106 



ex THE EXXOBLINQ OF ROOTS. 



The facility with wliich different sorts of roots may bo pro- 

 cured can readily bo understood from tlie many varieties not 

 only of turnip, wliicli may perhaps bo considered an original 

 species, but also of swede, which is a hybrid of the turnip and 

 rape plant. Of the former we have more than 30 sorts 

 grown by the farmer, and as many peculiar to the garden, 

 whilst there are probably more than 20 well recognised sorts of 

 swedes. Of beets with mangold wurtzel we have almost as 

 great a variety.* So also of carrots. Of x^a-rsnips we have 

 fewer varieties, to which may now be added the new form 

 called the " Student Parsnip," the growth of which is so 

 interesting that we shall here give a short history of its produc- 

 tion as an illustration of the origin of root crops. 



In 1847 we collected some wild parsnip seed from the top of 

 the Cotteswolds, where this is among the most frequent of weeds. 

 This seed, after having been kept carefully during the winter, 

 was sown in a prepared bed in the spring of 1848 in drills about 

 18 inches apart. As the plants grew they were duly thinned 

 out, leaving for the crop, as far as it could be done, the 

 specimens that had leaves with the broadest divisions, lightest 

 colour, and fewest hairs. As cultivated parsnips offer a curious 

 contrast with the wildest specimens in these respects, we place 

 the following notes side by side on the root leaves of plants of 

 the same period of growth : — 



No 1.— Wild Paesnip. 



ft. in. 



Whole length of leaf, from the 

 base of the petiole to the tip 



of the leaf 



Breadth of leaflets . . . . 



Length of ditto . . . . 



Petiole and leaflets, hairy ; colour, 

 dark green ; roots, forked. 



No. 2.— Stttdent Paesnip. 



ft. in. 

 Whole length of leaf, as in 

 No. 1 2 



Breadth of leaflets 

 Length of ditto 



3| 

 6.V 



Petiole and leaflets, without hairs 

 colour, light green. 



*An account of experiments in the Ennobling of Beets will be found 

 in Vol. IIJ. of our Proceedings. 



