CARROTS, PARSNIPS, AND BEETROOTS 133 



prevent the flies from laying eggs on the carrots, and for 

 this purpose offensive substances such as soot, earth, ashes, 

 or sand sprinkled with carbolic acid, might be applied as 

 soon as the plants are well established. 



(8) It is a matter of common observation that carrots 

 which have sprung up singly on paths and the like from seed 

 accidentally dropped are seldom attacked. Apparently 

 the operation of thinning is, in many instances, the pre- 

 disposing cause of attack, and this has led some growers to 

 sow the seed very thin and so avoid the artificial thinning of 

 the crop. 



(9) In localities where the attack of the fly is very preva- 

 lent a supply of carrots can usually be maintained (a) by 

 sowing such early varieties as French Forcing in a sheltered 

 position as soon as the soil and weather permit in February 

 or March, for early use, and (b) by deferring the main-crop 

 sowing until mid-July, choosing the Early Horn variety, 

 which will grow sufficiently large for storing for winter use. 

 The plants from the first sowing develop before the egg- 

 laying period of the fly, whilst egg-laying is over before the 

 plants from the late sowing appear above ground. (Infor- 

 mation supplied by the Board of Agriculture.) 



Parsnips require much the same kind of ground as 

 advised for carrots, but they need deeper working. 

 Special attention should be paid to the lower spits, but the 

 subsoil must not be brought to the surface. The ground* 

 in ordinary cases needs no addition of manure, but, if it is 

 considered exceptionally poor, a slight quantity, well 

 rotted, may be incorporated with the lower strata. The 

 surface of the ground is then left in high ridges until 

 seed time, which, in ordinary seasons, is somewhere about 

 the end of February. If the ground is very hard and 

 wet at this time, defer sowing for a while, but as parsnips 



