DISEASES AFFECTING IT. !> 



no bad substitute for the butcher's meat, from which the 

 Church requires the inhabitants to abstain on certain days. 



In growing parsnips for seed, the best -shaped and 

 soundest roots should be selected at the time they are being 

 lifted, care being taken not to cut off the tops too close 

 to the crown. These should be preserved in a dry place 

 until about the end of February, when they may be planted 

 out at distances about 2 feet apart, in the ground allotted 

 for the seeding plants, which, of course, should have been 

 previously prepared for their reception by deep tillage and 

 a liberal supply of good spit dung. When placed in the 

 ground, vegetation is quickly resumed, a stout branching 

 stem being thrown up, carrying heads of compound um- 

 bels, which flower in June or July, and ripen their seed 

 about the middle of August. The seed is harvested in 

 the way already described in the carrot crop. In thresh- 

 ing, it is separated from the stem much easier than the 

 carrot seed, and generally produces a better return. 



The parsnip is generally considered to be a hardier 

 plant than the carrot, and to be less liable to be injured 

 during its growth by disease or by the attacks of insects. 

 In 1853, however, Mr. Berkeley noticed a form of disease 

 affecting the parsnip, greatly resembling that which has 

 been observed in the potato, and also in the carrot and 

 the mangold. In the potato the disease is accompanied 

 by Boirytis infestans; while in the parsnip it is indi- 

 cated by the presence of an allied parasite, the Botrytis 

 macrospora. The same disease, referred to at p. 479, vol. i., 

 in reference -to the carrot, has been noticed attacking the 

 parsnip. The decay appears to commence in both cases 

 while the root is in the ground, and to increase rapidly 

 after it is removed, especially if moisture be present. If 

 the roots are cleaned and kept in a dry place, the disease 

 is checked, and the unaffected parts remain sound and fit 

 for food. The disease appears first on the surface, and 



