258 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kitchen 

 Harden. 



Carrot. 



Parsnip. 



tion, in order to settle the earth about the roots of the 

 plants left. 



Carrots thrive best in light ground, with a mixture 

 of sand. It should be delved very deep, or even trench- 

 ed, and at the same time well broken with the spade. 

 If the soil be naturally shallow, the late horn carrot is 

 to be preferred to the orange or red. When manure is 

 added to carrot ground, it should be buried deep, so 

 that the roots may not reach it, else they are apt to be- 

 come forked and diseased. In general it is best to 

 make carrots the second crop after manuring. From 

 the Scottish Horticultural Memoirs, however, (vol. i. 

 p. 129.) we learn, that pigeons-dung, one of the hot- 

 test manures, far from injuring carrots, promotes their 

 health, by preventing the attacks of various larva?. 



A considerable quantity of carrot-seed for the sup- 

 ply of the London seedsmen, is raised near Wethers- 

 field in Essex ; but much is imported from Holland. 

 Cautious gardeners generally prove this and some other 

 kinds of seeds, such as onions, before sowing. This is 

 easily done by putting a sprinkling in a pot, and pla- 

 cing it under a hot-bed frame, or in a forcing house. 

 Other gardeners transplant a few good roots, and raise 

 their own seed : in this case it is better to gather it on- 

 ly from the principal umbel, which is likely not only 

 to afford the ripest and largest seed, but the most vigor- 

 ous plants. 



321. Carrots are taken up at the approach of winter, 

 cleaned, and stored among sand. They may be built 

 very firm, by laying them heads and tails alternately, 

 and packing with sand. In this way, if frost be ex- 

 cluded from the store-house, they keep perfectly well 

 till March or April of the following year. Some per- 

 sons insist that the tops should be entirely cut off at 

 the time of storing, so as effectually to prevent their 

 growing ; while others wish to preserve the capability 

 of vegetation, though certainly not to encourage the 

 tendency to grow. 



Carrots are now cultivated on an extensive scale in 

 the field. They are excellent for milch cows or for 

 horses ; so that the overplus of a garden may always be 

 turned to good account. 



From old Parkinson we learn, that carrot leaves 

 were in his day thought so ornamental that ladies wore 

 them in place of feathers. It must be confessed that 

 the leaves are beautiful. If during winter a large root 

 be cut over about three or four inches from the top, 

 and be placed in a shallow vessel with water, over the 

 chimney-piece, young and delicate leaves unfold them- 

 selves all around, producing a very pretty appearance, 

 enhanced no doubt by the general deadness of that sea- 

 son of the year. 



Parsnip. 



322. The Parsnip, (Pasl'mnca saliva, L. ; Pentan- 

 dria Disynia ; nat. ord. Umbelliferce), is a biennial 

 plant. 'The wild parsnip is not uncommon by the way 

 sides near London, and in many parts of England, 

 chiefly on calcareous soils : it is figured in EngliJi Bo- 

 tany, t. 556. The garden variety has smooth leaves, 

 of a light or yellowish green colour, in which it dif- 

 fers from the wild plant, the leaves of which are hairy 

 and dark green ; the roots also have a milder taste : 

 it does not, however, differ so much from the native 

 plant, as the cultivated does from the native carrot. 

 It hag long been an inmate of the garden, and it was 

 formerly much more in use than it is now. It was, in 

 Catholic times, a favourite Lent root, being eaten with 



salted fish. It is doubtless a highly nutritious escu- Kitclie* 

 lent, and the increase of its cultivation might be useful Garden, 

 to the labouring class in England. In the north of Scot- 

 land, parsnips are often beat up with potatoes and a 

 little butter ; of this excellent mess the children of the 

 peasantry are very fond, and they do not fail to thrive 

 upon it. In the north of Ireland, a pleasant table be- 

 verage is prepared from the roots, brewed along' with 

 hops. Parsnip wine is also made in some places. If 

 the crop prove too large for the use of the family, the 

 superfluous part (as has been remarked of turnips and 

 carrots) will be found to be very acceptable and useful 

 to a milch cow. 



The soil preferred for parsnips is a light loam, but 

 almost any soil will do, provided it be pretty deep ; 

 the parsnip requires, however, a stronger soil than the 

 carrot. The quarter should be trenched, or at least 

 deeply dug, in order that the roots may have liberty 

 to strike freely downwards. The seed is sown, broad- 

 cast, in March, either alone, or together with a pro- 

 portion of radishes, lettuces, or carrots, and in light 

 soils it is well trodden in : the salad plants being soon 

 removed, or the carrots drawn young, do not materi- 

 ally hinder the growth of the parsnips, which spread 

 and swell chiefly in the latter part of the summer. 

 The parsnips are hoed out to about eight or ten inches 

 asunder, or in strong ground a little wider ; and the 

 hoeing is repeated as oftep as the growth of weeds 

 may render it proper. When the leaves begin to 

 decay, the roots are fit for use. They are taken up 

 as wanted during the winter, the root not being in the 

 least injured by frost. About the beginning of Febru- 

 ary, however, the remaining part of the crop is raised 

 and stored among sand, as the roots become stringy r.s 

 soon as the new growth takes place, and the flower- 

 stalk begins to form. In some places, the whole crop 

 is taken up in the end of October, and either stored 

 in sand like carrots, or placed in covered pits in the 

 manner of potatoes. If two or three large roots 

 be transplanted to a sheltered border, they will not 

 fail to ripen their seeds, and to afford a sufficient 

 supply: it is proper to tie the flower-stems to stakes, 

 as they grow high, and are apt to be broken over by 

 the wind. Seed that is more than a year old should 

 never be sown. 



In the first volume of the Scottish Horticultural Me- 

 moirs, (p. 405), Dr Macculloch has described two va- 

 rieties of parsnip, which are cultivated in the Channel 

 Islands, and there attain extraordinary size, the Co- 

 quaine and Lisbonaise. The former runs deep into the 

 soil, perhaps three or four feet; the latter becomes 

 thick, but remains short, and is therefore suited to 

 shallow soils. The French writers describe a variety 

 having the root of a yellowish colour, more tender, 

 and of a richer taste than the common kind : they call 

 it the Siam parsnip. 



Red Beet. 



323. Red Beet (Beta vulgaris, L. Penlandria Digy- Red beet, 

 nia ; Alriplices, Juss. ) is a biennial plant, a native of 

 the sea-coast of the south of Europe. It was cultivated 

 by Tradescant the younger in 1656. It was formerly 

 called in this country bed-rave (or beet-radish), from 

 the French name betle-ravc. The leaves of the culti- 

 vated sort are large, thick, and succulent, generally red 

 or purple; the roots large, perhaps three or four inches 

 in diameter, and a foot in length, and of a deep red co- 

 lour. They are boiled and sliced, and eaten cold, either 



