406 



BOSTO.V, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 6, 1831. 



FOR THE NEW E.NGLANU FARMER. 



ON PAUSxNIPS. 



As tliiei'e is no inconvenience in giving to a sub- 

 jflct a liitlc forellioiight, I beg to say a few words 

 respecting jPn;-s7!i/w ; notvvitlisrancling the time for 

 preparing the ground for a large crop tljis year 

 has passed. But a small quanlily may be raised 

 even this year, by way of experiment ; and some 

 ))arsnip plants iiiay yet be set out fur seed, to be 

 gathered in the fall for a full crop in 1832, should 

 the experiment of the present year prove encour- 

 agiug.* 



Deep ploughing may be e.xpected to be requisite 

 for every plant with a tap root; but the plougliing 

 must be deeper for parsnips than for carrots, to 

 prevent the shooting out of large side roots, wliich 

 would not only_ render the parsnip inconvenient 

 for harvesting, and for handliug afterwards, but 

 diminish the central roots, \n which its nourish- 

 ment chiefly lies. This deep ploughing, however, 

 will bury many weeds, jiut out of the way many 

 insects, and prepare the ground for wheat and 

 other imi)or!ant crops, especially those having deej) 

 roots. The plant in question affords a variety to 

 the farmer, in his cuhure, to meet the accidents of 

 seasons, as well as a variety in their food to some 

 of his farming stoci;. 



The parsnip also, when harvested properly, is 

 not readily affected by frost. It requires no ani- 

 mal or vegetable manure, and may be cidtivated, 

 with proper care, for several years on the same 

 spot. Wo have not as yet, perhaps, had much 

 trial of parsnip crops among the farmers of the 

 U. S. but if we trust to Engli.sh accounts, they 

 are valuable for horned cattle, twine, and horses, 

 and are likely to merit attention here, where (es- 

 IJecially to the eastward) parsnips may be raised 

 to great perfection in garden culture, as the writer 

 of this aiticlo cheerfully testifies. 



Mr Arthur Yoimg shall be our jirincipal evi- 

 dence as to the general merit of a pai-snip crop 

 on a farm; and my citation from him will be 

 taken from the tenth edition of his Farmer's Cal- 

 endar, printed in London in ISlo. — His words arc 

 as follows : 



' Of all the crops wljicli the farmer can culti- 

 vate, the parsnip is the most valuable ; but it de- 

 mands abettor soil than any other crop he can put 

 into the ground. If he has not land of an extra- 

 ordinary quality he bad better not venture on the 

 culture. Thay love a x'pry deep soil, dry,' sound, 

 friable, sandy loam ; ploughed as deeply as possi- 

 ble, towards the end of autumn, and left for the 

 frost to pvlvcrizr and sweeten. About the lOtli 

 of February [lie here speaks of England] if tlw 

 weather be favorable, it will l;e proper to sow and 

 harrow in five pounds of seed per acre, which 

 will come up in about six wcelij;.' 



Under the bead of the month of March, Mr 

 Young adds the following paragraph. ' Early in 

 this month parsnips are to be sonn. They' are 

 not to be recommended e.xcept in the deepest and 

 richest soils. The land should bo dry, but very 

 fertile. — The [iiitrid, rich deep sands, worth 40 

 ai £50 an acre ; tlib deep, friable,, sandy loams 

 %hat are as good two leet deep as on the surface. 



This was intended for last week's paper, but receiv- 

 Ddtoo Iftte for publication. — Editor. 



NEW EN G LA IN D FARMER, 



are the soils fittest for this root. On these they 

 come to a great size ; and no other crops on sucli 

 land, can |)ay better. Where the soil is proper, 

 the inducement to cidtirate them is very great ; for 

 they will fatten bullocks as well as oil-cake, and 

 are excellent in fattening hogs. Of all common 

 roots they are the most saccharine. 



' The tillage and management is the same as 

 for carrots, but they demand deeper ploughing. 

 Four or five pounds of seed is the proper quantity, 

 sown broad cast ; and the first week of this month 

 the right time. — If the weather is favorable they 

 may be sown the last week in February ; and har- 

 rowed in. Both these roots have been tried in 

 drilling, by very skilful drillers; but! they have 

 not answered like broad-cast crops. — Nothing pre- 

 pares better for wheat, if due attention be paid to 

 keeping them entirely clean.' 



We here lake leave of Mr Arthur Young 

 himself to notice a part of the report of a certain 

 Mr Budd, a considerable farmer, near Guilford, 

 in Surry, in England, cited in Sir Young's Cal- 

 endar. Mr Budd found the parsnips valuable for 

 bis hogs, his dairy cows, and his horses ; saying 

 that five of the latter gained him each, half a 

 guinea a week for ten weeks, besides saving him 

 hay.* An ox had a most unusual quantity of fat 

 within him, besides making admirable meat. [See 

 Arthur Young^s Calendar as above p. 92-94, 135. 



In Monk's Agricultural Dictionary vol xi. p. 

 272-275, we have an addition to these accounts, 

 but with some variation. The first article is from 

 Mr J. Hazard, who writes thus. 



