CARROT. 



CARROT. 



otherwise, by reason of their adhering by the 

 hairs that surround their edges, they are clot- 

 ted together, and cannot be sown regular. The 

 surface of the bed should likewise be laid 

 smooth ; otherwise, in raking it, the seed will 

 be drawn together in similar heaps. To avoid 

 this, before raking, it may be gently trod in. 

 The seed should be sown thin, and the beds 

 not more than four feet wide, for the conve- 

 nience of after-cultivation. The larger weeds 

 must be continually removed by hand; and 

 when the plants are seven or eight weeks old, 

 or when they have got four leaves two or three 

 inches long, they should be thinned ; those in- 

 tended for drawing young to four or five inches 

 apart, and those to attain their full growth to 

 eight or ten ; at the same time, the ground must 

 be small-hoed, which operation should be re- 

 gularly performed every three or four weeks, 

 until the growth of the plants becomes an ef- 

 fectual hinderance to the growth of the weeds. 

 The crop to stand through the winter should, 

 in frosty weather, be sheltered with a covering 

 of litter, as, if frost occurs with much severity, 

 it often destroys them. The hotbed for the first 

 sowing of the year must be moderate, and 

 earthed about sixteen inches deep ; two or 

 three linings of hot dung, as the heat decreases, 

 will be sufficient to bring them to a state fit for 

 use. These are the first in production, but are 

 closely followed by those that have withstood 

 the winter. The temperature must never ex- 

 ceed 70, or fall lower than 65 : if it rises 

 higher, it is a certain cause of weakness ; if 

 lower, it checks the advance of the root. Tht.-v 

 need not be thinned to more than three inches 

 apart. 



At the close of October, or early in Novem- 

 ber, as soon as the leaves change colour, the 

 main crop may be dug up, and laid in alternate 

 layers, with sand, in a dry outhouse ; previous 

 to doing which, the tops, and any adhering 

 earth, must be removed. A dry day should 

 always be chosen for taking them up. 



For the production of seed, it is by much the 

 best practice to leave some where raised. If, 

 however, this is impracticable, some of the 

 finest and most perfect roots should be select- 

 ed, and their tops not cut so close as those for 

 storing ; these likewise must be placed in sand 

 until February or March, though some gar- 

 deners recommended October or November, 

 then to be planted out two feet asunder in a 

 stiff loamy soil. Those left where grown, or 

 those planted at the close of autumn, must, 

 during frosts, have the protection of litter; it 

 being invariably removed, however, during 

 mild weather. As the seed ripens in August, 

 which is known by its turning brown, about 

 the end of August each umbel should be cut ; 

 for if it is waited for until the whole plant de- 

 cays, much of the seed is often lost during 

 stormy weather. It must be thoroughly dried 

 by exposure to the sun and air, before it is 

 rubbed out for storing. For sowing, the seed 

 should always be of the previous yfear's growth; 

 if it is more than two years old, it will not ve- 

 getate at all. (G. W. Johnson's Kitchen Garden.) 

 The boiled carrot forms a good poultice in foul 

 and cancerous ulcers. 



Carrots, are much cultivated in many parts 

 of the United States, where many farmers pre- 

 fer them over every other vegetable for fatten- 

 ing swine, cattle, and even as feed for horses. 

 To fatten swine they should be given boiled, to 

 store-hogs, raw. 



The following remarks upon the culture and 

 use of carrots in New England, are extracted 

 from Mr. Col man's Second Report on the Agri- 

 culture of Massachusetts. 



; ' Jno. Merrill, of South Lee, has been a very 

 successful cultivator of carrots. He states the 

 yield on two acres at 600 bushels to the acre; 

 and the cost of cultivation, exclusive of manure 

 and rent of land, at twent} r -five dollars per 

 acre ; or a little more than four cents per 

 bushel. For feeding horses, he says, he should 

 prefer one hundred bushels of carrots and one 

 hundred bushels of oats to two hundred bushels 

 of oats. He applied them in a raw state to the 

 feeding of his team horses, and horses in pre- 

 paration for market; and they were kept by 

 them in high health and spirits. Oats followed 

 his carrot crop on the same ground with great 

 success. The experience of J. C. Curwen, 

 Eng., in the use of carrots for horses, corres- 

 ponds with that of Mr. Merrill. The authority 

 of Curwen is unquestionable ; and he was in 

 the habit of employing constantly as many as 

 eighty horses on his farm and in his extensive 

 coal mines. 



" ' I cannot omit,' he says, ' stating the great 

 profit of carrots. I have found by the experi- 

 ence of the last two years, that where eight 

 pounds of oat-feeding was allowed to draft 

 horses, four pounds might be taken away and 

 supplied by an equal weight of carrots ; and 

 the health, spirit, and ability of the horses to do 

 their work be perfectly as good as with the 

 whole quantity of oats. With the drill hus- 

 bandry and proper attention, very good crops 

 of carrots may be obtained upon soils not 

 generally supposed suitable to their growth.' 



"He adds in another place. 'The profits 

 and advantages of carrots are in my opinion 

 greater than any other crop. This admirable 

 root has, upon repeated and very extensive 

 trials for the last three years, been found to 

 answer most perfectly as a part substitute for 

 oats. Where ten pounds of oats are given per 

 day, four pounds may be taken away; and 

 their place supplied by five pounds of carrots. 

 This has been practised in the feeding of eighty 

 horses for the last three years, with the most 

 complete success, and the health and condition 

 of the horses allowed to be improved by the 

 exchange. An acre of carrots supplies a quan- 

 ' tity of food for working horses equal to sixteen 

 I or twenty acres' of oats.' 



" My own experience of the value of carrots, 



| which has not been small, fully confirms these 



! statements. I have obtained at the rate of 



; more than a thousand bushels to the acre on 



three quarters of an acre ; but on several acres 



my crop has usually averaged 600 bushels to 



the acre. 



Smith of Middlefield, Hampshire coun- 

 ty, from three-fourths of an acre obtained 900 

 bushels. 



"Charles Knowlton of Ashfield, Franklin, 



267 



