288 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABI-E KINGDOM 



long previously to tlieir being commonly ap- 

 |>lied as food for horses. These roots may also 

 with advantage be given to poultry. In severe 

 winters they have been found of great utility in 

 the preservation of deer; and they have been also 

 strongly recommended as wholesome and cheap 

 nourishment for dogs. Although, perhaps, the 

 virtues and nutritive qualities of the can-ot may 

 be somewhat over-rated by writers who have 

 evidently a strong bias in its favour, it is more 

 than probable that carrots are a more wholesome 

 food than either cabbages or turnips, as they are 

 so strongly opposed to putrefaction, as to be occa- 

 sionally used, on account of this property, in 

 certain surgical applications. Various opinions 

 exist among agriculturists as to the relative ad- 

 vantages arising from the culture of the carrot 

 or the turnip as food for cattle. The latter root 

 may perhaps be more productive, and succeed 

 better in a variety of soils, but the positive 

 amount of nourishment it contains would seem 

 to be much less than that of the carrot. This 

 assertion is advanced on the testimony of Mr 

 Biling, who obtained from twenty and a half 

 acres of land, varying in soil and degree of pre- 

 paration, five hundred and ten loads of carrots. 

 Experience led him to conclude that these were 

 equal in use and effect to one thousand loads of 

 turnips, and to three hundred loads of hay. At 

 Parlington in Yorkshire, the stock of a farm, 

 consisting of twenty working-horses, four bul- 

 locks, and six milch cows, were fed from the end 

 of September to the beginning of May on the 

 carrots produced from three acres of land. The 

 animals, during the whole of that period, lived 

 on these roots with the addition of only a very 

 small quantity of hay, and thirty hogs were 

 fattened on the refuse left by the cattle. 



The greater part of the alimentary portion of 

 the carrot consists, according to Sir Humphrey 

 Davy's analysis, of saccharine matter, which 

 may in a considerable degi-ee account for its an- 

 tiseptic qualities. The quantity of nutritive 

 matter is nearly ten per cent, in the whole weight 

 of carrot, being 98 parts in 1000, and of these three 

 are starch or mucilage, and the remaining ninety- 

 five saccharine matter. The quantity of ready 

 formed saccharine matter in carrots is much 

 greater than in any of the cerealia, being 2^ per 

 cent, more than in barley, and about six times 

 more than the quantity contained in potatoes. 

 It is presumed, therefore, that carrots are much 

 better adapted than the latter for the distillery. 

 Dr Hunter, in the Georgical Essays, details ex- 

 periments made to prepare fromcarrots a beverage 

 resembling beer, and subsequently a spirituous 

 liquor; the former proved unsuccessful; but the 

 result of the latter was, according to the Doc- 

 tor's opinion, very encouraging. " From a gi'oss 

 calculation," he concludes, "I am induced to 

 think that a good acre of can-ots manufactured 



in this manner will leave a profit of forty pounds, 

 after deducting the landlord's rent, the cost of 

 cultivation, distillation, and other incidental ex- 

 penses. In this calculation I presume that the 

 spirit is worth six shillings per gallon, and not 

 excised." This is perhaps rather an exagger- 

 ated statement: it has, however, been found by 

 other experiments that eighteen tons, the pro- 

 duce of one acre, will yield one hundred gallons 

 of proof spirit, a larger product than that ob- 

 tained from an acre of barley; while the refuse 

 supplies a greater quantity of food for hogs. 



Attempts have likewise been made to prepare 

 sugar from carrots, but without success; a thick 

 syrupy matter which refuses to crystallize can 

 alone be obtained. 



The Parsnip, (pastinaca satica.) This is 

 also a British plant, and grows wild in calcare- 

 ous soils by road sides. The leaves are broader 

 and less divided than those of the caiTOt; in the 

 wild kind they are hairy, and dark green; in the 

 cultivated parsnip smooth, and of a light yel- 

 lowish green. The flowers have a yellowish 

 tinge. The roots of the wild parsnip are smaller, 

 tougher, and have less of the peculiar taste 

 than the cultivated kind. Pastinaca, from pas- 

 tus, nourishment, is one of the names given by the 

 Romans to the daucus of the Greeks. 



The parsnip has long been cultivated in En- 

 glish gardens. There are a great many varieties 

 of this root, one only of which is cultivated in 

 Britain. In France, as well as in Guernsey and 

 Jersey, where the soil is peculiarly adapted to 

 this cultivation, three varieties are distinguished 

 by the names of coquaine, Kshonaise, and siam. 

 The first nins very long, to the depth of three, 

 and even four feet in the ground, and attaining to 

 from three to four inches in diameter; while its 

 leaves grow proportionally high, and proceed 

 from the whole crown of the root. The lisbonaise 

 is shorter, but considerably thicker, and of an 

 equally good quality; the leaves of this variety 

 are small and short, and proceed only from the 

 centre of the crown. The siam has not so large 

 a root, and is of a slightly yellow tinge; it is 

 more tender, and of a richer flavour than the 

 other varieties. 



A light, deep soil, free from stones, is requisite 

 for the favourable growth of the parsnip. The 

 seed is usually sown at the latter end of Febru- 

 ary or March, in the proportion of nearly three 

 and a half pounds of seed to one rood of land. 

 It is sown broad-cast, and raked into the ground. 

 The only after-culture required is to keep the 

 plants free fi-om weeds, and to thin them to about a 

 foot distance from each other. The roots come 

 to maturity at the latter end of October; this 

 state is indicated by the decay of the leaf; they 

 are then fit for use. 



The parsnip is not so liable as the carrot to be 

 hurt by frost. Indeed, bj- many, the root is not 



