154 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



best in the ground where they are uninjured by the intensest 

 frost. But particular care should be observed in allowing no 

 standing water on them or they will rot. When taken up in 

 the fall, the roots should neither be trimmed or broken, nor 

 should the tops be cut too near the root. They must be stored 

 in a cool place and covered carefully with earth, as exposure 

 to air or even moderate heat wilts them. 



USES. The parsnep is one of our most delicious table 

 vegetables. It is an excellent food for swine either raw or 

 cooked, and for cattle, milch cows and sheep it is highly priz- 

 ed. Qualcy says, " it is not as valuable for horses for though 

 it produces fat and a fine appearance, it causes them to sweat 

 profusely, and if eaten when the shoot starts in the spring it 

 produces inflammation in the eyes and epiphora or weeping." 

 The leaves of both carrots and parsneps are good for cattle 

 green or dried. Gerarde who wrote in 1596 says. " an ex- 

 cellent bread was made from them in his time." They have 

 also like the carrot been used for distillation, and are said to 

 afford a very good vinous beverage. The best variety for 

 field culture is the large Jersey. 



THE BEET (Beta.) 



There are but two varieties of the beet in general use for the 

 field, the sugar beet and mangold wurzel, both of which have 

 several sub-varieties. They are of various colors, red, pink, 

 yellow, white or mottled, but color does not seem to affect their 

 quality. The conditions under which they grow are similar. 

 Beets do well in any soil of sufficient depth and fertility, but 

 they are perhaps most partial to a strong loam. If well tilled 

 they will produce large crops on a tenacious clay. We have 

 raised at the rate of 800 bushels to the acre on a stiff clay 

 which had been well supplied with unfermented manure. The 

 soil cannot be made too rich. For such asfcare adhesive, 

 fresh or unfermented manures are much the best. 



THE PLANTING should be .in drills 20 to 24 inches asunder, 

 at the rate of 4 to 6 Ibs. of seed per acre, buried not over 

 one inch deep. The seed should be early planted or as soon 

 as vegetation will proceed rapidly, but must first be soaked 

 by pouring soft scalding water on it, allowing it to cool to 

 blood heat, and remain for 3 or 4 days, then roll in plaster 

 and drill it in. The husk or outer covering of the seed is 

 thick and impervious to moisture, and without a thorough pre- 

 vious saturation, will not readily germinate. 



