40 CARROT. 



growth, in such circumstances of clamp weather, or with such 

 watering or treatment after thinning as may least expose the 

 plants to the attack of the Carrot Fly, which frequently 

 occurs after this operation. Whether the fly is attracted hy 

 the scent of the bruised plants, or what brings it is not clear, 

 but it is very clear that as it goes down into the ground to lay 

 its eggs on or by the Carrots, that all operations which leave 

 the soil unusually loose and open, lay at the same time the 

 Carrot-roots open to attack ; and it will be observed that the 

 various methods of treatment, in regard to thinning, bear on 

 the means of meeting this difficulty. Observations as to kinds 

 of manure, and special applications, as salt, gas-lime, wood- 

 ashes, &c., found to be serviceable, are also given. 



The notes are classed as far as possible in groups, with 

 reference to the point mainly brought forward in the observa- 

 tion. The notes immediately following refer to lyrcparation 

 of the ground and time of thinning. At a locality near 

 l)ingwall, N.B., where the ground is a damp heavy clay, and 

 consequently unsuitable for Carrots, a piece was prepared in 

 1874, on which they were found to answer very well sub- 

 sequently year by year. The soil was removed to the depth 

 of two feet, and replaced by a mixture of well-decayed leaf- 

 mould, sand, charcoal, soot, and light soil ; on this the 

 Carrots have only suffered slight injury, when other beds in 

 the neighbourhood have been destroyed by the fly. 



It is advised that Carrots should ho. thinned out to the dis- 

 tance at which they are to be grown, when they are weeded 

 the first time, for if they are thinned after they come to any 

 size, the soil is opened round the Carrots, and if dry weather 

 follows, the fly is sure to attack them. — G. M'K. 



At another locality near Dingwall it was the custom to sow 

 sparingly, and not thin the Carrots till fit for use ; and — in 

 illustration of attack of grub or *' worm " following on thin- 

 ing — it was observed that in 1880, after commencing this 

 process with the second sowing of Carrots, " the grub com- 

 menced too, and within three weeks spoiled them for use. 

 Late ones alongside escaped until we began to use them ; but 

 by keeping to the side the grub was on, it kept up, but did 

 not advance beyond the damaged part." — (A. S.) 



"Unless the Carrots are thinned very early* it should not 

 be done till they are fit for use, as there is great danger 

 of attracting the fly by the broken pieces of root remaining 

 in the ground." — (A. A.) 



At Dunrobin, N.B., the ground was carefully trenched, and 

 the manure kept about a foot or fifteen inches from the 

 surface ; and it was the practice to use the best seed, sow 

 thinly, and thin early, or not till the Carrots are fit for use. 



