CULTURE OF THE CARROT. 183 



golds may stand a foot apart in the rows. If they are a 

 foot apart in the rows, the rows being two feet apart, 

 there will be more than twenty thousand plants to the acre. 



629. The Mangold may be harvested in October. If 

 the root is bruised or injured it is liable to decay, and care 

 should be taken to guard against the possibility of this. 

 When well stored in a cool cellar or in pits dug for the 

 purpose, it will keep through the winter, and cattle of all 

 kinds are very fond of it. 



630. The Carrot. The carrot is very valuable as a 

 forage crop, and is extensively cultivated and highly 

 esteemed. No root is more relished by domestic animals. 

 Weight for weight it is somewhat less nutritive than the 

 potato ; but its greater yield per acre more than makes 

 up for the difference in quality. 



631. Horses are especially fond of it, and when not 

 kept at very hard work, should have it as part of their 

 regular food. It keeps up their condition, and gives them 

 a fine glossy coat. When fed to cows it increases the 

 richness of the milk somewhat, and is supposed by some 

 to give a richer color to the butter, while for sheep and 

 lambs it is also a valuable article of food. 



632. The cultivation of the carrot is generally more 

 expensive than that of most other root crops. It requires 

 much slow and toilsome hand labor, unless great care be 

 taken to avoid sowing the seeds of weeds with the manure. 

 But on clean land, and with the use of concentrated 

 manures like ashes, plaster, guano or old and well 

 decomposed compost, the cost of the crop need not be 

 much greater than that of other roots. 



633. There are several varieties of this root, all of 

 which probably came from the common wild carrot of 

 Europe, the Daucus carota. The most valuable for field 



