242 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



a dry place in sand, by which means they may be kept 

 without spoiling until March or April of the ensuing 

 year. 



To obtain carrot-seed, some roots which have been 

 taken up in November are replanted in February 

 about two feet aparl^nd with the crown or head a few 

 inches below the surface. Leaves and flower-stalks 

 will spring up from these, and seeds will be produced 

 which ripen in autumn. A considerable quantity of 

 carrot-seed is raised at Weathersfield in Essex, but 

 this is insufficient for a home supply, and it is said 

 much is imported from Holland into this country.* 

 It would appear that the production of carrot-seed may 

 occasionally be made a source of considerable profit to 

 the cultivator, we find it recorded that in the latter 

 half of the last century a farmer in Essex obtained 

 from an acre of land sown with carrots ten cwt of 

 seed, which he sold in London for 10 per cwt.f 

 This is a very rare case. If it were general the price 

 would soon be reduced. 



The size of carrots differs, of course, very much ac- 

 cording to soil, culture, and variety. Some have been 

 known to measure two feet in length and from twelve 

 to fourteen inches in circumference at the thickest part. 

 In the autumn of 182t> several were taken up in the 

 neighbourhood of Lancaster having an average weight 

 of tour pounds each; these were fine firm roots, and 

 in every respect good for the table. 



Besides their use as human food, carrots are in 

 some places grown largely for the consumption of 

 stock, especially for horses. It is affirmed that cattle 

 which have once tasted these, usually prefer them so 

 much to turnips as with difficulty to be made to re- 

 turn to the latter. The milk of cows fed on carrots 

 never acquires any unpleasant flavour, while at the 



* London's Encyc. of Gardening, 

 t Campbell's Political Survey. 



