CARROT. 127 



tuft of leaves. We have seen very pretty winter orna- 

 ments made by suspending these carrot-heads in damp moss ; 

 all that is necessary is to slice the top off the carrot, say 

 half an inch deep, and then keep it moist. Our plant 

 is in France the carotte, and in Italy the corota. The 

 derivation of the word is obscure, but it has been suggested 

 that it owes its origin to the Celtic word car, signifying red. 

 The only drawback that one feels in accepting this etymology 

 is a doubt as to whether the Celtic peoples cultivated the 

 carrot at all. It is only the cultivated root that is red, the 

 wild one being yellow in colour ; if, therefore, they only 

 knew it in its wild state, they would naturally have called 

 it by some name signifying yellow-rooted. 



The generic name Danciis is handed down to us from 

 the old Greek writers; there seems to be no reasonable 

 doubt that the plant so called by Dioscorides and other 

 old authorities is the carrot. Pliny speaks of the finest 

 carrots being procurable in his day from Candia, and we 

 from time to time meet with other references that seem 

 to identify the ancient plant with the root so well known 

 to ourselves. The carrot was in ancient times much valued 

 for its medicinal properties, and the old Greek name refers 

 to its stimulating character. Carrots contain a large 

 amount of sugar. From one pound of carrots we are able to 

 obtain one ounce and eleven grains of sugar, while out of 

 the sixteen ounces fourteen are water. In the interesting 

 catalogue of the Food Collection at Bethnal Green Museum, 

 prepared by Dr. Lankester, we learn that the maximum 

 amount of work produceable by a pound of carrots is that 

 it will enable a man to raise sixty-four tons one foot high, 

 so that it would appear to be a very efficient force-producer. 

 The amount of water will probably surprise many people; 



