Use.—It is cultivated exclusively for its roots; no other portion of the plant being employed in domestic economy. The flesh of these is white, tender, sugary, and well flavored. They are boiled in the manner of the parsnip, and served plain at the table; or they may be cooked in all the forms of salsify or scolymus. Before cooking, the outer, coarse rind should be scraped off, and the roots soaked for a few hours in cold water for the purpose of extracting their bitter flavor.
SKIRRET.
Crummock, of the Scotch. Sium sisarum.
Skirret is a hardy perennial, and is cultivated for its roots, which are produced in groups, or bunches, joined together at the crown or neck of the plant. They are oblong, fleshy, of a russet-brown color without, white within, very sugary, and, when well grown, measure six or eight inches in length, and nearly an inch in diameter.
The leaves of the first year are pinnate, with seven or nine oblong, finely toothed leaflets. When fully developed, the plant measures from three to five feet in height; the stem being marked with fine, parallel, longitudinal grooves, or lines. The flowers are small, white, and are produced in umbels at the extremities of the branches. The seeds, eight thousand of which are contained in an ounce, are oblong, of a greenish-gray color, and closely resemble those of the common caraway. They will keep but two years; and, even when newly grown, sometimes remain in the ground four or five weeks before vegetating.
Soil and Culture.—Skirret succeeds best in light, mellow soil, and is propagated by suckers, or seeds. The best method is to sow the seeds annually, as, when grown from slips, or suckers, the roots are liable to be dry and woody; the seeds, on the contrary, producing roots more tender, and in greater perfection.
Sow the seeds in April, in drills one foot apart, and about an inch in depth; thin to five or six inches; and, in September, some of the roots will be sufficiently grown for use. Those required for winter should be drawn before the closing-up of the ground, and packed in sand.
To propagate by Slips, or Suckers.—In the spring, remove the required number of young shoots, or sprouts, from the side of the roots that have remained in the ground during winter, not taking any portion of the old root in connection with the slips; and set them in rows ten inches asunder, and six inches apart in the rows. They will soon strike, and produce roots of suitable size for use in August or September.
To raise Seeds.—The plants that have remained in the ground during the winter, if not disturbed, will send up stalks as before described, and ripen their seeds at the close of the summer. Two or three plants will yield all the seeds ordinarily required for a single garden.