38 THE CULTURE OF VEGETABLES 



air to keep it down to that figure or to 65. It will probably decline 

 to 60 by the time the plant appears, but if the bed is a good one it 

 will stand at that figure long enough to make the crop. Thin be- 

 times to two or three inches, give air at every opportunity, let the 

 plant have all the light possible, and cover up in good time when 

 hard weather is expected. Should the heat go down too soon, linings 

 must be used to finish the crop. Radishes and other small things 

 may be grown on the same bed. 



The first sowings on warm borders may need the shelter of mats 

 or old lights until the plant has made a good start, but it is not often 

 the plant suffers in any serious degree from spring frosts, as the seed 

 will not germinate until the soil acquires a safe temperature. For all 

 the early crops of Carrot a prepared soil, or a light sandy loam, 

 should be used without any recent manure. For the main crops 

 double digging should be practised, and if the staple is poor a 

 dressing of half-rotten dung may be put in with the bottom spit. But 

 a general manuring as for a surface-rooting crop is not to be thought 

 of, its sure effect being to cause the roots to fork and fang most 

 injuriously. It is good practice to select for Carrots a deep soil that 

 was heavily manured the year before, and to prepare this by double 

 digging without manure in the autumn or winter, so as to have it well 

 pulverised by the time the seed is sown. Then dig it over one spit 

 deep and break the lumps, and make seed-beds four feet wide. Sow 

 in April in drills, mixing the seed with dry earth, the distance be- 

 tween rows to be eight to twelve inches according to the sort ; cover 

 the seed with a sprinkling of fine earth, and finish the bed neatly. 

 As soon as possible thin and weed the crop, but do not thin to the 

 full distance in the first instance, as by a little management it will 

 be an easy matter during showery weather to draw delicate young 

 Carrots for the final thinning, and these will admirably succeed the 

 latest of the sowings in frames and warm borders. The Surrey and 

 Altrincham must be in rows a foot asunder, and the plants left to 

 mature at ten inches apart in the rows. Smaller sorts will, of course, 

 require less space. 



In July, frame culture ol the smaller sorts should commence, 

 but hot- beds may be dispensed with, and lights will not be wanted 

 until there is a crop needing protection, when the lights may be put 

 on, or the frames may be covered with shutters or mats. Thus, in 

 addition to the main crops, a constant succession of young Carrots 

 will be secured for the whole year round, and in every good house- 

 hold they will be appreciated alike for their delicacy and their beauty. 



