232 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



S. Lincoln. He raised a fine crop for this season, and it was 

 the opinion of a majority of the committee, judging from the 

 appearance of his carrots as compared with others before they 

 were harvested, that if Mr. Lincoln, the farmer, had made an 

 entry of his carrots with Mr. Lincoln the recording secretary 

 of the society, he would have had more than an even chance 

 for a premium. 



William T. Merrifield, of "Worcester, raised a crop upon the 

 same piece of ground upon which he raised a very large crop 

 last year ; but owing to the severe blight with which the carrot 

 crop was very generally afflicted in this vicinity the present 

 year he did not obtain half the amount which he raised on the 

 same ground last year. 



Two of the committee examined a crop belonging to William 

 A. Wheeler, of Worcester, upon which he also raised a very 

 heavy crop last year. Mr. Wheeler's theory is, that in order 

 to grow carrots successfully, the ground should be worked very 

 deeply, thereby obtaining, as he thinks, a greater length of root, 

 and consequently a greater weight from the same amount of land. 

 He caused his ground this year to be spaded to the depth of 

 two feet or more ; but his crop of carrots was very small, and 

 much shorter than the average of those examined by the com- 

 mittee. His crop suffered from the drought in the early part 

 of the season, and the tops were smitten with a blast in the 

 month of September. 



The field of carrots entered by Capt Samuel Perry, of Wor- 

 cester, suffered severely from the blight which came upon them 

 in the latter part of September. The principal portion of his 

 field was sown during the last week of May. A small patch in 

 the same field was not sown, for some cause, until late in July. 

 The carrots on this piece were very large, and the tops not in 

 the least aflfected by the blast. The inference from these facts 

 would seem to be, that if the whole field had not been sown 

 until July, there would have been a much larger crop the pres- 

 ent season at least ; but whether the same result would occur 

 again in one year out of ten, is quite uncertain. 



From all the examinations which the committee have made, 

 and from the best information they have been able to obtain 

 from those most experienced in the culture of the carrot crop, 