'To cultivate parsnijis so as to make them ad- 

 vantageous to the farmer, it will be right to sow 

 the seeds in autumn, immediately after they are 

 ripe, or come to perfection ; by which means the 

 plants will appear early in the following spring, 

 and will get strong before the weeds can grow to 

 injure them. Frosts never affect the seed, nor do 

 the young plants ever suffer from the severity of 

 the seasons. Not only on this ground but for many 

 other reasons the autunm is preferable to the spring 

 sowing, as the weeds at this latter time will keep 

 pace with the parsnips; and often when they are 

 hoed or cleared, great part of the crop is pulled 

 up, cut out, or otherwise destroyed, as (when 

 sown in the spring) they are so small, when they 

 first appear, as not easily to be distinguished from 

 the weeds. If no rains fall at that season some 

 of the seeds will not vegetate, till late in the sum- 

 mer; and the few plants wlii(h do appear will 

 scarcely pay the expense of cleaning them. Be- 

 sides they will never grow to any size, but be 

 sticky, or cankered, and consequently will be 

 destitute of nutrimental juice ; while on the con- 

 trary those which are sown in autumn will be 

 large. 



'The best soil for parsnips is a rich dee^) loam ; 

 next to this is sand ; or they will thrive well in a 

 black gritty soil ; but will never pay for cultivation 

 in stone, gravel or clay soils, and they always are 

 largest where the earth is deepest. Dry liglrt land 

 is pleasing to them ; but stiff or hide-bound land 

 is destrfictive. If the soil is proper they do not 

 require much manure. A very good crop (says 

 the writer) has been obtained by himself for three 

 successive years, from the same land without using 



* If parsnips, like carrots, when given alone furnish 

 weight of earcase rather than strength ; then should im- 

 mediate service be required, eirength ana bottom may 

 easily be gained by a mixture of more heartening food 

 with (be root in question, 



July 6, lS3i. 



any manure, — but when be laid sand, at the rate 

 of about forty cart loads per acre, upon a very 

 stiff loam, and jjlouglied it in, he found it answer- 

 ed very well ; from which he concluded that a 

 mixture of soils may be proper for this root.* 



It is best to sow the seed in drillss at about IS 

 inches distance from each other, that the land may 

 be more conveniently bund or horse hoed ; andt hey 

 will be more luxuriant if they undergo a sound 

 hoeing, and are carefully earthed, so as not to 

 cover the leaves. 



If people would in general be attentive to the' 

 soil, theseason for sowing, the cleaning and eartlv- 

 ingupoftbe plants, and raising their seed from 

 the largest and best parsnips (vvbich should he 

 selected and transplantedf for that purpose,) there 

 is no doubt such a crop would answer better than 

 a crop of carrots. They are equal if not superior 

 for fatting pigs, as they make their flesh whiter;- 

 and the pigs eat them with more satisfaction. 

 When they are clean washed, and sliced among 

 bran, horses eat them greedily.' Bath Papers, voR 

 iv. 1788. 



Another writer in the same voluine of the Batit 

 papers, says ' I am of opinion that there is a plant, 

 I mean Parsnip, which has not been yet tried by any 

 of your correspondents. — but w bicb is in France, 

 and in our adjoining islands [in the British channel] 

 held in high estimation as a food, particularly for 

 cattle and swine. In Britany [in France] es[)ecially, 

 they mention it as little inferior in value to trheat, 

 whilst cows fed with it in winter (say they) give 

 as good milk, and which yields as well flavored 

 butter as milk in May or June ; and in as great 

 abundance. It is much commended for sivine, 

 which rear young pigs. It also proves very useful 

 in fattening pigs.' 



Here end our citations from the Bath Pai)ers. 



After the lefci-eiioo just made to French farming 

 on the subject of parsnips, something might have 

 been expected to have been found in the Maison 

 Rustique ; but in its tenth cditon (in 1775) nothing 

 of moment appears ; except that parsnips are said 

 to be of two kinds, white and yellow ; and that 

 more apprehension is expressed of frost acting 

 upon the crops, put up for keeping, than Dr Deane 

 seemed to think necessary in his edition of the 

 JVew England Farmer for 1790. 



Though the experience of the writer of this 

 letter only regards the parsnip in garden culture, 

 in the northern part of the Union, yet this experi- 

 ence proves that the Parsnip may be cultivated 

 with spring sowing, like the carrot. It may be 

 added also that the Surrey Farmer (Mr Budd 

 above mentioned) varied his mode of giving his 

 parsnips to his animals, w hen he found them for 

 the moment glutted with them. And lastly, let 

 it be recollected, that a variety of farms have 

 spots of deep soil, which their annual crops never 

 employ down to its bottom ; and that it is so mueh 

 gain to a farmer, when any of tins deep soil is 

 brought from lime to time ijito extra use. 



I am. Sir, your constant reader, S. O. 



HalloweU, June 1831. 



• It is an established rule that the proper mixtute ol 

 soils by art, is in the first instance equivalent to manure; 

 or is a permanent manure. Manure whioh is absorbeii 

 maybe added. 



\ The only reason for taking up the plant, when it i« 

 destined for producing seed, is to have the power ol s»- ,„^ 

 lecting the best; but when it is known that the plan's hi; 

 are all good, to transplant them is doing much mistW*' 'i' 

 and losing lime. 



