THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 53 



is a golden rule for the careful gardener to trench and lay up in 

 rough ridges in autumn all the plots intended to be sown with tap- 

 roots in the spring. By this means a deep, kindly tilth is secured, 

 as well as a good seed-bed ; for when the dry days of March return, 

 it is but a small task to knock down the ridges, and break the clumps, 

 and make a nice crumbly bed for the seed, which must be sown 

 rather nicely ; in fact, everything in the cultivation of these roots 

 must be done nicely, or there will be no nice result at all. But with 

 a good beginning, there is a good prospect of a good end, for it must 

 be remembered as a set-off against the appearance of trouble that 

 we have at starting, that these things do not require transplanting 

 or watering, and, as a rule, it is very easy work to thin and 

 weed them ; so that it may be fairly said, if you give them a 

 good start they will take care of themselves to the end of the 

 journey. 



The Caeeot claims consideration first, because it is used in 

 every household. For a main crop in good garden soil the ground 

 should be dug two spades deep, without manure, and a good seed- 

 bed should be secured by the first week in April, when the seed 

 should be sown. The best course of procedure is to line out the 

 ground in four-feet beds, with alleys of a foot wide between, and 

 sow in drills drawn across the bed ten inches apart, leaving at the 

 final thinning only four or five plants in a drill. This plan will 

 insure a handsome and a profitable crop with the least possible 

 amount of labour, for the hoe can be plied between the rows most 

 conveniently, and weeding and thinning can be performed without 

 putting the foot on the ground between the plants. But a roughei 

 method may be followed on a clean, sandy soil, well adapted for 

 carrots. The ground being ready, the seed may be sown on the flat 

 in drills a foot apart, without alleys, and the cultivator will then 

 have to go amongst the crop to weed and thin when necessary. If 

 the soil is too poor, a good bed of manure may be laid at the bottom 

 of the trench in preparing the ground, but it must never be mixed 

 with the soil, for that causes the production of forked roots, which 

 are as wasteful as they are ugly. It rarely happens, however, that 

 manure is really required for this crop, for the poorest sand will 

 generally attbrd it nourishment enough, if thoroughly well dug to 

 enable the roots to penetrate deeply for whatever they can find from 

 which to elaborate the fleshy root. The root of a carrot has been 

 traced to a depth of twelve feet ; and we may conclude, therefore, 

 that when properly encouraged, the plant obtains its living on land 

 that few other crops ever touch ; that is, the deep substratum that 

 lies beyond reach of plough or spade. We should always prefer to 

 use manure liberally to aid crops that require high feeding near the 

 surface, such as cauliflowers, celery, and onions, and to grow tap- 

 roots without manure on these plots the next season ; and such for 

 many years past has been our practice. 



The Scaelet Hoek Caeeot is one of the most elegant and 

 delicate vegetables at our command, when properly grown, but com- 

 paratively worthless when mismanaged. To become familiar with 

 this variety in its best possible condition, one must dwell in Paria 



February. „ 



