Feb.] 



THE CULINARY GARDEN, 



93 



The covering of straw should not be less, over every part of 

 the bed, than twelve or fifteen inches thick. If the wet have 

 at any time penetrated through the covering, let it be removed, 

 and fresh dry covering put on. If covered with Dutch reed- 

 mats, rain will seldom injure the beds, as they are capable of 

 throwing off the water much better than garden-mats. 



PARSNIP. 



Prepare a piece of ground by trenching eighteen inches or 

 two feet deep, on which the parsnip-seed is to be sown. The 

 parsnip is a native of the chalky downs of Kent and Hamp- 

 shire, the roots of which penetrate to a great depth in the 

 almost solid chalk. In garden-culture, it will be found to 

 attain its greatest perfection in ground rendered sufficiently 

 deep by trenching, and manured with chalk or lime. It is 

 found in great perfection in cottage-gardens in chalky coun- 

 tries, and should be cultivated by cottagers as a wholesome 

 and nutritious food. The parsnip is an excellent root, and in 

 soils suited to it vrill, under good management, yield a great 

 weight of food, either for man or for cattle. It is grown 

 to greater perfection in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey 

 than any-where else, and is thence often imported into this 

 country. 



HORSE-RADISH. 



This plant is propagated by cuttings of the root, either taken 

 from the top an inch or two long, or some old roots cut into 

 pieces of that length. It is so tenacious of life that almost 

 every inch of the root will grow, and when once established in 

 a piece of ground, is not easily eradicated. 



To propagate it, procure a number of proper sets, which 

 may be either the small off-sets that rise from the bottom or 

 sides of the main roots, and of which take cuttings of their 

 tops two or three inches long ; or use the tops and crowns of 

 the old roots when taken up for use, in cuttings of the above 

 length: or in default of a sufficiency of crowns or tops of 

 either, divide a number of old roots into cuttings of the above- 

 mentioned length, which if furnished, each with two or three 



