422 On the Culture of Carrots. 



the tops: the only precaution is to have a store housed, in case 

 a frost should prevent the work going on. The method of taking 

 up is, for a man to strike a spade or a four-pronged fork into 

 the earth against the root, and loosening it, a boy draws, cuts 

 oflf the top, and throws the roots into heaps for the carts: the 

 expense varies according to the soil, from something more than 

 a farthing to a halfpenny and a penny per bushel ; as in loams, 

 cleaning the roots adds much to the trouble of the work ; nor 

 can the man raise them with equal ease. Mr. Billing ploughed 

 them up, and harrowing the land, the crop was eaten by sheep : 

 in this method, taking up cost nothing ; but it is an operation 

 which demands much attention, and is on the whole an inferior 

 practice. 



Carting home is an additional expense, which amounted, in 

 Mr. Burrows's various accounts, from Qd. to \Ad. per load of 

 twenty bushels ; that of Mr. llodwell's to \^\d. ; and that of 

 Mr. Brewer's to 22\d. ; but the last-mentioned gentleman adds 

 to the words, carting home, an et cceteru, probably including the 

 expense of packing up in a small store. Tlie charge must ne- 

 cessarily depend on the distance of the field from the home-stall, 

 reckoned by one-horse loads of twenty bushels; of course I have 

 the expense is double fo;- tumbril loads of forty bushels. 



Chap. XII. — Storing. 



If the soil on which this root is cultivated be a dry sand, leaving 

 them in the field is the preferable method, as carts can go on to 

 such a soil the winter through without damage: but the case is 

 very different on many loams sufficiently dry to produce carrots, 

 but not enough so to bear winter carting. In this case the crop 

 should be taken up in a dry autumnal season, and the whole 

 stored at home for use, as wanted. Many methods of effecting 

 this have been tried ; but it must not be concealed, that they 

 have on various occ.isions failed. If potatoes are safe against 

 frosts, they are sure to be well preserved ; but this is not the 

 case with carrots, a root much more in danger of heating and 

 rotting than of freezing. I have myself practised various me- 

 thods, and seen the management of other skilful farmers, and 

 the modes which have been most successful may be thus described : 

 lu taking up the crop, the boys should make the heaps of roots 

 small, and rather scattered, that they may dry the better ; and 

 tliese heaps should be left, according to weather, till they are 

 (juitc dry: this is a material point, and not to be neglected: when 

 well dried, they may be close packed in a boarded building, with 

 a very little straw surrounding them, or in a circular conical 

 form four feet diameter, and six or seven high ; and if the top is 

 left upon one carrot in twenty, it will form a sufTicient defence 



ajiainbt 



