On the Cidiure of Carrots. 419 



the quantity may be smaller than upon loam : in my own practice 

 I sowed 5 lbs,, but had reason to tliink six, seven, or eight might 

 have been better ; the expense of hoeing will however somewhat 

 increase with the quantity sown. The choice of seed is a point 

 of great consequence; it should always be new, as old seed is 

 always a week later of coming up, which increases the difficulty 

 in hoeing : good seed, when rubbed in the hand, yields a pleasant 

 aromatic scent. The most careful cultivators steep it for forty - 

 eight hours in water ; and Mr. Burrows mixes it well with earth 

 for a week, with the same view. It is absolutely necessary to 

 break the clinging fibres of the seed, by which it is so apt to adhere 

 together, and render even sowing difficult: some force it repeatedly 

 through wire sieves ; others thrash it with flails ; but at all events 

 the object must be, by some means, attained, as it is, of all seeds, 

 perhaps, the most difficult to sow well : with every precaution, 

 it is necessary to sow it on a calm day, or a regular distribution 

 will not he secured. I have had Woodbridge seedsmen, who 

 came above thirty miles, to sow a crop, and not being sufficiently 

 careful in respect to wind, I could see the error in the produce. 



Chap. VIII. — Broadcast Crops. 

 The general practice in Suifolk is to sow the seed broadcast ; 

 and the fiumers are so persuaded that this is the best method, 

 that they will not hear of drilling: they think the roots should 

 not be more than nine or ten inches asunder, which, in their 

 opinion, excludes the use of the drill. 



Chap. IX.— Drilled Crops. 

 Exj)criments have been made in various parts of the kingdom, 

 and some of them with much success ; but in other ca.^cs they 

 have failed. Mr. Ray, of Suffolk, gained repeated crops in this 

 manner, of 650 and 700 bushels per acre, at the distance of 

 fourteen inches. Mr. Hewitt, of Yorkshire, had 640 bushels at 

 twelve inches. Mr. Legrand, of Kent, drilled them at eleven 

 inches ; his crops were from twenty to thirty tons per acre ; 

 twenty tons are «00 bushels. At Wolverley, in Worcestershire, 

 they have been drilled at one foot asunder, and produced fifteen 

 torn, or 600 bushels per acre. Mr. Butterworth, of Scotland, 

 also drilled them at a foot, and gained l.^l tons per Scotch acre. 

 The register of several failures is before me ; but as they would not 

 afford useful conclusions, 1 shall only observe, that when any prac- 

 tice is proved by experiment to be profitable, counter trials which 

 fail do not merit much attention ; we may always conclude that 

 the experiments failed in sonje step of the progress (however 

 dilficult it may be to discover the particular cause of that failure), 

 for want of the registered details of such trials being suffi- 

 ciently minute : it is ascertained, that carrots will greatly succeed 



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