Book VI, THE CARROT. TqS 



long beforehand ; it is by this means in a state of forward vegetation, therefore lies 

 but a short time in the ground, and by quickly appearing above ground, is more able 

 to contend with those numerous tribes of weeds in the soil, whose seeds are of quicker 

 vegetation." (Supp. ^c.) 



4937. Crude, the French translator of Von Thaer's work, describes in a note (torn, iv. 

 237. ) a practice nearly similar to that of Burrows. Crude uses sciure (night soil) instead 

 of earth, and waters with the drainings of dunghills. He keeps the mixture in a warm, 

 but shady situation for eight days ; by that time the seed is nearly ready to vegetate, 

 and he sows it immediately. 



4938. The qxiantity of seed when carrots are sown in rows, is two pounds per acre, 

 and for broad-cast sowing five pounds. Burrows sows ten pounds per acre in the 

 broad-cast manner. 



4939. The usual mode of sowing the carrot is broad-cast; but a much better mode 

 in our opinion would be to sow them in rows at twelve or fourteen inches distance ; 

 drawing the drills, and hoeing the intervals by any suitable drill and hoe. The 

 most common practice, however, when carrots are best cultivated, is the hand or 

 broad-cast method, the seed being dispersed as evenly as possible over the land, after 

 the surface has been reduced to a very fine state of pulverisation by harrowing, in 

 order to provide a suitable bed for it to vegetate in ; being then covered in by 

 means of a light harrow. As the seed of the carrot is not of a nature to be depo- 

 sited with much regularity by the drill, and as the young plants can be easily set 

 out to proper distances in the operation of hoeing, this is probably the most appro- 

 priate method of putting such sort of seed into the ground. And an additional 

 proof of it is indeed found, in its being that which is almost universally adopted in 

 those districts where carrot-husbandry is practised to the greatest extent. But with 

 the view of having the after-culture of the crops more perfectly performed, and at 

 the same time to save the great expense of hand-labor in hoeing the crop, the drill 

 method has been attempted by some cultivators, but we believe without complete suc- 

 cess. The work is finished in equi-distant rows at the distance of from twelve to 

 fifteen or eighteen inches from each other, according to the mode of hoeing that is 

 practised. In this business some cultivators do not make use of drill-machines, but 

 strike the laud into small furrows by hoes or other implements contrived for the pur- 

 pose, and then cast the seed over the ground by the hand, covering it in either by 

 slight ^harrowing, or hoeing in the tops of the ridgelets. It is added, that " in this 

 method, where a drill-machine is used, it has been advised by an intelligent cultivator 

 to deposit the seed to the depth of one inch in the rows, leaving the spaces of fourteen 

 inches between them as intervals ; the seed in these cases being previously steeped in 

 rain-water for twenty-four hours, and left to sprout, after which it is mixed with saw- 

 dust and dry-mould, in the proportion of one peck and a half of each to a pound of 

 the seed. The land is afterwards lightly harrowed over once in a place. Two pounds 

 of seed in this mode is found, as has been observed, suflScient for an acre of land." 



4940. The after-culture given the carrot consists entirely of hoeing and weeding* In 

 Suffolk they are hoed generally three times in the season. The first time, as soon as 

 the plants can be distinguished from the weeds which surround them, which should be 

 done with three-inch hoes, having handles not above two feet in length. It is an oper- 

 ation that requires to be performed with great attention, as it is extremely diflScult to 

 distinguish and separate the young carrots from the weeds. The second hoeing should 

 be given in three or four weeks afterwards, according to the forwardness of the crop ; 

 it may be performed with common hoes, care being taken to set out the plants at proper 

 distances. From eight to fifteen or eighteen inches, each way, is the common distance 

 at which they are allowed to stand; and it has been proved, from many years' experi- 

 ence, in districts where they are most cultivated, that carrots which grow at such dis- 

 tances always prove a more abundant crop than when the plants are allowed to stand closer 

 together. The third hoeing is commonly made about the middle or end of June, and 

 in this, besides destroying the weeds, another material circumstance to be attended to, 

 is to set out the carrots at proper distances, and also, wherever any have been left double 

 at the former hoeings, to take the worst of the two plants away. 



4941. Carrots sown according to the j)lan of Burrows, are ready to hoe within about 

 five or six weeks. He hoes three and sometimes four times, or until the crop is per- 

 fectly clean : the first hoeing is with hoes four inches long, and two and a /juarter inches 

 wide. The second hoeing invariably takes place as soon as the first is completed, and 

 is performed with six-inch hoes, by two and a quarter inches wide. By this time the 

 plants are set ; the first time of hoeing nothing was cut but the weeds. He leaves the 

 plants nine inches apart from each other ; sometimes they will be a foot, or even farther 

 asunder. 



4942. Carrots are taken up generally in the last week of October. Burrows's 

 practice is to let the work to a man ^ho engages women and children to assist him ; 



