226 



PEA. 



dexterity. In many instances tliey are followed by chil- 

 dren, who drop into each hole made by the dibble, alter 

 the bean, three or four peas ; the parsnep seed is then sown 

 at the rate of one third to one half of a bushel to the acre." 

 — Quayle^s General View of the Norman Islands. 



Use. — The writer above quoted asserts, that, in the island 

 of Jersey, parsnep " is eaten with meat, with milk, and 

 with butter ; but not, as is the common mode of using it as 

 human food in England, with salt fish, or, as in Ireland, to- 

 gether with potatoes. 



The next most valuable application of this root is hog- 

 feeding. At first it is given to the animal in a raw state, 

 afterwards boiled or steamed, and finally, for a week or 

 fortnight, with bean and oat-meal. A hog treated in this 

 way is sufficiently fatted for killing in about six weeks. 

 Its flesh is held superior to that arising from any other food, 

 and does not waste in boiling. 



" Bullocks are also fatted with parsneps in about three 

 months ; their flesh is here considered of superior flavour 

 to any other beef, and commands, on that account, an ad- 

 ditional half-penny in the pound on the price. To milch 

 cows they are also usually given ; on this diet, the cream 

 assumes a yellow colour. By the accounts here given, it 

 appears, in proportion to the milk, to be more abundant, 

 than when the animal is kept on any other food whatever. 

 When the cow receives at the rate of thirty-five pounds 

 per day, with hay, seven quarts, ale measure, of the milk 



fsroduce seventeen ounces of butter. It is generally al- 

 owed that the flavour of the butter is superior to any other 

 produced in winter. 



" Geese are sometimes shut up with the hogs to fatten 

 on parsnepS; which they will eat raw. The root is also 

 given boiled ; and for a week before killing they are fed 

 with oats or barley only. Horses eat this root greedily; 

 but in this island it is never given them, as it is alleged 

 that, fed on this food, their eyes are injured. About Mor- 

 lais, horses are not only ordin?.rily fed on parsneps, but they 

 are considered as the best of all food, superior even to 

 oats." 



To save seed. — Transplant some of the best roots as 

 early as the frost vdll permit in the spring, two feet asun- 

 der, inserted over the crown. They will produce seed 

 plentifully in autumn. 



PEA. — Pisuni sativmn. — The pea is a hardy annual, a 

 native of the south of Europe, cultivated in Great Britaip 



