The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-11-27
PARSNIPS.
Hints about Harvesting This DeIiciou
and Rich Vegetable.

| Hints about Harvesting This DeIiciou
| and Rich Vegetable.
| Those who harvested their parsnips
in the autumn, under the impression
that they are in full perfection for the
table, labor under a great mistake; and
those who gather a portion of them,
with the idea that they can not be dug
in the winter, are also mistaken. A
friend of ours who keeps abreast, if
not in advance, of the times, has
adopted method of so protecting his
| parsnips in the autumn that they can
be dug at any time during the winter,
and thus have them fresh as well as
well ripened. His method is to cover
the ground where the parsnips grow
with sufficient covering of eel-grass
to keep the frost out In the Interior,
where eel-grass can not be obtained, a
sufficient quantity Of meadow-grass
might be used for a protection, or
leaves covered with boards could be
used; where sawdust could be OBJ
tanned, it would be good material,
providing it be covered with boards so
as to keep most of the water out. The
cost of covering a sufficient quantity
for family use would be very slight,
and the advantage of being able to OBJ
tain fresh parsnips at any time very
great. Whenever the frost has been
out of the ground in January or
February, we have always availed our
selves of the opportunity to dig a few
parsnips, and have found them to be
much more delicious than when dry
in the autumn. Although we have
never tried the process of covering,
we have no doubt that it will
secure roots of much better flavor
than if dug either in the autumn
or the spring, for when dug in the au-
tumn the roots do not arrive TO perfec-
ton, and if not dug until spring the
tops begin to grow, and the fibrous
roots start up frequently before the
frost is out at the bottom of the roots;
but we can readily see that when we'll
covered the roots will be kept back,
and thus be in good condition much
later in the spring than if not covered;
and there can be but little doubt that
by the keeping of the roots in the
ground undisturbed, and so protected
that there will be no freezing and thaw-
ing, the flavor will be better than if left
exposed to the sudden and great
changes of temperature that are con-
stantly taking place in our climate.
When eovering'is intended it would be
better to plant the parsnips in square
bed, and not in a single row, because
it would be much easier to cover
square than one row, it not requiring
SO much material to cover with. The
parsnip, when properly grown and
well-ripened, is an excellent vegetable,
but for the want of the proper knowl-
edge of how to grow it well, and of
harvesting it at the right time, it is not
fully appreciated. Many dig their par
ships in the autumn and store them in
the cellar the same as potatoes, and be-
cause of their immatured condition, and
the want Of care in keeping them, they
make to most of people very unsatis-
factory food; il they must be harvested
in the autumn it should not be done
until just before winter sets in, and
then they should be packed down in
sand and kept where it IS cool, but not
so cold as to freeze. Massachusetts
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