240 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



wood. In endeavouring to secure this result much 

 must of course depend upon the nature of the plants 

 from which the seeds are obtained ; but adaptation of 

 soil is likewise a very important consideration. 



The carrot is most successfully cultivated in a light 

 mellow soil mixed with sand : the ground should be 

 well dug to some depth, and made extremely friable 

 and porous, that the roots may meet with no ob- 

 struction in running down, which would cause them 

 to grow forked and to shoot out lateral branches. This 

 accident will happen, especially when the ground has 

 been too highly manured previously to the seed being 

 sown. It may perhaps be taken as a general rule that 

 strong soils are not well adapted for any plants which 

 form esculent roots deep under the surface, as the 

 mechanical resistance which is thereby opposed to the 

 swelling of the bulb forces much of the strength of the 

 plant up into leaves ; and in the carrot especially, 

 that part of the root which is the most valuable is 

 diminished in the greatest proportion. 



The best mode of cultivating these roots has been 

 made by many agriculturists a subject of inquiry. So 

 early as the year 1765, this branch of husbandry en- 

 gaged the attention of the Society for the Encourage- 

 ment of Arts, &c ; and, in consequence, an account 

 of the culture of carrots and the uses to which they 

 may be applied was published by Robert Billing, a 

 farmer of Norfolk, in whose work much useful matter 

 on the subject is contained. 



The seeds of carrots are surrounded by numerous 

 forked hairs, by which they adhere to each other so 

 tenaciously, that there is some difficulty in causing 

 their separation ; this is performed either by rubbing 

 them through the hands or by passing them through 

 a fine chaff-sieve ; but the best and most effectual 

 method, as recommended by an intelligent cultivator,* 



* Communications to the Agricultural Society, vol. ii. 



