ROOTS AND TUBERS WE EAT 179 



Plant wild carrot seed in rich garden soil and 

 the stringy, white root of the roadside weed be- 

 comes more fleshy. Save seed of this favored 

 plant, and see still more fleshy roots on the plants 

 that come from this seed. Vilmorin, a great 

 French horticulturist, got a very creditable garden 

 carrot in the third generation. Just as surprising 

 is the change that comes to neglected plants of the 

 best varieties: three generations of running wild 

 will reduce the fleshy-rooted, tender carrot to the 

 stringy, strong-flavored type of its wild original 

 species. It reverts promptly. 



Carrots have two distinct layers of flesh under 

 the thin skin. The outer layer is richer in food 

 elements and less fibrous than the inner one, which 

 gardeners call the core. The effort to reduce this 

 inferior middle portion and increase the nutritious 

 outer flesh has succeeded in developing a coreless 

 group of varieties. In shape, and colors, carrots 

 offer considerable range for our choice. White 

 ones are grown for cattle. For the table, carrots 

 are red, orange, or yellow. From long, tapering 

 roots they range to round, turnip shapes. Some of 

 the choicest kinds are small and shaped like a 

 frankfurter. There are early, medium, and late 

 varieties; the last are among the best winter 

 vegetables for storage in root cellars or in pits. 



