1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



367 



CULTURE AND VALUE OF THE PARS- 

 NIP. 



The following excellent article on the culture and 

 value ofthe parsnip, is worth a careful perusal by ev- 

 ery cultivator of roots. We think the writer mis- 

 *-,aken in saying "that no insect or bug attacks 

 , them at any stage of their growth . ' ' They are al- 

 ways infested in a greater or less degree, with a 

 worm which grows to a large size and becomes 

 very beautiful before changing (as we suppose he 

 does) into the butterfly form. They are very de- 

 structive to the parsnips set for seed, so that many 

 cultivators have abandoned raising parsnip seeds 

 for the market. We have never sowed them in 

 the fall, and cannot say, from our own knowledge, 

 how they would succeed. 



Culture and Value of the Parsnip. 



Messrs. Editors : — As one who has lived twen- 

 ty years upon a farm, searching all the while for 

 reliable information, both from his own experience 

 and from that of others, ought to be in possession 

 of some "fixed facts" and settled opinions ; and as 

 duty, propriety, and fraternity require that we 

 should allow others the oppurtuuity of beiiefitiug 

 by our experience, I feel moved to give you a few 

 items of information which I think very satisfac- 

 torily settled by evidence within ipy owu obser- 

 vation. 



Disliking long prefaces, and trusting that all 

 your correspondents will dispense witli them, I 

 commence the brief summary of my experience 

 and observations of twenty years, by a statement 

 in regard to the value ef parsnips. 



Parsnips for Hogs. — One of the things which I 

 consider well settled, and a reliable and useful 

 item of knowledge, is this : that parsnips, either 

 raw or cooked, but preferably cooked, with the ad- 

 dition of apples, potatoes, &c., occasionally, were 

 it only to prevent the appetite from being cloyed 

 by "eternal sameness," constitute the best kind 

 of food wliereonto fotten a hog. They are also the 

 best kind of roots for milch cows. Both hogs and 

 cows eat them with avidity, and to the milk and 

 butter they communicate a good, a delicious flavor. 

 I have seen it stated some years ago, that beef 

 made from parsnips brings the highest price in the 

 Lofton market. I think, though I may be de- 

 ceived by imagination, that pork made from feed 

 chiefly composed of parsnips, is sweeter than when 

 made from anything else. 



This is not the only recommendation which may 

 be justly bestowed on the parsnip. Among its 

 other good qualities is this — that it requires no 

 care or housing in the fall, as all other roots do. 

 In all the Middle, Northern, and Western States, 

 potatoes, carrots, and turnips must he harvested 

 and housed, or buried ; and even when all this is 

 done, and with good care and judgment too, a por- 

 tion will frequently be ruined and lost by frost- 

 ing, overheating, or decay from other causes. — 

 Parsnips, on the other hand, require no care in 

 the fall, as they may be left without injury in the 

 ground all winter. They may also be planted ear- 

 lier in the spring, as the frost does not injure 

 them, even at the earliest stage of their growth, 

 so that this root crop interferes the least of any 

 with employments which crowd upon the farmer 

 in the spring and fall. It continues to grow 



through the whole season, until the ground freez- 

 es in winter ; it requires no expenditure to gather 

 or store it ; it may be taken up on several occa- 

 sions during the winter, and the roots that stay in 

 the ground all winter, are not injured, and proba- 

 bly improved, by the frost. Parsnips seem to be 

 eaten with more relish than either turnips or po- 

 tatoes, and yield, in the raw state at least, a great- 

 er amount of nutriment. 



Another advantage in cultivating parsnips is, 

 that on a suitable soil— sand or loam, rich or well 

 manured, and deep plowed— a large growth may 

 be secured. At the rate of 1,200 bushels have 

 been gathered from an acre of ground. 



Parsnips may be planted either in spring, or in 

 the latter part of summer, in August or September. 

 The ground should be well manured, mellow, and 

 deeply plowed, and the seed sown in drills, so as to 

 have plants to thin out, while preserving them at 

 about eight inches apart. This will prolmbly re- 

 quire at about the rate of two pounds seed to the 

 acre. The drills should be two feet apart, and 

 the space between well cultivated and kept clear 

 of weeds. If sown in the spring, the earlier the 

 better. A larger growth may be secured, however, 

 by sowing the seed in September. There will be 

 some considerable growth before the ground freez- 

 es up, and the growth will commence again as 

 soon as the frost leaves the ground in the spring, 

 which will continue throughout the whole season, 

 without running to seed. They will thus have a 

 |o-rowing season of about twelve months; where- 

 as, when sown in the spring, they can grow only 

 eight or nine months. 



All the advantages of this root crop have not 

 yet been named. Among them are these — that 

 Ithey seem uninjured by either a wet or dry season, 

 [and that no insect nor bug attacks them at any 

 stage of their growth. Observer. 



AGRICULTURE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



The extract below, is from the late message of 

 Gov. Martin to the Legislature of New Hamp- 

 shire : — 



Agriculture is our leading interest, and although 

 our State is more mountainous than any of our 

 neighboring States, yet we can justly boast of 

 large quantities of luxuriant interval ; our uplands 

 are productive and afford a pasturage unrivalled 

 in excellence, and nowhere can the necessaries, 

 convenience and comforts of life be found, com- 

 bined in greater abundance. Our agricultural so- 

 cieties, both State and county, are doing much for 

 husbandry, and the growing interest in them 

 evinced by most of our citizens is a favorable indi- 

 cation of their utility and of the benefits to be 

 derived from them. The free interchange of infor- 

 mation, scientific and practical, can not be too in- 

 timate, and the analysis of soils, their adaptation 

 to the different crops, the various and best modes 

 of culture, the rearing of stock, and orcharding 

 in all its varieties, are matters ofthe deepest inter- 

 est to the agriculturist. The three State Fairs 

 which have been held have proved highly success- 

 ful, and have afforded gratifying evidence of their 

 usefulness. Our landsimproved and under tillage 

 number 2,251,488 acres ; value of farms f 55,245,- 

 997 ; farming implements and machinery $2,314,- 

 125; livestock $8,871,901; orchard products 

 $248,563; domestic manufactory $393,455. We 



