328 GARDEN FARMING 



The soil of the growing bed should be well drained but retentive 

 of moisture, and should be thoroughly enriched with stable manure. 

 The crop is usually matured in hotbeds, cold frames, or cool houses, 

 for it is in greatest demand during the winter season. There is 

 no season, however, when it is not in demand, and the wise gar- 

 dener provides an all-the-year-round supply. 



Parsley grown in the open should be planted in succession so as 

 to have fresh tender leaves at all seasons. A March sowing, in the 

 latitude of New York, will provide a spring supply, and an August 

 planting should produce plants which, if properly protected, would 

 give the autumn and winter supply. Strong roots from the spring- 

 sown seed, if stripped of foliage so as to induce the formation of 

 new tender leaves in August or early September and then carefully 

 tended, will provide a satisfactory autumn and winter crop. 



The plants in the open should be set 8 or 10 inches apart in 

 rows 10 inches apart. 



PARSNIPS 



The parsnip is extensively grown in the kitchen gardens at the 

 North. It is also grown to a limited extent by market gardeners 

 of the same region, but has never found a place in the list of crops 

 grown on an extensive scale by truck farmers. This is to be ex- 

 plained in two ways : ( I ) the parsnip is by nature adapted to North- 

 ern rather than to Southern conditions ; (2) it is a plant requiring 

 a long growing season and winter frosts to develop it to greatest 

 perfection. The parsnip is one of the plants which will ever have 

 a well-defined season. While its food value is said to be greater 

 than that of the carrot or beet, its uses are not so varied and its 

 consumption is as a result more restricted. It is used as a vege- 

 table served with a cream dressing or fried, and as one of the 

 ingredients of soups and stews. 



Botany. Botanically, the parsnip belongs to the Umbelliferce, or 

 Parsnip family. Specifically it is known as Pastinaca sativa, and 

 is a hardy biennial, native to Europe and Great Britain. It runs 

 wild to a limited extent in parts of the United States. The root 

 is the portion for which the plant is cultivated, and in its natural 

 state is small and fibrous, but under cultivation has been developed 



