794 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



either by means of the trench-plough following the common one, or by the common one 

 alone, with a good strength of team ; but the former method is to be preferred, wherever 

 the lands are inclined to be stiff' or heavy. Three ploughings arc mostly found sufficient, 

 where the land has been previously in a state of tillage ; but more may in other cases be 

 necessary. The first ploughing should be made to the depth of ten, twelve, or fourteen 

 inches, and be performed when the soil is tolerably dry, about the beginning of October. 

 It may remain in this condition till towards the middle of February, when it should 

 be turned over a second time, but in a cross direction, to nearly the same depths. In 

 March, a third ploughing may be given, in order to the putting in of the seed. This 

 may be somewhat lighter than the preceding ones. As soon as the last ploughing has 

 been given in March, the land should be harrowed, and the surface made as fine as 

 possible. 



4930. tn Suffolk the farmers sow carrots after turnips, barley, and pease set upon 

 a rye-grass ley ; the crops upon the first have generally been most productive ; next 

 to that they prefer the latter. In the first place they feed off the turnips by the 

 beginning of February, and then lay the land up on small balks or furrows, in which 

 state it remains till the second week in March, when it is harrowed down, double-furrow- 

 ed to the depth of about twelve inches, and the seed sown. 



4931. The climate most suitable to the carrot is the same as for the turnip ; but they 

 will thrive better than the turnip in a dry and warm climate, and are consequently of 

 better growth in the south of England and France, in proportion to their size, in moist 

 climates as Holland and Ireland, than the turnip. 



4932. Manure, according to some, should not be given to carrots the year they are 

 sown, as it is alleged when the roots meet with it they become forked, scabbed, and 

 wormy. This, however, is chiefly applicable to cases in which recent unfermented 

 manure has been given, or where other manure has not been properly broken in pieces 

 and spread over the soil or in the drills. The Suffolk and Norfolk farmers, who ai-e the 

 best carrot growers, always use dung ; a suitable proportion of well-rotted farm-yard 

 dung being constantly turned into the soil at the last ploughing in March, as it has been 

 fully shewn, by various trials detailed in The Annals of Agriculture, and other books on 

 husbandry, that, though good crops of carrots may be occasionally grown without the use 

 of manure, it is only by the liberal application of that substance that the greatest pro- 

 duce possible can be obtained, as they are in general found to bear a relative proportion 

 to the quantity that may haVe been employed. 



4933. Burrows prepares the land with a good dressing of about sixteen cart loads 

 per acre of rotten farm-yard manure, or cottager's ashes : the load about as much 

 as three able horses can draw, and, if bought, costs about four shillings and sixpence 

 per load, besides the carting on the land. He usually sows wheat stubbles after 

 clover, ploughing the first time in autumn, and once more in the early part of the month 

 of February, if the weather permits ; setting on the manure at the time of sowing, which 

 is about the last week in March, or sometimes as late as the second week in April. 



4934. In Suffolk, when carrots are intended to be sown after pease, they usually plough 

 the stubble as soon as the harvest is over, in order that the land may clear itself of weeds ; 

 in December, it is laid up in small balks to receive the benefit of the frosts; in February, 

 it is harrowed down, and manured at the rate of fifteen loads per acre ; the manure is 

 ploughed in to the depth of about four inches, and in the month of March the land is 

 double- furrowed, and the seed sown. By pursuing this method, they say, the manure 

 lies in the Centre of the soil, and not only affords nourishment and support to the carrot 

 in its perpendicular progress, but renders it easy to be turned up by a single ploughing, 

 and greatly promotes the growth of the succeeding crop of barley. In Norfolk, it is tlie 

 practice to sow carrots after a crop of turnips. The manure, after being put on the land 

 in the beginning of March, is first ploughed in with a common plough, and afterwards 

 trench -ploughed about fourteen or fifteen inches deep j it is then harrowed very fine, and 

 the seed sown about the middle of March. 



4935. The season for sowinii the carrot preferred by Burrows, is the last week in 

 March or first in April ; but he prefers the first period, having generally found early 

 soVvn crops the most productive. 



4936. The usual preparation of the seed ibr sowing is by mixing it with earth or sand, 

 to cause it to separate more freely ; but Burrows adds water, turns over the mixture 

 of seeds and moist earth several times, and thus brings it to the point of vegetating 

 before he sows it. ** Having weighed the quantity of seed to be sown, and collected 

 sand or fine mould, in the proportion of about two bushels to an acre, I mix the seed 

 with the sand or mould, eight or ten pounds to every two bushels, and this is done 

 about a fortnight or three weeks before the time I intend sowing ; taking care to have 

 the heaps turned over every day, sprinkling the outside of them with water each time of 

 turning over, that every part of the sand heaps may be equally moist, and that vegeta- 

 tion may take place alike throughout. I have great advantage in preparing the seed so 



