THE PARSNIP CROP. 



then penetrates to the inner tissues of the root, and is 

 indicated by the presence of small, discoloured, brown 

 spots on the surface, which are soft and yielding to the 

 touch. These rapidly spread ; and if the root remains in 

 the ground, its tissues speedily undergo decomposition, and 

 the whole structure is changed into a pulpy fetid mass. 

 The parsnip is also subject to the same injury from that 

 form of disease, or rather of degeneration, known by the 

 name of " fingers-and-toes," and which has already been de- 

 scribed at p. 316, vol. i., in reference 

 to the turnip crop. The annexed 

 woodcut is taken from Professor 

 Buckman's paper "On Fingers- 

 and-Toes in Root Crops/' in which 

 he states that the natural form of 

 the root of the parsnip, and also of 

 the carrot, is forked, and that the 

 single unbranched tap-root can only 

 be obtained by regular and careful 

 cultivation. If this be not sus- 

 tained especially if the seed used 

 be brought from a rich to a poor 

 soil, or if it be grown year after 

 year on the farm the resulting 

 produce will be more or less liable 

 to be injured by this form of de- 

 generacy in the plant. 



Most of the insects which infest 

 the carrot crop are equally injuri- 

 ous to the parsnip, though not to 

 the same extent Its early growth 

 is frequently attacked or completely 



disposed of by the slugs and snails so destructive to our 

 crops in the early spring months, the centipedes and milli- 

 pedes following up any injury that has been inflicted by 



