OUR FARM CROPS, 



THE PAESNIP 



THE only other member of this order 

 which we cultivate for its roots, is the PARSNIP, a plant in- 

 digenous to this country, and found as a weed growing 

 abundantly in the waste places of the chalk and other 

 light -soil districts. It is a biennial plant, producing 

 its seeds the second year, like the carrot. In appearance 

 it differs greatly from the carrot, the leaves being oblong- 

 pinnate, with broad, distended stalks. When seeding 

 the stalk rises to the height of 3 or 4 feet, carrying 

 flowers of a yellow colour in compound umbels, and pro- 

 ducing thin brown seeds, enveloped in a lighter coloured 

 skin or pericarp. In the wild state the root is small, 

 tough, and fibrous, and generally branched or forked. 

 Cultivation has, however, effected a great change in its 

 condition, and the root has become fleshy, succulent, 

 tedner, sweet to the taste, and highly nutritious to man 

 and beast. The botanical name of the plant is Pastinaca 

 sativa, 1 or Common Parsnip, and of this we have four 

 varieties which enter into field cultivation. 



1. Common Long-rooted (No. 1) has a thick, fleshy, 

 fusiform root, growing deep into the soil, entirely white 

 in colour, and having a well-rounded crown, carrying a 

 branching vigorous head, and producing large crops on 

 soils of suitable depth and quality. 



2. Long Jersey, or Hollow-crowned (No, 2), differs con- 



1 From pastinum, a dibble, owing to the shape of the root. 

 VOL. II. 33 



