ON THE ENNOBLING OF ROOTS. 107 



"We have before remarked that neither in size nor form are the 

 wild roots at all comparable with the cultivated ones. Our 

 specimens were taken from fine roots of the wild parsnip of the 

 first year's growth, that is to say, just at the same time as a 

 crop parsnip would be at its best. They were purposely taken 

 from specimens obtained from the same district as the seed with 

 which our experiments were commenced. Our first crop of roots 

 from the wild seed presented great diversities in shape, being, for 

 the most part, even more forked than the originals, but still with 

 a general tendency to fleshiness. Of these the best shaped 

 were reserved for seeding, and having been kept the greater 

 part of the winter in sand, some six of the best were planted 

 in another plot for seed. The seed, then, of 1849 was sown in the 

 spring of 1850 in a freshly prepared bed, the plants being 

 treated as before, the results showing a decided improvement, 

 with tendencies in some examples in the following directions : — 



1st. — The round topped long root, having a resemblance to the 

 Guernsey parsnip, Panais long of the French. 



2nd. — The Hollow-crowned Long Eoot. " Hollow-headed " 

 of the gardener, Panais Leslonais type. 



3rd. — The short, thick, turnip-shaped root, turnip rooted of 

 the gardener, Panais rond form. 



These three forms were all of them misshapen with forked 

 roots, that is fingers and toes, but still each of them offered 

 opportunities of procuring three original varieties from this new 

 source. 



As an example of progress we offer the following engraving 

 of a specimen of our round-topped Parsnip of 1852. This it 

 will be seen has strong fleshy forks, and a tendency to form 

 divided tap-roots, otherwise the shape is greatly improved, and 

 the skin is tolerably smooth. At this time our stock was for the 

 most part fleshy and soft on boiling ; the flavour, too, though 

 much stror ger than that of the usual esculent Parsnip, was rather 

 agreeable than otherwise. 



