VEGETABLE GROWING 375 



Varieties. The common pickling form is the Silver Skinned, but almost any ordi- 

 nary variety sown thick and left to form bulbs unthinned will produce picklers. The 

 ordinary time for sowing these is in April. 



Winter-Sowing. To obtain exhibition bulbs the finest stocks are Ailsa Craig, 

 Cranston's Excelsior, and Sutton Globe, oval-shaped ; and Lord Keeper, Ai, and Main 

 Crop, round. 



Spring- Sowing. Fine oval varieties are those above-named and Southport Red Globe, 

 James' Keeping, and Champion; of rounds, Banbury Cross, Zittau, and Rousham Park Hero. 



Autumn-Sowing. Any of the above varieties, or of softer onions, Giant Rocca, 

 White Leviathan, or Globe Tripoli. 



Parsnips. Hardier than are most of the summer grown roots, a sowing may be made 

 so soon as early in March, or at any time during that month, if the soil be in good condition 

 for sowing seed. Generally but one sowing of this root crop is made, as the roots are not 

 required for consumption until the winter, and are not acceptable then until well matured 

 by a long season's growth. To secure clean, well-shaped, though not necessarily long 

 roots, the ground should invariably be trenched during the winter, and have added a 

 moderate dressing of manure well buried down to encourage the main or tap root to go 

 deep rather than favouring the formation of side roots, which fresh manure near the 

 surface promotes. Drills for the seed should be 12 inches apart, and be about 

 2 inches in depth. In sowing the seed, place it thinly equally along the drills, as 

 otherwise much is wasted, and great labour in thinning the plants later is entailed. This 

 thinning should be done when the plants are 3 inches in height. Prior to that the soil 

 between the rows will be all the better for a free deep hoeing, as that facilitates thinning 

 the plants afterwards. The thinning should be to fully 8 inches apart, but if extra large 

 roots are desired 10 inches apart is not too much. During the summer and autumn the 

 only culture needed is by the frequent use of the hoe between the plants to keep the soil 

 loose and clean. As Parsnips are quite hardy, the roots may be left in the ground all 

 the winter, provided that either some litter or soil be placed over the crowns of the roots 

 in hard weather to exclude frost. It is a good plan, however, to lift every alternate row 

 from a bed, and store the roots in dry sand, ashes, or soil in any cold place under cover, 

 merely cutting off the leaf stems an inch from the crowns. Then there is ample space be- 

 tween the other rows to mould soil over them, but it is quite soon enough to do that early 

 in the new year, as until then frost is seldom hard enough to do Parsnips harm. All 

 experience, however, goes to prove that roots left in the ground keep so much fresher and 

 sweeter than are those earlier lifted and stored. Roots of medium size, clean, and just 

 scraped over and left white, then boiled slowly insufficient water to cover them in the pot, 

 the water gradually boiling away until the roots are soft, are, when served to table, far more 

 acceptable as food than are roots peeled, cut to pieces, and boiled in water all the time. 

 It is probably largely due to lack of knowledge how best to cook Parsnips that these most 

 nutritious roots are less eaten than they should be. There are few varieties. The most 

 commonly grown is the Hollow Crown, and the whitest selection from that variety is 

 Tender and True, which is so far the best in commerce. A good stock of The Student 

 is very good also. It is better in all cases to secure clean roots of medium size, as they are 

 less watery than are large ones, and furnish the best food. 



Peas. These pod-bearing plants, because productive only during the summer season, 

 have special need for deeply worked soil, to enable roots to go down in search of moisture 

 and food. Where Peas are sown on a light soil that is only dug 12 inches deep, they 

 invariably fail to produce a satisfactory crop in warm weather. When the soil is trenched 

 2 feet deep, and a good dressing of decayed manure buried into it, then the plants in- 

 variably keep vigorous and healthy, and carry a fine crop of pods. These are elemen- 

 tary facts that every beginner in gardening should understand. Then a too common 

 fault in Pea culture is sowing seed far too thickly in the drills. Now a proper Pea 

 drill should be fully 4 inches deep, drawn with a large hoe quite straight beside a line of 

 cord, and be fairly broad at bottom. But in the case of large-seeded, wrinkled marrow 

 Peas, especially if the plants reach from 5 feet to 6 feet in height, a pint should be made 

 to sow TOO feet length of rows. That means thin sowing certainly. If the plants range to 

 a height of 3 feet, then make a pint of seed sow from 80 feet to 90 feet run, and if quite 

 dwarf, that is, from 18 inches to 20 inches in height, then the sowing may be a little 

 thicker. These instructions should be carefully borne in mind, as it is a common fault 

 to sow a pint of peas in a row from 40 feet to 50 feet in length. When plants are thick, 

 naturally they fail to find root room, or plant room later, and suffer accordingly. Then, 

 when rows of Peas are sown side by side, the drills for tall Peas should be 6 feet apart, 3 

 feet to 4 feet Peas 4 feet apart, and the dwarf ones from 2 feet to 2^ feet apart. Tall 

 Peas should be sown only where the soil is deep, holding, and rich, and when it is 

 intended to support them with branching stakes. Peas of medium height pay well foi 

 such staking, but if sown to remain on the ground, as field Peas do, the rows need not 

 be more than 3 feet apart. 



