CHARACTER AND CULTURE. 



137 



and late. A distinguished physician says, that besides one of the 

 most considerable culinary roots, it strengthens and nourishes the 

 body, and is very beneficial for consumptive persons." It has less su- 

 gar than the parsnip or beet. A fine carrot pudding is made by grat- 

 ing half a pound of the best carrots, and adding a pound of bread, and 

 6 or 8 eggs, half a pint of wine, wilh nutmeg and sugar to the taste. 

 Stir the whole well, add milk if too thick, lay a puff-paste over the 

 dish, and bake it an hour. Carrot pies are made like pumpkin pies, 

 the carrots being boiled tender, skinned, and sifted. 



The seeds do not retain their vegetative powers more than a year, 

 hence they should be proved before sowing. A main crop is sowed 

 about the 1st of April. The root requires a deep sandy loam, and af- 

 fords one of the best returns. The largest have been raised in grav- 

 elly soil. They bear drought well, as they draw nourishment from 

 considerable depth, nor is the ground much exhausted by continued 

 crops. In gardens, and sometimes in fields, they are sown in drills or 

 small furrows, an inch deep, 9 to 12 inches apart and across beds. 

 The space between rows may be turned over with a narrow spade, in 

 May and June. They should be boiled for cattle. The crop is rarely 

 affected by insects, and seldom fails of a good yield. For the table, 

 they need not be much thinned. The land should be twice harrowed, 

 1st with a long.toothed harrow. 727 bushels, exclusive of tops, have 

 been raised in Mass, on 3-4tbs of an acre, the tops weighing 5 tons. 



It is certain that the carrot was well known to the ancients as an 

 edible root, being often mentioned by their writers ; and it has contin- 

 ued to be cultivated since in the east. All attempts to change the 

 wild carrot into the esculent root have failed. It was introduced into 

 England by the Flemish. The ladies in the time of James I. orna- 

 mented their heads with carrot leaves, to resemble the plumage of 

 birds, and they are some used now for house ornaments. A section, 

 cut in winter, from a thick sprout of the roots, and placed in a shal- 

 low vessel of water, throws off young and delicate leaves in the form 

 of a tuft, making a fine ornament for the mantel-piece at that season. 



The root, cut transversely, shows 2 parts of different texture c.nd co- 

 lor, the bark and wood. The bark is most pulpy and sweet, while the 

 heart or woody part, particularly when full-grown, is fibrous and 

 stringy, and are seen, when separated, to be bristly, even through the 

 rootlets. The crown, sending off the leaves, is connected with the 

 woody part, and the outer skin of the leaves and stem is connected 

 with the bark of the root. The latter being most nutritive, the value 

 of the carrot depends on the relative proportion of these two parts of 

 the root ; hence it is important to obtain that part in the greatest pro- 

 portion, and this depends on the mode of culture. The soil should be 

 light, mellow, and deeply dug, so that the root will meet with no ob- 

 structions, to throw off lateral branches. 

 12* 



