VEGETABLES PAKSLEY. 255 



PARSLEY. (Petroselinum sativum.) 



A vegetable in more general use for garnishing than 

 any other plant of oar gardens ; it is also extensively 

 used in soups, stews, etc. Its cultivation forms quite an 

 important item in market gardens, particularly under 

 glass. The manner of cultivating it thus is by sowing it 

 between the rows of a growing crop of Lettuce in our 

 cold frames in April. As it is slow to germinate, it only 

 appears at the time the Lettuce is cut off in May. It is 

 then cleared from weeds, hoed, and forms a growth fit 

 to cut a month before that sown in the open ground. 

 After the first cutting has been made in June, it is gen- 

 erally so low in price as not to be worth marketing, so it 

 is allowed to grow through the summer until the first 

 week in September, when it is cut off close to the ground 

 and thrown away, as it is rarely wanted at this season. 

 Ifc is again hoed, and as at this j:ime it makes a short, 

 healthy growth, suitable for keeping well in winter, it is 

 stowed away in narrow, shallow trenches, exactly in the 

 same manner in which we preserve Celery. 



This way of growing Parsley is, I believe, mainly con- 

 fined to the vicinity of New York, but as the consump- 

 tion of such an article is necessarily limited, this market 

 has been oversupplied of late years. Formerly it has 

 frequently paid twice the value of the sash that covered 

 it in one season $6 for a three by six sash. No doubt, 

 in many places, this system of growing would be as profit- 

 able as it used to be with us. When not grown under glass, 

 it should be sown thickly in rows a foot apart in early 

 spring in the open ground. Where greenhouses are used for 

 forcing vegetables, Parsley can be nicely grown under the 

 benches, at least as far under as there is partial light. 

 This is best done by sowing the seed in boxes (three or 

 four inches deep, eighteen inches wide, and . two feet in 

 length), in August, keeping them out-of-doors until cold 



