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PROFITABLE GARDENING. 



CHAPTER VIII. GENERAL ROOT CULTURE:— CARROT, PARSNIP, TURNIP. 



Tap-hooted plants like a rich, deep, j open ground, should never be sown 



light soil in fine tilth, and with no 

 recent manure present in it. The 

 ground should be dug two spades deep, 

 and ridged up during winter, to pro- 

 duce a fine crop of carrots or parsnips, 

 and a piece should be chosen that was 

 well manured last season. If manure 

 seems requisite, it should be laid at 

 the bottom of the trench. Pigeons 1 

 dung is an excellent manure for car- 

 rots. The parsnip is the hardiest 



till the middle of March, in the warm- 

 est districts in London, and northwards 

 it is best to defer it till the first week 

 in April, for it is rather a tender crop. 

 The ground should have been well 

 prepared and the surface brought to a 

 fine condition, and marked into four- 

 feet beds, with one-foot alleys between. 

 Choose a fine calm day for sowing, 

 rake the bed over, and sprinkle the 

 seed either broadcast or in drills — the 



and the most generally useful ; indeed, latter being preferable because the crop 



where there is a family, an immense 

 number can be used during winter 

 and spring, but both carrots and 

 parsnips are delicious, if cooked fresh- 

 drawn from the bed, just before they 

 have completed their growth for the 

 season. 



For a new early crop of carrots, 

 choose the Early Horn, and sow on 

 a slight hot-bed at the end of January. 

 A bed two feet and a half high will do, 

 because a great heat is not necessary. 

 As soon as the rank steams have passed 

 off, cover the dung with about ten or 

 twelve inches of light soil, make all 

 smooth and firm, and sow thickly, just 



can be kept cleaner. Most people rub 

 the seeds with a little sand or coal- 

 ashes, to separate it, but with a little 

 care in the handling this is not at all 

 necessary. Horn carrots should be 

 in drills eight inches apart, and the 

 large growing sorts ten inches. As 

 soon as the plants are up and strong 

 enough to handle, thin them out to 

 four or five inches apart, or if you 

 want a crop of large carrots, and do 

 not intend to draw any young, thin at 

 once to eight or ten inches apart, but 

 it is better to leave them a little closer 

 than that at the first thinning. The 

 ground should then be hoed over with 



covering the seed with a sprinkling of ! an onion hoe, to destroy weeds, and 



sand, or a little fine earth sifted over 

 them. Cover the beds either with 

 mats or frames, give plenty of air 

 whenever the weather permits, but 

 keep out frost- As soon as the plants 

 are up, thin them out to two inches 

 apart, which leaves sufficient room for 

 them to swell to a fair size. "When- 

 ever they require water, it must be 

 administered moderately, and in a 



this must be repeated till the crop 

 spreads over and clears the ground 

 itself. During wet weather, when the 

 plants have got pretty forward, they 

 may have a final thinning, and the 

 thinnings will be useful indoors. When 

 the tops begin to suffer from night 

 frosts, take up the crop on a dry day, 

 cut the tops off, and store away the 

 roots in dry sand, and they will keep 



tepid state. An early crop may be good till early carrots come in to take 

 obtained in the open ground by sowing : their place. To obtain young carrots 

 on a sloping bed in a well protected j in autumn, make a sowing in May, 

 spot facing the south, about the middle and another in July, and if these 

 of February. The same sort may be are not drawn in autumn, they may 

 chosen ; the ground should be light j be kept in the ground all the winter 

 and rich, and as soon as the seed is with a little care. During frost cover 

 sown, cover it with pea haulm or litter j them with mats or litter, but if the 

 to keep out frost, but in fine weather \ frost is very severe, the whole may be 

 remove the covering, placing it on j lost, so that winter carrots are not to 



again at night. By careful attention 

 a very fine gathering may be had in 

 May. 



The main crop of carrots in the 



be classed among the most certain of 

 crops. 



For garden culture nothing beats 

 the Long Surrey for colour and shape, 



