UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE 77 



grown, form several sub-varieties, which difter chiefly in the size and colour 

 of the root. The red, or large field Carrot, is sown mostly in fields for 

 cattle; but the more delicately-flavoured kind, termed the Orange Carrot, 

 though not so productive, is better fitted for the table, and is usually sown 

 in gardens. There are also white, yellow, and purple rooted varieties of the 

 Carrot. Their size differs much according to soil and culture, but Carrots 

 have been known to measure two feet in length, and from twelve to fourteen 

 inches in circumference at the thickest part of the root. Michael Drayton, 

 in the "Poly-olbion," gives us a list of the choicest vegetables in use in his 

 day, and classes the Carrot among them : — 



' ' The colewort, colliflower, and cabbage in their season, 

 The roiincefall gi-eat, beans, and early ripening peason ; 

 The onion, scallion, leek, which housewives highly rate, 

 Their kinsman garlic, then the poor man's Mithridate ; 

 The savoury parsnip next, and Carrot, pleasing food, 

 The skirret, which some say, in salads stirs the blood ; 

 The turnep, tasting well to clowns in winter weather, 

 Thus in one verse we put roots, herbes, and fruits together : 

 The great moist iiompion then, that on the ground doth lie, 

 A purer of this kind, the sweet musk mellon by, 

 Which dainty palates now, because they would not want, 

 Have kindly learnt to set, as yearly to transplant." 



Sheep, horses, and cows are very extensively fed upon Carrots ; poultry 

 thrive well on these roots, and in some severe winters they have proved very 

 useful food for deer. They contain a greater portion of saccharine matter 

 than can be found in any of the Cerealia, the dried Carrot yielding an eighth 

 part of this substance in combination with starch. This quantity of sugary 

 substance has induced experimentalists to endeavour to make sugar from the 

 root, but without success, as it would not form crystals. 



The wild Carrot is in flower in June and July, and the blossoms are 

 succeeded by the rough bristly fruits. The hairs on their surface are so 

 forked and numerous, that the separation of the carpels, in order to get at 

 the seeds, is a work of difficulty, as they adhere so very closely. The leaves 

 are sometimes a foot long, and so graceful that we wonder not that in the 

 time of James I., when the cultivated plant was rare, the courtly dames wore 

 the tasteful plume in halls and palaces. Few leaves, indeed, are more 

 elegant ; and Loudon has pointed out that, if in the winter a section be cut 

 from the end or thick part of the carrot, and this be placed in a shallow 

 vessel, containing water, young and delicate leaves are developed, forming a 

 radiated tuft, the graceful and verdant effect of which makes it a pleasing 

 ornament for the mantel-piece in that season, when any semblance of vegeta- 

 tion is a welcome relief to the eye. 



The old herbalists applied the Carrot-leaves to wounds, and considered a 

 decoction good for the dropsy, preferring the wild to the garden roots. 



2. Sea-side Carrot [D. mari'timus). — Leaves thrice pinnate; leaflets 

 pinnatifid, with rounded segments ; root biennial. This plant, which is 

 usually shorter and thicker than the common Carrot, is probably but a 

 variety of it. It differs from that in having broader and more fleshy root- 

 leaves, convex instead of concave umbels, and stouter prickles on its fruits. 

 The flowers are usually white, though in some cases tinged with red ; and 



