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GARDEN FARMING 



Harvesting. Young roots are sometimes marketed in September, 

 but they are not fully developed nor as highly flavored then as 

 they are later in the season. It is a popular notion that parsnips 

 are greatly improved by the action of frost. 



Unless the soil is too moist to permit harvesting the crop early 

 in the spring, only so much of it as will be required for winter 

 trade should be harvested in the autumn. The plants should be 

 lifted without bruising or breaking the roots, and the tops should 

 be closely cropped. The roots must be thoroughly washed before 

 being sent to market. Those required for winter use should be 

 packed away, in moist sand or leaf mold, in a cool pit or vegetable 

 cellar to prevent drying out. Broken and scarred roots are not 

 satisfactory for storage. 



Any part of the crop which may have been left in the field over 

 winter should be dug and prepared for market with the same care 

 as that harvested in the autumn. 



In European countries parsnips are often harvested when the 

 roots are not more than l inch in diameter at the crown and used 

 as a fresh vegetable the same as carrots. 



PEAS 



The pea has been cultivated for many generations and is un- 

 doubtedly of European or Asiatic origin, but no definite locality 

 can be named as its home. It was found among the Greeks dur- 

 ing the time of Theophrastus. The garden pea is probably the 

 most important of all the species belonging to this genus. It can- 

 not, however, be said to be the most important of the legumes, for 

 in modern agriculture the garden bean and the cowpea undoubtedly 

 outrank it from a commercial standpoint. The garden pea, how- 

 ever, has a great number of uses. The principal, and perhaps its 

 most important, use is that of human food, either in the fresh 

 green state or as a mature seed. It is also of value as a forage 

 crop for stock, both in the green state and when dried for hay. 

 Because of this variety of uses it is readily seen what an important 

 part it may play in the economics of a civilized nation. 



Botany. The garden pea is known to botanists by the name 

 Pisum sativum, of Linnaeus. It has a hollow stem, which in the 



