PARSLEY 



479 



Simple as the matter is to many, 

 others find it difficult to secure a 

 constant supply of good Parsley, 

 owing to haphazard ways of sowing 

 and to subsequent neglect. The 

 following extracts from Gardening, 

 written in reply to a question on 

 the subject, furnish good general 

 cultural directions : 



"An open plot should be selected, 

 but it should be protected from the 

 northern and eastern winter's blast. 

 This should be trenched, or at least 

 deeply dug, and liberally manured. 

 The seed should be sown the first 

 week in June, so that the plants may 

 get large and strong before winter 

 sets in. When the seedlings are 

 large enough, they should be thinned 

 out to at least a foot apart each way. 

 I should have stated that, as the 

 plants grow but slowly in winter, a 

 much larger piece of land must be 

 sown than would be required for a 

 summer's supply. It would be ad- 

 visable to make a sowing in a pit or 

 frame for use when frost and snow 

 are on the ground; or if four short 

 stakes were driven into the ground, 

 and connected with cross-pieces, 

 so as to be in readiness for laying 

 boards, faggots, or wattle hurdles 

 across on the approach of hard 

 frost, the same end would be at- 

 tained. A sowing should be made 

 in July for late spring use. March 

 is the time to sow for a summer 

 supply. Sometimes failure ensues, 

 not from defective cultivation, but 

 because the young seedlings are 

 destroyed by vermin as soon as 

 they appear; or, as is often the 

 case, as the seeds must not be 

 buried deep, and are a consider- 

 able time germinating, when dry 

 weather sets in after sowing, the 

 seeds perish. To guard against 

 failure from either of these causes, 

 at the same time the seeds are sown 

 in the open ground some should be 



sown in a box or pan, so that should 

 failure arise in the first instance, 

 there would be a supply of young 

 seedlings that could be potted into 

 small pots. These young plants, 

 when ready, should be put out in 

 the ground where the seeds failed 

 to germinate. It is safer to shift 

 the young seedlings into small pots 

 than to prick them into boxes, be- 

 cause when, in the latter case, they 

 are taken up with balls of earth and 

 put into the ground, the injury done 

 to the roots in the operation causes 

 flagging, and makes the plants very 

 palatable to slugs. Nor is the pot- 

 ting so formidable a matter as to 

 some it might appear. Old potting 

 stuff or common garden soil would 

 do for the purpose, and a man of 

 ordinary quickness would pot off 

 a hundred plants in an hour." — 

 L. C. R. 



" Sow thinly in March and again 

 at the end of July for succession on 

 land that has been heavily manured 

 for the previous crop, and which 

 should be deeply trenched. Sow 

 in beds broadcast when the ground 

 is dry, and well tread in. By doing 

 so, some of the seeds will be in the 

 exact depth to germinate freely and 

 make nice healthy plants, which 

 should be left when thinning out, 

 say 12 in. apart if large specimens 

 are required. A slight dressing of 

 soot will be of service when plants 

 are thinned, which put on when 

 damp. If your soil is light in tex- 

 ture, well roll or tread, as I find 

 Parsley does well with me on light 

 soil when ground is so treated." — 

 E. T. P. 



" In preparing a Parsley bed, the 

 soil should be removed to the depth 

 of 6 or 8 in., and filled in with 

 stones, brick-rubbish, and similar 

 loose material ; on the top a good 

 depth of rich soil should be placed, 

 which should be raised above the 



