CARRIER PIGEON 



1202 



CARROT 



carriage out of many rural districts. The 

 different leading varieties of carriages will be 

 found described in these volumes under the 

 names by which they have become known. 



CARRIER PIGEON, pij'un, or HOMING 

 PIGEON, a variety of domestic pigeon, which, 

 because of wonderful flying powers and its 

 love of home, can be trained to carry mes- 

 sages. Carrier pigeons are larger than the 



CARRIER PIGEON 



doves, and they have long wings, a large mass 

 of naked skin at the base of the beak, and a 

 circle of naked skin around the eyes. Their 

 speed is marvelous, and the distance they can 

 fly without rest seems almost unbelievable. 

 An American homing pigeon is known to have 

 made a journey of 1,040 miles without stop- 

 ping. It is thought that the pigeon was first 

 used as a carrier by the Chinese, but the date 

 is unknown. When Joshua invaded Palestine, 

 however, this means was used to communicate 

 with the camps on either side of the Jordan. 



Carrier pigeons are trained for service in war. 

 During the War of the Nations (which see) 

 they carried thousands of messages, flying at a 

 height of about one-half mile. Seldom was one 

 killed, owing to swiftness of flight and small size. 

 Messages are placed in small capsules, tied just 

 above the foot. 



CAR 'ROLL, CHARLES (1737-1832), an Amer- 

 ican statesman of Revolutionary fame, who 

 gave freely of his wealth to further the patriot 

 cause, and was influential throughout the war 

 and during the early national period. He was 

 born in Annapolis, Md., but received his edu- 

 cation abroad. On his return to Maryland 

 in 1765 he settled on an estate in Frederick 

 County, the name of which appears in all his 

 signatures, for, to distinguish himself from 

 others who had his name, he always signed 

 himself, "Charles Carroll of Carrollton." In 

 1776 he was elected to the Continental Con- 

 gress from Maryland, and was one of the 

 signers of the Declaration of Independence; 

 it is an interesting fact in connection with 



this that he outlived all of the other signers. 

 In 1776 the Continental Congress sent him, 

 with Samuel Chase and Benjamin Franklin, 

 on a fruitless mission to Canada in the hope 

 of persuading the Canadians to join cause with 

 the Americans. In 1789 he was elected as the 

 first Senator from Maryland under the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, serving until 

 1792. Carroll's last public act was performed 

 on July 4, 1828, when he turned the first spade- 

 ful of earth in the building of the Baltimore 

 & Ohio Railroad the first passenger railway 

 in the United States. 



CARROLL, LEWIS. See DODGSON, CHARLES. 



CARROT, kair'ut, a familiar garden and field 

 vegetable of the parsley family, cultivated for 

 its root, which is both a table and a stock 

 food. The plant is a biennial; that is, its 

 entire period of growth extends through two 



THE CARROT 



Illustration shows plant stalk, leaves, flowers, 

 seed and root. 



seasons (see BIENNIAL). The roots are yellow, 

 white or reddish, and are slender and taper- 

 ing, those raised for table use being smaller 

 and finer-grained than the stock varieties. Car- 

 rots are grown from the seed. Those for the 

 table may be sown in the spring as soon as the 

 weather is settled; the rows should be from 

 one to two feet apart, and the growing plants 

 kept from two to three inches apart in the row. 

 They thrive best in a rich soil containing sand 

 and clay, and need little attention. 



Carrots for stock are planted in April or 

 May and grow well into the fall before matur- 

 ing. The roots are an excellent food for farm 



