250 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



of the mushroom, and a saccharine matter which 

 communicates to the fruit its 2)eculiar flavor. 



To fruit well, the plant requires rather a warm, 

 light soil, and it is not necessary that it should be 

 very rich. It spreads rapidly, taking root as it 

 rims, so that thin planting is the best. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE CARROT. 



The following paper on the Cidiiratton of the Carrot, has 

 been translated from the French for the N. E. Farmer, by an 

 intelligent and earnest friend of agriculture. It is a sketch of 

 Flemish agriculture, originally published by the "Society for 

 the Dissemination of Useful Knowledge," and printed by the 

 Bureau of Agriculture, Montreal, 1855.] 



Carrots, says the author, do well in light soil 

 which has been plowed to a great depth, and they 

 consequently form part of the regular rotation of 

 crops upon light lands. When they are sown as a 

 principal crop, it is generally after potatoes, buck- 

 wheat, or a kind of turnip called rape. The earth 

 having been well affected by these crops, is sub- 

 jected to any additional plowing before winter, and 

 receives one-half the quantity of manure usually 

 employed, either that of neat cattle, or the sweep- 

 ings of streets, with which is mixed one-third part 

 of hog manure, under the idea that this last drives 

 away the moles and mice of the fields which other- 

 wise endanger the crop. The land is now plowed 

 to the depth of six or seven inches, and thus rests 

 for the winter. At the commencement of April the 

 land is again plowed to the depth of nine or ten 

 inches, and manured with liquid manure at the rate 

 of about twenty hogshead to the acre. Two and a 

 half pounds of seed are sown to the acre. The har- 

 row reversed {iinversei) is then used, and the spaces 

 between the beds are dug up with a spade, and the 

 earth is thrown evenly upon the seed. The roller 

 is then passed lightly over the field. In some 

 cases liquid manure only is used. If the preceding 

 crops were potatoes, the soil is usually sufficiently 

 rich, and any addition of manure has only the effect 

 to make the carrots fork, this being caused by an 

 excess of manure. But if carrots follow buckwheat 

 which has not been highly manured, it is necessary 

 to add manure in order to secure a good harvest. 

 The more the manure is decomposed and mixed 

 with the earth, the better for the crop. When the 

 carrots are up it is necessary to weed them with 

 care. This is the principal trouble ; and women 

 and children who labor upon their hands and knees 

 are annually employed in that service. 



If the seed-sower is used, much trouble is saved 

 by the use of the horse-hoe between the rows and 

 then the hand-hoe among the plants. If the car- 

 rots are missing, the farmer supplies the ground 

 immediately with the turnip or spurry, in order 

 that no time may be lost. In May the carrots are 

 thinned, and those which are pulled are given to 

 cows. They are left at the distance of six inches 

 from each other. Field carrots in Flanders are of 

 two sorts. One is the orange carrot of Holland, 

 now quite common in England ; the other is the 

 white can-ot, which is more vigorous, attains a 

 greater size, and upon a light soil yields a much 

 larger crop. After an experiment upon a small 

 scale, we are compelled to believe that it is a valu- 

 able addition to our family of roots for the use of 

 animals in the winter. 



The white carrot is usually sown with another 

 crop, as flax or barley. In such cases it is sown 

 one or two weeks after the principal crop. The 

 flax or grain will come forward rapidly, while the 

 carrot is consequently kept down, and must content 

 itself with pushing its roots deep into the soil, with- 

 out much increase of size, or growth of leaves. 

 After the flax is pulled, they pass again over the 

 field and remove the weeds. A dressing of liquid 

 manure is then furnished, and the carrot increases 

 rapidly. If the principal crop is barley, the stub- 

 ble is pulled up \^ith care, and the carrot is then 

 treated as above. 



Towards the middle of October the farmer is 

 thus able to take a crop of carrots from land which 

 had already furnished an excellent crop in the first 

 part of the season, and thus obtains a considerable 

 additional quantity of food for his animals during 

 winter. Carrots are sometimes sown among peas. 

 The peas ripen in July, and are immediately gath- 

 ered, and the carrots are then treated as before 

 described. When peas and carrots are raised in 

 alternate rows, the result is usually favorable. In 

 either case fifteen loads, ten or twelve tons, are 

 considered a good crop. 



If we judge from the product of about one- 

 eighth of an acre of good sandy land, on which, in 

 England, the white carrot is often raised without 

 manure, in rows one foot apart, well weeded and 

 hoed, the crop may rise to the amount of twenty- 

 two tons per acre. The orange carrot ordinarily 

 produces only half that amount from the same soil. 



The parsnip is sown upon lands which are too 

 vigorous for tlie carrot ; and in deep, rich marl, the 

 product is abundant. Parsnips have the advantage 

 of being able to withstand the severest cold, and 

 consequently need not be housed, but may be left 

 in the ground until the moment of consumption. 

 They are not considered equal to can-ots for milch 

 cows, but are better for fattening animals. The 

 quality of the soil should decide whether the pars- 

 nip or the carrot may be sown with most profit. 



For the New England Farmer. 



POULTRY REARING, &c..~No. 2. 



Mr. Editor : — In No. 1, 1 gave you my manner 

 of keeping hens laying when shut up. I now send 

 you some suggestions that may interest the breed- 

 ers of poultry ; every family can and should keep a 

 few laying hens ; but I would not advise every one, 

 however situated, to raise chicks. 



A person that desires laying hens will obtain the 

 smaller sorts, as they are better layers and poorer 

 mothers ; on the other hand, a person who wish- 

 es to raise for the market will obtain the larger 

 kind, as they will obtain an earlier market size. — 

 Large hens kept for layers ought to produce gold- 

 en eggs to pay a fair profit on the feed they con- 

 sume. 



Again, persons in a village, or near neighbors, 

 should not raise poultry, as they will have to be 

 shut up, and to shut chickens in a yard, and to think 

 of their being fit for an early market, is absurd. — 

 Chickens, to grow and do well, must have their lib- 

 erty, besides all they can eat. A farmei-, or per- 

 son by himself, with a warm, dry situation, right 

 kind of fowls, and managed properly, will find poul- 

 try as profitable as the raising of any farm stock ; 

 if not so managed, the most unprofitable. Chicks 

 ready for the market by the first of July, weighing 



