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UMBELLIFERAE. CXXXI. Davevs. 
cultivated variety is large, succulent, and of a red, yellow, or 
pale straw colour. 
Use.—It is used in soups and stews, and as a vegetable dish. 
Parkinson informs us that, in his day, ladies wore carrot leaves 
instead of feathers. In winter, an elegant chimney ornament is 
sometimes formed by cutting off a section from the head or 
thick end of a carrot, containing the bud, and placing it in a 
shallow vessel with water. Young and delicate leaves unfold 
themselves, forming a radiated tuft, of a very handsome appear- 
ance, and heightened by contrast with the season of the year. 
Varieties —Those in common cultivation are: 
1 Large red or field carrot, grows to a large size, and is 
hd cultivated in fields, and in farmers’ gardens, for colouring 
utter. 
2 Orange carrot. The root is long and large, of an orange 
colour, and is the best sort for the main crop. 
3 Early horn. Root short, smaller. It is the best kind for 
asmall, early crop; also for shallow soils. 
4 Late horn. With the same characteristics as the preceding, 
but Suited for a late crop. 
William Christie enumerates the following sorts of horn car- 
rots :—Early red, common early, long horn. Of long carrots :— 
White, yellow, long yellow, long orange, long red, and the Al- 
tringham, or superb, originally from Cheshire. 
Soil.—The carrot requires a light mellow soil, mixed with 
sand, which should be dug or trenched one or two spades deep, 
breaking well all the lumpy parts, so as to form a porous bed, 
and an even surface. The orange and red sorts, on account of 
their longer roots, require a soil proportionally deeper than 
the horns. 
Seed estimate and sowing.—The seeds have numerous forked 
hairs on their ribs, by which they adhere together, and therefore 
should, previously to sowing, be rubbed between the hands, and 
mixed with dry sand, in order to separate them as much as pos- 
e They are also very light, and therefore a calm day must 
e chosen for sowing ; and the seeds should be disseminated 
equally, and trod in before raking. Previously to sowing, if 
convenient, the seed should be proven, by sowing a few in a pot, 
nin placing it in a hot-bed, or hot-house, as it is more frequently 
ad than most garden seeds. For a bed 44 feet by 30, one 
Nan will be requisite, and the same for 150 feet of drill rows. 
. imes of soning.—To have early summer carrots, sow on a 
a. border in the beginning of February, or, to have them 
‘a more forward, sow in a moderate hot-bed, giving copious 
mission of air. In the open garden, begin with the early 
ae in the last fortnight of February, or first week of March, 
dis a fine, and open weather may occur. The first sown beds 
dis „be assigned a favourable situation, and covered for a 
be “ra haulm. Follow with the orange, in the first fortnight 
A ie and make successive sowings thence to the 20th of 
nit for main crops. Add smaller sowings twice in May, for 
ie, to draw young late in summer; also sow a few at the 
in mencement of July, for a later succession of young carrots 
ox fsa and autumn. Lastly, in the beginning of August, 
ee ag small sowings may be made for plants to stand the 
ll and afford young roots early in spring, March and 
Insects.— Carrots, when they come up, are apt to be attacked 
S Sepang like the turnip; the most approved remedies for 
in ei are thick sowing, in order to afford both a supply for the 
‘ “te and the crop; and late sowing, especially in light soils, 
arini the grubs to attain their fly state before the seed 
Culture. —When the plants are up 2 or 3 inches in growth, in 
Aae June, they will require thinning and clearing from 
$, either by hand or small hoeing. Thin from 3 to 5 inches 
355 
distance, such as are designed for drawing in young and mid- 
dling growth. But the main crop, intended for larger and full- 
sized roots, thin to 6 or 8 inches’ distance. Keep the whole 
clean from weeds in their advancing young growth. Some of 
small and middling growth will be fit for drawing. in June and 
July ; large sizeable roots, in August and September ; and those 
of full growth, by the end of October. 
Preserving in winter.—Carrots are taken up at the approach 
of winter, cleaned, and stored among sand. They may be built 
very firm, by laying them heads and tails alternately, and pack- 
ing with sand. In this way, if frost be excluded from the store- 
house, they keep perfectly well till March or April of the fol- 
lowing year. Some persons insist that the tops should be 
entircly cut off at the time of storing, so as effectually to pre- 
vent their growing ; while others wish to preserve the capability 
of vegetation, though certainly not to encourage the tendency to 
grow. 
To save seed.—P lant some of the largest best roots in Octo- 
ber, November, or the last fortnight of February, 2 feet apart ; 
insert them a few inches over the crowns. They will yield ripe 
seed in autumn, of which gather only from the principal umbel, 
which is likely not only to afford the ripest and largest seed, but 
the most vigorous plants. A considerable quantity of carrot- 
seed, for the supply of the London seedsmen, is raised near 
Weatherfield in Essex ; and much is imported from Holland. 
Field culture of the carrot.—It is observed, by a judicious wri- 
ter, that the carrot has been too much neglected on lands, where 
it would have yielded a more valuable product in agriculture 
perhaps than any bulbous or tap-rooted plant whatever. Several 
contradictory experiments in its culture have been detailed in a 
number of publications, from which the practical husbandman 
will be at a loss to draw any definite conclusion. But in a com- 
munication to the board of agriculture from Robert Burrows, 
an intelligent Norfolk farmer, who has cultivated carrots on a 
large scale, and with great success, for several years, so accurate 
an account is presented of the culture, application, and extraor- 
dinary value of this root, that carrots will probably soon enter 
more largely into the rotation of crops on suitable soils. 
Varieties.—The only sort adapted for field culture is the long 
red or field carrot. New seed is most essential, as it will not 
vegetate the second year. 
The best soil for the carrot is a deep rich sandy loam; such a 
soil ought at least to be a foot deep, and all equally good from 
top to bottom; on any other the field culture of the carrot will 
not answer. 
In preparing the soil for the carrot, it is essential to plough it 
before winter, that it may be pulverized by frost, and to work it 
well in the spring to at least the depth of a foot. This deep 
tillage may be perfectly accomplished by means of the trench 
plough, following the common one, or even by the common one 
alone with a good strength of team; but the former method is to 
be preferred, wherever the lands are inclined to be stiff or 
heavy. Three ploughings are mostly found sufficient where the 
land has been previously in a state of tillage, but more may in 
other cases be necessary. As soon as the last ploughing has 
been made in March, the land should be harrowed, and the sur- 
face made as fine as possible. In Suffolk the farmers sow car- 
rots after turnips, barley, and peas, set upon a rye-grass ley ; 
the crops upon the first have generally been most productive ; 
next to that they prefer the latter. In the first place, they feed 
off the turnips by the beginning of February, and then lay the 
land up in small bulks or furrows, in which state it remains till 
the second week in March, when it is harrowed down, double 
furrowed to the depth of about a foot, and the seed sown. 
The climate most suitable to the carrot is the same as for the 
turnip; but they will thrive better than the turnip in a dry and 
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