62 



CAR 



CAR 



feeding upon ; and let these be 

 returned in the same cart, an 

 equal quantity of compost, or rich 

 earth intermixed with manure. 

 Or the soil returned may be taken 

 from ponds, roads, or the ridges 

 which often accumulate on the 

 margins of fields; or if there hap- 

 pen a ploughed field near the 

 orchard, in which there are no 

 apple trees, the soil may be ex- 

 changed load for load without any 

 injury to the field : but in either 

 case let a good quantity of ma- 

 nure be spread at the bottom of 

 the soil returned to the trees. 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Repos- 

 itory, vol. iv. p. 1G8. 



CARROT, Daticus, a well 

 known and useful root for food. — 

 The seeds are carminative and di- 

 uretic, and the root is useful to 

 abate the malignity of cancers. A 

 sandy soil is very proper for car- 

 rots ; but they do very well in 

 gravelly, and even in loamy soils, 

 when made rich and loosened to a 

 sufficient depth. The largest I 

 have ever raised has been in 

 gravel. The ground should be 

 ploughed, or dug, more than 

 twelve inches deep, and well 

 pulverized. 



I have found by long experience 

 that carrots should be sowed early. 

 The last week in April is late 

 enough, when intended for feed- 

 ing o cattle ; and they may be 

 sowed earlier, if the ground be in 

 good order, and so dry as to be 

 made light and loose. The ear- 

 liest sown will be the largest, and, 

 in the northern parts of this coun* 

 try, nearly as tender and good 

 tasted as if sown later. 



A small quantity of dressing will 

 be sufficient for them. But what- 

 ever manure is used, it should be 

 well rotted, and made fine, or 

 putrefy very soon in the ground ; 

 otherwise the little obstacles in it, 

 will cause the roots to divide, and 

 become forked. I have known 

 carrots, manured with old hog 

 dung, grow to a surprising bigness. 

 But if a large quantity of this 

 strong manure be used, they will 

 grow so fast as to burst open. It 

 is a crop that bears drought well, 

 as it draws its principal nourish- 

 ment from a considerable depth. 

 Nor is the ground apt to be ex- 

 hausted by continued crops. 



In the garden I sow them in 

 drills, or little furrows, made an 

 inch deep with the head of a rake, 

 from 9 to 12 inches apart, across 

 beds four feet wide. This prevents 

 treading the ground hard too near 

 to the roots ; greatly facilitates 

 clearing them of weeds with a hoe, 

 and keeping the earth loose to a 

 sufficient depth. I do not thin 

 them much, till I begin to pull 

 them for use, about the beginning 

 of July ; from which time I pull 

 them, not only for the table, but to 

 feed swine, as that sort of animals 

 are so fond of them, that they will 

 greedily devour both roots and 

 tops. The spaces between the 

 beds may be kept clear of weeds, 

 by turning over the soil with a nar- 

 row spade, once or twice in May 

 and June. It will not only subdue 

 the weeds, but increase the pasture 

 of the nearest plants. 



But the field culture of this root 

 begins to prevail in the country : 

 As carrots are found to be valuable, 



