D A (J 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



D A tr 



4.1f 



(pits should never be taken, but thin ones that the clods may 

 be well broken, which if not attended to by the master him- 

 ttelf, is very seldom properly performed by workmen. The 

 ground, when thus dug, must belaid level ; or, when it is raked 

 over after the seeds are sown, part of them will be too deeply 

 buried, and others will run the risk of being drawn up into 

 heaps, which will compel the plants to come up in bunches, 

 while large plots of ground will be left unoccupied ; all of 

 which should always be carefully avoided. The seeds have 

 n great quantity of small forked hairs upon their borders, 

 by which they adhere so closely, that it is difficult to sow 

 them so as to prevent them from coming up in patches ; they 

 should therefore be rubbed well through both hands, whereby 

 the seed will be separated before it is sown : a calm day 

 aliouUI be chosen to sow it in, for it is impossible to sow it 

 equal when the wind blows, as the seeds being very light 

 will be blown into heaps. As soon as it is sown, the ground 

 should be trodden pretty closely with the feet, that the seed 

 maybe buried, and then the surface may be raked to make 

 it level. When the plants are come up, and have got four 

 leaves, the ground should be hoed with a small hoe about 

 three inches wide, cutting down all young weeds, and sepa- 

 rating the plants to four inches' distance each way, that they 

 may acquire strength ; and, in about a month or five weeks 

 after, \vhen the weeds begin togrow again, the groundshould 

 be hoed over a second time-, in which two Carrots ought not 

 to be left close to each other, but should be separated to a 

 greater distance, cutting down every weed, but slightly stir- 

 ring; the surface of the ground in every place, the better to 

 prevent young weeds from springing, as well as to facilitate 

 the growth of the young Carrots : in about a month or five 

 weeks afterwards, they must be hoed a third time, and the 

 weeds removed as before. The Carrots should now be cut 

 out to the distance they are to remain, which must be pro- 

 portioned to the size at which it is intended they should 

 urrive : if they be intended for drawing young, five or six 

 inches asunder will be sufficient, but if to grow large before 

 they are pulled up, they should be left eight or ten inches 

 every way ap-.irt ; the weeds must also be again removed, as 

 tli'-v will greatly retard the Carrots, if suffered to grow among 

 them. The second season for sowing is in February, on warm 

 banks situated near the shelter of a wall, pale, or hedge ; 

 hut those which are intended for the open large quarters 

 ohould not be sown before the beginning of March, nor any 

 later than the end of that month, for those sown in April or 

 May will run up to seed before their roots have any bulk, 

 especially if the weather should prove hot and dry. In July 

 you may sow again for an nutumnal crop, and at the end of 

 August some more to stand for the winter, by which method 

 you will have early Carrots in March, before the spring 

 sowing will be fit to draw ; hut these are seldom so well 

 tasted, and are often very tough and sticky : however, as 

 young Carrots are generally expected early in the spring, 

 most people sow some :it this season ; but these should be 

 sown upon warm hordt-rs and dry land, otherwise they are 

 seMom good. If tin- winter should prove very severe, it will 

 be proper to .-over the young Carrots with pease-haulm, the 

 haulm of Asparagus, or some such light covering, to prevent 

 the frost from destroying the roots; but if in very hard winters 

 nil the Carrots should be killed, a hot-bed may be made early 

 in the spring, to sow some, which will be fit for use long 

 before any that are iwn in the full ground ; thesebeds, how- 

 r-"T, should be earthed fifteen or sixteen inches deep, that 

 tin- roots may have a proper depth of soil to run down. If 

 the beds be lined with hot dnngtwicc, at such times when 

 th.^ir heat begins to decline, it will greatly forward the growth 



of the Carrots, but great care should also be taken to avoid 

 drawing the plants up too weak: these may be allowed togrow 

 closer together than those sown in the full ground, because 

 they will be drawn up for use when very young. Many per- 

 sons mix several other sorts of seeds, as Leek, Onion, I'arsnep, 

 Radish, amongst theirCarrots, and others plant Beans ; but 

 none of these methods are good, for if there be a full crop of 

 one of these plants, there can be no room for any thing else 

 amongst them ; so that what is got by one is lost by another. 

 It is not only more sightly, but actually better for the plants 

 of each kind to be sown separate ; for by this means the 

 ground will be clear when the crop is gone, to sow or plant 

 any thing else ; but when three or four kinds are mixed to- 

 gether, the ground is seldom at liberty before the succeeding 

 spring; besides where tall-growing plants are introduced 

 among the Carrots, they are apt to make them grow more in 

 top than root. The covetousness of some gardeners will not 

 permit them to cut out their Carrots to a proper distance 

 when they hoe them, so that by leaving them too close they 

 draw each other up weak, and never recover their strength 

 when so drawn, as those do which are properly thinned at the 

 first hoeing ; therefore where the Carrots are designed to have 

 large roots, they must never stand too close, nor should thry 

 have any other crop mixed with them. Culture in the Field. 

 It is only of late years that the Carrot has been cultivated for 

 cattle in the fields, although it has been long cultivated in 

 gardens for the table. Even now there are not many parts 

 of England where field-culture is practised ; which is much to 

 be regretted, for where the soil is suitable, there is scarcely 

 any root yet known which more deserves the attention of the 

 farmer. One acre of Carrots, if well planted, will fatten a 

 greater number of sheep or bullocks than three acres of tur- 

 nips, and the flesh of the animals will at the same time be 

 firmer and better tasted. Horses are extremely fond of them; 

 and there cannot be a better food for hogs. They have been 

 cultivated in parks for feeding the deer, and have been found 

 an excellent resource in hard winters, when great numbers of 

 deer must otherwise have perished through the scarcity of 

 other food, and when even those which have survived without 

 them have been so much reduced as not to recover their 

 flesh during the following summer ; while those fed upon 

 Carrots have been kept in good condition all the winter, and 

 upon the growth of the grass in the spring have been fat early 

 in the season ; which is an important advantage wherever 

 the grass is genjrally backward in its growth. There is also 

 a material advantage in the cultivation of this root beyond 

 that of the Turnip, because the crop is not so liable to fail ; 

 for as the Carrots are sown in the spring, the plants generally 

 come up well ; and unless the months of June and July turn 

 out very unfavourable, there is no danger of the crop succeed- 

 ing ; whereas Turnips are frequently destroyed by the flies at 

 their first coming up, !nd in dry autumns they are attacked 

 by Caterpillars, which in :i short time devour whole fields, 

 while the Carrots remain unmolested by these vermin. Car- 

 rots have other advantages overTurnips, besides the principal 

 one already mentioned, of their being better adapted to that 

 sort of soil which best suits them both ; they are less liable to 

 be damaged by frost, are not subject to the same distempers 

 and accidents, and last till April, the season of great diffi- 

 culty, when farmers frequently know not what to provide 

 for their stock, especially sheep ; being also a spring crop, if 

 the plant fail, the seed only is lost, and the land is in perfect 

 order for Turnips at midsummer ; or if scattered plants only 

 be produced, the intervals may be filled by sowing Turnips 

 or planting Cabbages. Carrots are also an excellent prepa- 

 ration for Barley in sands and sandy loams, that are not foul 



