VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 



389 



do not differ so much as the wild and cultivated carrot. 

 By ten years' culture Professor Buckinan, in England, 

 succeeded in producing the garden variety from the wild 

 sort. This plant is of the hardiest nature, being improved 

 by remaining in the ground ex- 

 posed to frost during the winter. 

 The best variety for the garden is 

 the Hollow-Crown or Sugar Tars- 

 nip. Its roots are smoother, more 

 handsome, and better flavored 

 than the other varieties. It is 

 distinguished by the cavity which 

 crowns the root. 



Parsnips like a rich, sandy 

 loam, the more deeply dug the 

 better. They do exceedingly well 

 on rich bottom lands, but do not 

 succeed well in stiff clays. The 

 manure should be applied to a 

 previous crop. 



Parsnip seed can be sown any 

 time in spring before the hot, dry 

 weather comes on, which will 

 prevent it from vegetating freely. 

 Scatter the seed thinly in drills 

 fifteen inches apart, and when 

 the plants appear, thin them to 

 ten or twelve inches asunder. Yi %- 14 °- Ideal Hollow-Crown 

 The culture in other respects 



is the same as that of the beet. The roots in cold 

 climates are taken up and stored, if required for use in 

 frosty weather, but the flavor is improved by exposure to 

 the winter frosts, and they are commonly left where 

 grown until spring, when, if taken up before growth com- 

 mences, they will keep some weeks. 



