THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Ill 



CULTIVATION OF CARROTS. 



Thh carrot requires a deep, mellow soil, well ma- 

 nured, and if not dry enough naturally it should be 

 well under drained. Chestnut sandy loam, or deep 

 black soils inclining to rauck,arc the best for this root. 

 It should be well worked with plow and cultivator to 

 make it fine, and subsoiling would improve it much. 

 To prepare the ground for sowing, after plowing and 

 cultivating, take a email core plow and ridge the 

 ground, turning two furrows together, leaving them 

 about two feet apart from top to top. 



I have practiced sowing in rows about fourteen 

 inches apart, but have concluded from trial of both 

 methods to sow this season in ridges. The advanta- 

 ges are, first: the soil is more mellow for the young 

 plants to start and grow. Second : the rows can be 

 more easily followed when the plants are small, which 

 is very important. Third: they can be cultivated 

 with a horse after they are large enough, and at har- 

 vesting they can be worked out mostly with the plow. 

 I think the above are sufficient reasons for the latter 

 method. I think the greatest crop might be raised 

 by sowing them oa a level surface, about twelve or 

 fourteen inches apart, but the work is nearly double. 



It is very important to sow good seed, which should 

 always be tested before sowing for a crop, which may 

 be doue by sowing a little in a hot bed or in a little 

 box set in a warm place in the house. The best time 

 lor sowing is about the 25th of May, but a good crop 

 may be raised sown as late as the 15th of June. My 

 rule is, to sow as soon as the ground is ready and the 

 the weather warm enough to start the seed quickly. 

 The seed should be soaked in warm water two days 

 before sowing, and if the weather should be unfavo- 

 rable, then the seed may be taken from the water, 

 rolled in plaster, set in a cool place and it will not 

 take any hurt for a week or ten days; if it is sprouted 

 when sown all the better. If the weather is dry 

 when the sowing is commenced the soil should be 

 rolled after sowing, or the seed may be trod by fol- 

 lowing on the rows immediately after it is sown, and 

 then lightly covered with a rake. I do not think any 

 definite rule can be followed as to depth of sowing, 

 but it must depend on the weather and the moisture 

 or dryne?s of the soil; usually from half inch to one 

 inch is deep enough. 



I have always practiced sowing by hand, but there 

 are machines that do the work well, and are said to 

 be labor saving. The seed must be dry to work well 

 with a machine. If the weather is favorable the 

 plants will be up ready for the first hoeing in about 

 two or three weeks, which should be done lightly as 

 soon as it is possible to distinguished the plants — as 

 a little work at this time will save much hard labor 

 two weeks after. The first hoeing should be lightly 

 done, just deep enough to cut up the weeds, as that 

 is the principal object. Follow the second time in 

 about a week, stirring the soil deeper and more 

 thoroughly eradicating the weeds ; after this the 

 hand weeding must commence, which should now be 

 done as soon as possible; do not wait to finish hoeing 

 « f iece of corn or potatoes, for by so doing you may 

 fiav«! many days hard work weeding. When weeds 

 begin to grow in the carrots, and they are large 

 enough to weed, that must be done, if nil other work 

 stop for a day or two; on;' or twodi'v.-! delay r^t;^ 

 make a week in weeding; it the weather should te 

 rainy, then look at the carrots all over grown with 



weeds, and the labor of weeding increased four fold. 

 After the second hoeing and first weeding, the hard 

 work to this crop is done and they can if properly 

 tended be kept nice and clean the remainder of the 

 season. When they are about two inches high they 

 should be thinned so as to stand four or six inches 

 apart in the rows, if the ground is rich, if not, they 

 may stand nearer. This thinning is very important 

 and should not be neglected, for much depends on it 

 They may be harvested as late in the fall as Novem' 

 ber, and I think they keep better by being put up 

 late, and are not so liable to decay. If sown late they 

 will continue to grow till the ground freezes. 



This crop should be cultivated extensively by far- 

 mers generally, and may be raised at a cost of from 

 seven to ten cents per bushel. A good crop is eight 

 hundred bushels per acre, and if cot more than four 

 or five hundred bushels are raised the crop will pay 

 as well as any other on the farm. The greater the 

 yield the less the cost per bushel, and vice versa. 



As food for horses, cows, neat cattle, and hogs 

 they are not equalled by any other root; store hogs 

 will winter well on them, and horses are very fond of 

 them in the spring of the year when warm weather 

 commences, and some value them as highly aa oata. 

 If worth only half as much, which is about my esti- 

 mate, how much better is it than oats? Oats eighty 

 bushels per acre on the same ground as the carrots 

 at forty cents would be $32, and 600 bushels of car- 

 rots at twenty cents would be Si 20, leaving a difier- 

 ence in favor of the roots of $88; deduct $40 for cost 

 of cultivation more than the cats and we still have 

 a balance of t'48 per acre in favor of the roots, which 

 is profit enough to induce farmers to extend their 

 cultivation as much as circumstances will permit. — 

 They are excellent feed for fat cattle fall and spring, 

 winter being too cold for profitable feeding. 



Brighton, JV. Y. E. S. H. 



PLOWING, 



Mr. Andrew Wn.soN of Augusta, near Prescott, 

 0. W., in the March number of the Genesee Farmer, 

 says: " Would Mr. Adams enlighten us as to the 

 width of his furrows, for it is certain a horse cannot 

 turn on much less than six feet and then the plow 

 would naturally be three or four feet behind. Also 

 to draw a furrow and return in the same track, ap- 

 pears to me a waste of time and labor." My furrows 

 are twelve inches wide, which make six feet of the 

 ten he thinks necessary for a "horse" and " plow" to 

 turn on. Three for the balk, between the fence and 

 ground after it is plowed, make nine. The other foot 

 is gained by dodging the corners ; and room to 

 spare. 



Mr. W.'s plan of " marking ouf and plowing head- 

 lands will answer for the " benighted Canadians" and 

 also for a double team. But for a single team to draw 

 a furrow both ways on the headland, packed as it 

 always is, appears to me both useless and cruel. 



Seymour, JV. Y. J. C. Adams. 



Sow Lbttuck with Cabbage. — Lettuce seed sown 

 with cabbpgf^ -v- ■" '■ene;'c;liv prevent the destructioa 

 of the latter by t1>!- fly. The lettuce should lie ; lull- 

 ed up assoou a.« ih'j 'jabbage plants are out of dnpeer. 

 Try it. R. W. S. 



JFoodstock, Ft. 



