, in a dry 

 situation, under cover. 



To obtain seed, some plants must be left 

 where grown, and allowed to run in May; 

 their produce will ripen in July or August, 

 when it must be cut, and, when perfectly dry, 

 beaten out and stored. 



PARSLEY-P1ERT. See LADIES' MAIVTLE. 



PARSLEY, SMALLAGE, or WILD CE- 

 LERY (Jlpium graveolens). This wild plant, the 

 seeds and herbage of which in its native ditches 

 are acrid and dangerous, with a peculiar strong 

 taste and smell, by culture becomes the mild and 

 grateful garden celery, for which and its name 

 we are indebted to the Italians, and which has 

 now supplanted our native Alexanders. It is 

 biennial, and flowers in August and September. 

 The root is tap-shaped, and the herbage smooth 

 and shining. The plant grows in ditches and 

 marshy ground, especially towards the sea. 

 The stems are widely spreading or floating, 

 long, branched, furrowed. Leaves bright-green, 

 pinnate, or ternate ; leaflets wedge-shaped, en- 

 tire at their base, but variously notched above. 

 Flowers in terminal and lateral umbels, small, 

 numerous, greenish-white. Fruit almost glo- 

 bular, with permanent, wide-spreading, straight 

 styles. 



"PARSNIP (Pastinaca, from pastinum, a dib- 

 ble, in allusion to the form of the root). The com- 

 mon wild parsnip (P. saliva) is the well-known, 

 culinary root; the other species are unworthy 

 of cultivation. The original is a biennial plant, 

 and found in England growing wild about the 

 borders of fields, on hillocks, and dry banks, in 

 a chalky soil, the root being spindle-shaped, 

 white, aromatic, mucilaginous, and sweet, with 

 a degree of acrimony, which it loses by culti- 

 vation. The stem reaches to a yard high, 

 erect, branched, deeply furrowed. Leaves ob- 

 long, simply pinnate, downy beneath ; leaflets 

 serrated and cut, bright-green. Umbels termi- 

 nal, erect, of several unequal, angular, downy 

 rays. Flowers small, yellow, appearing in 

 July. Fruit large, pale-brown when quite ripe 



