ROOTS AND VEGETABLES. 55 



CARR013. 



We raise carrots to color butter with, and to feed to milch 

 cows. For butter-coloring, raise the " early scarlet-horn ; " 

 for stock, raise the " long orange." Don't let your carrots 

 stand too thick in the row. Five or six inches is near 

 enough. I remember going into a neighbor's field of 

 carrots last summer, and found them standing only two or 

 three inches apart in the row ; and in the fall he was ready 

 with the remark that " it was a poor year for carrots." If 

 we can raise carrots, and sell them to the livery-stable 

 keepers for fifteen dollars per ton, I think it would be a good 

 crop ; but I would not raise them to feed to my cows, or to 

 the horses we work on our farms. It is an expensive crop 

 to raise, and is actually no better for cows than beets, and 

 not so good as turnips for working horses. 



Carrot-seed is one of the weakest germinating of all seeds, 

 slow to sprout, and hard to see or find after it gets above the 

 surface of the ground. For this reason, a larger quantity of 

 seed should be sown than is necessary for the crop ; so that 

 it may be strong enough to raise itself through the earth, 

 and stand erect above it ; and I have practised for two years 

 sowing a little radish-seed with the carrot-seed, and then 

 3~ou don't have any difficulty in finding the rows, and it 

 assists greatly in weeding to be able to do this easily and 

 readily. 



RADISHES. 



Prepare the bed as for onions, making the soil as smooth 

 and fine as possible with your rake and fork ; then sow the 

 radish-seed broadcast, and rake and roll it in. After they 

 get up two inches high, attend to the thinning, if necessary, 

 , and they will need no further care till they are ready to pull, 

 — about six or seven weeks from the time of sowing. Some 

 strong commercial fertilizer should be used for radishes 

 instead of stable-manure ; but it must not be applied too 

 plentifully. Radishes are very profitable when raised near 

 market. A gentleman who raises for Springfield market told 

 me that last spring's radish-crop was the most profitable of 

 any he raised during the vegetable season. 



