ox REARING KITCHEN VEGETABLES. 55 



soil in which carrots are grown, the finer will be the 

 carrots produced. In wet soil they are apt to split and 

 become cankery, or be eaten by insects. Eabbits are 

 particularly destructive to carrots, and they cannot, there- 

 fore, be safely grown where these animals abound, and 

 there are no means of keeping them out of the garden. 



When more carrots are grown than are wanted for the 

 kitchen, they are excellent food for pigs and cattle, and 

 also for poLiltry, when rasped and mixed, or boiled and 

 mashed, with bran or oats, — a thing worth, knowing, 

 though little known. 



3. — Parsneps. 



One thousand parts of Parsneps contain ninety parts of 

 sugar, nine parts of starch, and the rest water and fibre ; 

 they are therefore nourishing and wholesome, though 

 somewhat coarse and hard of digestion by weaker stomachs. 



Parsneps grow naturally in a chalky or marly soil, and 

 thrive tolerably well in the garden on strong clay where 

 neither carrots nor turnips attain to any perfection. A 

 good rich loam, however, is far preferable to clay, which 

 latter is totally unfit for most garden crops. They should 

 not be sown (the seed not older than one year) later than 

 March ; and, if in drills, from four to six inches farther 

 apart than the carrot, as they require more room. 



For a bed four feet wide and twelve feet long, a quarter 

 of an ounce of seed is sufficient. 



In all other respects they may be cultivated precisely in 

 the same manner as carrots. In thinning, they should at 

 first be left in pairs, and, when six inches high, the weakest 

 of each pair must be taken up. The hollow-crowned and 

 the Guernsey sorts are the best. Parsneps endure the 

 hardest frosts, w^hich even improves them; therefore, 

 they need not be taken up, except a few for use when the 

 ground is frozen very hard. They are a very profitable 

 crop, though not generally liked. 



L—Beet. 



The root of the Beet contains a considerably greater 

 proportion of sugar than the parsnep, but is similar in 

 the other constituents. 



