WORCESTER SOCIETY. 197 



and Scotland, and as it was in this country, and came to the 

 conclusion that I would use the imported seed, and the result 

 has been a three-fold crop, and the quality better beyond any 

 description that I can give ; suffice it to say, that this crop has 

 been sold for more than double, for table use, than the common 

 kind usually raised year after year by our farmers; and still it 

 was originally from the same stock, and this shows, conclusive- 

 ly to my mind, that turnip seed should be imported at least once 

 in three years, and better every year. 



I shall be pardoned for digressing thus far from the cultiva- 

 tion of the carrot crop, as my principal object was to inquire 

 whether the carrot also does not need to be brought anew from 

 its native country. It has occurred to me that the experiment 

 would be worth trying, and it is well known to your commit- 

 tee that many fields of carrots that have come under your no- 

 tice within a few years, have been inclined to go to seed ; I 

 have been troubled in this way myself, within two or three 

 years, but never previous: this, and a blast or rust on the vine, 

 show them to be in an unhealthy condition. Shall we not im- 

 port our seed ? The carrot is undoubtedly a native of Britain ; 

 but, though long known as a garden plant, it is comparatively 

 but of recent introduction in agriculture ; it appears to have 

 been cultivated from an early period in Germany and Flanders, 

 and introduced from the latter country to Kent and Suffolk, 

 (England) early in the 16th century. 



I have just been furnished with further evidence of the rise 

 and progress of the carrot, by a gentleman long and favorably 

 known in Worcester county as one of the fathers of agriculture, 

 and shall here take the liberty of using some of the evidence, 

 to show that the root, or perhaps, in its earliest history, a weed, 

 grew spontaneously upon its native soil, and like the turnip, will 

 flourish much better, if reproduced by importing the seed once 

 in two or three years, from its native soil. 



" The carrot is a hardy biennial, and common in many parts 

 of Britain, in sandy soils and road sides. The root of the 

 plant in its wild state is small, dry, sticky, of a white color, and 

 strong flavored, but the root of the cultivated variety is large, 

 succulent, and of a red yellow, or a pale straw color." — From 

 Loudoii's E?ici/clopcedia of Agriculture. 



