CULTIVATING CARROTS. 157 



crown of another. The advantages of this, I think, are that it 

 covers the manure sufiiciently to insure partial decomposition 

 by the time you want to prepare the ground in the spring. The 

 land is then in a light, friable condition ; you can break up the 

 furrows by cross-ploughing, and the ground is very easily fitted 

 for the reception of seed. I think that manure tells better on 

 a root crop applied in that way than in any other. I think you 

 can get a better article — certainly you can of some kinds of 

 roots — by using manure partially decomposed in preference to 

 that which is fresh and green. In addition to the barn manure, 

 unless my land is in a high state of cultivation, I use some kind 

 of special manure in the drill when I sow my seed. I have 

 found nothing better for this purpose than good superphosphate. 

 The after cultivation of the crop consists in keeping the weeds 

 down ; and we all know that if we do not pay attention to that, 

 at just the right time, we injure the crop seriously. Farmers 

 are very apt to neglect their root field for a few days ; and if 

 they do neglect it for a few days, at certain seasons of the year, 

 it is most disastrous to the crop ; or, if that is not the result, it 

 increases very materially the expense of cultivation. You take 

 a field of carrots that is nearly covered with weeds, and under- 

 take to get those weeds out thoroughly, and you damage the 

 crop, if not quite as much as you do the weeds, to a great 

 extent at least. Therefore, I say, a field of roots never should 

 be suffered to get weedy. It is in vain to expect to get a crop 

 without thorough cultivation. 



Then in regard to gathering and using the crop. A great 

 deal may be done in the way of economizing the labor by a 

 proper arrangement. I do not know what the common practice 

 is in regard to topping them, but in my case I have found noth- 

 ing better, in harvesting carrots, than to go along with a hoe 

 and take the tops off with that. I then plough a furrow as near 

 as I can to the side of the row, and take a spade or shovel and 

 raise the roots. They are then easily pulled out, thrown into 

 heaps, and put into the cart. Roots are gathered with great 

 facility in that way. There should be a scuttle to the cellar 

 under the barn, so that whole cartloads can be put down at a 

 time. Every arrangement that can be made for the easy hand- 

 ling of this crop is a matter of great importance, for this is one 



