196 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



if the seed is sown after the chill and surplus water have gone out 

 of a heavy soil, will do very well if well cultivated, it produces the 

 largest and most shapely roots when it can deeply penetrate and 

 easily displace the soil in its expansion. Carrot ground should, 

 then, receive early working to receive the rains, and be plowed again 

 and well loosened up and fined before the seed is sown. 



Sowing Carrot Seed. It is very necessary that the soil should 

 be in good condition. Sowing in the fall on irrigated ground is 

 practicable, and so is sowing immediately after the early fall rains 

 have moistened the soil sufficiently to prevent drying out, but if the 

 place is quite frosty and the soil apt to be water-soaked, later plant- 

 ing is better. For this reason, as already stated, some prefer to 

 bridge the dry season, sowing in March or even in April, so that 

 the young plant may have the best conditions at the start. As it 

 gets age it becomes hardier and can be taken from the ground in 

 good condition and maximum size all during the following winter. 

 Late sowing is also advocated because of the opportunity to kill 

 weeds by plowing in the winter growth before seeding. This prac- 

 tice is generally approved in the coast regions of the northern part 

 of the state. On the other hand, in southern California, and in most 

 parts of the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, on the lighter soils 

 especially, a start from the seed in December or January, when 

 weather and soil favor it, gives the plant a chance to root well before 

 the dry season and then it is in much better condition to stand heat 

 and drought than if younger. Both practices are rational and each 

 is adapted to its own set of conditions. 



Carrot seed must be fresh. It is small, rather difficult to handle 

 evenly, and requires a shallow covering of earth. It is more difficult 

 to get a good stand of carrots than of beets, but care will insure it 

 with good seed. . Distribution is facilitated by mixing the seed 

 thoroughly with a certain amount of moist sand, and if the mixture 

 is kept warm and moist the seed may be allowed to sprout slightly 

 before sowing but not too far. The seed must be placed in moist 

 ground, and half an inch is covering enough except in light soils 

 likely to dry down. The seed should be pressed down well or the 

 soil firmed about it, and then lightly covered and the covering pressed 

 slightly. 



Cultivation. Carrots in field culture are usually grown in rows 

 two to three feet apart according to the notion of the grower. Thin- 

 ning in the row is seldom done though the advantage of it would 



