PAR 
PEA 
plants should be thinned to a distance 
of six inches apart, and if a good curled 
variety is chosen, there will be no lack 
of parsley for all purposes for the next 
twelve months, supposing the quantity 
sown proportionate to the demand. 
When parsley is abundant in summer, 
it is a good plan to dry a quantity to 
serve as an assistance to the green crops 
in winter, and in this state it is equally 
good for all culinary purposes; or if the 
supply fall short, some may be sown in 
heat, which, though it does not produce 
handsome curled leaves, will answer for 
cooking. 
PARSNIP. Pastinaca sativa (De 
Candolle.) Nat. Order TJmbellifera. 
Cultivated for its large edible root; this 
plant is held in very general estimation 
as a store for winter use ; it is a most 
productive crop, yielding a greater 
weight of food than most other vege¬ 
tables, and on this account has been 
strongly recommended as a substitute 
for potatoes. The seed should be sown 
in March, on rich and rather moist 
ground that has previously been well 
dug; the drill method of sowing is de¬ 
cidedly preferable, as the young plants 
may then be easily thinned out to regular 
distances, which should be done as soon 
as they are two or three inches high, 
leaving them about eight inches apart; 
and the rows should be at least a foot 
one from the other; they want no fur¬ 
ther attention, except clearing them of 
weeds, till the following October, when 
the roots will be fit for taking up; and 
as this is done, the tops should be 
twisted off, and the roots stowed away 
in a dry shed, placing them in layers, 
and between each about an inch of dry 
sand should be spread, which will pre¬ 
serve their juices, and cause them to eat 
with a fresh crisp flavour; those which 
are kept quite dry in winter are tough 
and tasteless when cooked. 
PEA. Pisum sativum (Linn.) Nat. 
Order Leguminoste. This is one of the 
most valuable of our culinary products ; 
Peas are universally liked and required, 
and with the requisite space and manage¬ 
ment they may be had from June to 
November without intermission. From 
the great number of leaves presented by 
most varieties, Peas may be considered 
a very exhausting crop, and for their • 
own benefit, as well as for that of the 
crops which may succeed them, should 
always be sown as far apart as is practi¬ 
cable ; it is every way preferable to have 
them 'standing in single rows fifteen or 
twenty feet one from another than to 
continue them in the old method only 
three or four feet asunder; there is less 
waste of ground, because other low 
growing crops may be had between, and 
a grateful shade is thus afforded them, 
while the Peas themselves will grow 
more vigorously and produce a far more 
abundant return. The best ground for 
Peas is a light moderately rich loam, 
well pulverised by digging and the action 
of frost; it is a remarkable circumstance 
in connexion with this part of the 
management, that the presence of too 
much, as well as the entire absence of 
manure, induces one of the worst diseases 
known among Peas,—the mildew, or 
white blight, for which there is no 
effective remedy; in cold, wet seasons, 
and in very damp soils, it is sure to 
prevail, and therefore the latter should 
always be avoided ; and the application 
of manure to land intended for this crop 
should take place at the winter digging. 
The first sowing of Peas should be made 
about the end of November, choosing a 
warm sheltered situation, such as the 
border at the foot of a south wall; this 
is by no means a certain crop, but if it 
succeeds, will be a week or ten days 
earlier than the next, which should be 
made in the beginning of January, to be 
followed by a successional sowing every 
fortnight onwards till the end of June, 
in quantity proportionate to the re¬ 
quirements of the family, and thus a 
gathering may be confidently expected 
every day for nearly five months. 
When the necessary accommodation 
exists, it is a good plan to sow the first 
crop in boxes, and place them in heat, 
such as that afforded by a vinery, where 
they may be allowed to grow as much as 
a foot high before they are placed in the 
ground; seed sown in February, and so 
treated, will be in bearing before any 
