rAKSNIP. 
01 
PARSNIP. 
Panais. Pastinaca sativa . 
VARIETIES. 
Long Guernsey Cup. | Large Dutch, or Common. 
This is a hardy biennial plant, common in calcareous 
soils ; it has long been an inmate of the garden, and forms a 
vegetable dish in the winter, with salt meat, salted fish, &c. 
Parsnip seed may be planted from the middle of March 
till the middle of May, in drills one inch deep and fourteen 
inches apart ; and as this vegetable requires a long season 
to grow in, the sooner the seed is planted the better. Pars- 
nips grow best in a deep soil, which has been well manured 
the preceding fall. Sow the seed thick along the drills, at the 
rate of five or six pounds per acre, and rake them in evenly.* 
When the plants are two or three inches high, thin them 
to the distance of six or eight inches in the rows. They 
should be kept free from weeds, by regular hoeing through 
the summer, and in autumn they will be fit for use ; but they 
improve in flavour after having been frozen, and will endure 
the severity of a hard winter. See Calendar for November. 
Parsnips require from thirty to forty minutes boiling, ac- 
cording to their size and age. Some boil them in water 
seasoned with salt, until tender ; but they ar& better when 
boiled with salt pork, and afterward mashed and fried in 
butter. 
* The Parsnip, although when in full growth it will endure the extreme* 
of neat and cold, requires peculiar management to promote and preserve 
germination in an early stage of culture. In order to give the seed a fair 
chance, it should be planted in ground susceptible of moisture, and not 
apt to encrust when dry. The seed should be dropped thick along the 
drills, and well covered, as single or solitary plants are apt to perish, from 
not having sufficient strength to open the pores of the earth, and in the 
event of drought such plants die off prematurely. If cultivated in light 
ground, it should be rolled or pressed immediately after depositing the seed 
therein, but this should net be done while the earth is wet. A few grains 
of Long Radish seed, sown in each drill as directed for Parsley, will alsc 
prove beneficial to Parsnips. 
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