106 



CN THE ENNOBLING OF BOOTS. 



The facility with which different sorts of roots may be pro- 

 cured can readily be understood from the many varieties not 

 only of turnip, which may perhaps be considered an original 

 species, but also of swede, which is a hybrid of the turnip and 

 rape plant. Of the former we have more than 30 sorts 

 grown by the farmer, and as many peculiar to the garden, 

 whilst there are probably more than 20 well recognised sorts of 

 swedes. Of beets with mangold wurtzel we have almost as 

 great a variety.* So also of carrots. Of parsnips we have 

 fewer varieties, to which may now be added the new form 

 called the " Student Parsnip," the growth of which is so 

 interesting that we shall here give a short history of its produc- 

 tion as an illustration of the origin of root crops. 



In 1847 we collected some wild parsnip seed from the top of 

 the Cotteswolds, where this is among the most frequent of weeds. 

 This seed, after having been kept carefully during the winter, 

 was sown in a prepared bed in the spring of 1848 in drills about 

 18 inches apart. As the plants grew they were duly thinned 

 out, leaving for the crop, as far as it could be done, the 

 specimens that had leaves with the broadest divisions, lightest 

 colour, and fewest hairs. As cultivated parsnips offer a curious 

 contrast with the wildest specimens in these respects, we place 

 the following notes side by side on the root leaves of plants of 

 the same period of growth : 



*An account of experiments in the Ennobling of Beets will be found 

 in Vol. III. of our Proceedings. 



