CtJLTURE OF CARROTS* 59 



Five pounds of seed is commonly sown per acre ; but as Quantltyof Seed 

 its value, comparatively speaking, is very trifling with the P"*"®»*^ i 

 advantage of a good plant, I never recommend less than six 

 pounds per acre. In a dry season there is a great benefit 

 in steeping the seed for twenty-four hours ; to prepare it for 

 the drill, or for sowing, it should be well rut)bed with the 

 palm of the hand against the side of a tub, to destroy tUe 

 small fibres and prevent their adhesion, and a proportion of ' 

 fine sifted marl and saw-dust mixed with it ; the proportion 

 two-fourths marl, one-fourth saw-dust, to one-fourth of 

 seed. 



Drilling is indubitably the best way to get in the seed, 

 from six to nine inches asunder : the advantage is obvious : 

 the carrots stand the winter much belter : from the tops of . 

 the vegetables being nearly buried in the soil, the green 

 head only is visible to the eye, and it is very rare to see the 

 smallest part of the red carrot above the surface. An ad- 

 ditional advantage in this mode of cultivation, is the great 

 facility it furnishes in weeding and hoeing, which, in a 

 district not hitherto acquainted with this useful branch of 

 agriculture, must render it in a twofold degree desirable. ' 



Carrots in the early state are very tender plants, and 

 very slow in growth ; I have frequently noticed a field 

 scarcely visible to the eye, three weeks or a month after 

 sowing, which has turned out a most abundant produce. 

 It is frequently six weeks before they are fit to hoe ; but 

 to prescribe any rule is impossible, * since the vegetation of 

 every description of plants so much depends on the season. 

 I shall only observe, the most proper time to commence 

 weeding or hoeing, is soon after the plants gain the parsley 

 leaf, or about half-inch out of the ground. Every vegetable 

 intended to be thinned or separated by the boe, cannot ^ 



well be done too early, since from general observation it is 

 clearly ascertained, that the smaller the plants, the greater 

 is the number left ; and as a second hoeing is absolutely 

 iiecessary(if it is only to promote vegetation by loosening the 

 surface), the plants may then be distributed- as requisite. 

 In hoeing of every description, it is always necessary to stir 

 every part of the soil possible; in this instance it must on 

 no account be neglected. 



U The 



