308 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



CULTUBB OF CAKROTS FOR STOCK. 



HERE is much dif- 

 ference of opinion 

 with regard to the 

 economy of raising 

 carrots for feeding 

 to our stock. The 

 economy of the 

 matter we think 

 will depend upon 

 two things : first, 

 the kind of land 

 used, and second- 

 ly, the kind and 

 amount of manure 

 employed and the manner of cultivation. 



If the land is heavy and weeds allowed to 

 grow and shed their seeds upon it, it will cost 

 more to protect the young carrot plants from 

 the weeds, so that they will have some chance 

 of growing, than it would to cultivate the crop 

 through the entire growing season, if the soil 

 were free from weeds. 



Again, if manure is used that contains a va- 

 riety of the seeds of weeds, some starting 

 early in the season and others at a later period, 

 it will cost twice as much to cultivate the crop 

 of carrots as it would upon a soil that is suita- 

 ble, and by the use cf manure that contains 

 no seeds of weeds. 



Two other things are then necessary in or- 

 der to cultivate the carrot economically. First 

 the use of land that is clean in itself, and then 

 the application of some fertilizer that is fiee 

 from all seeds which are not wanted. 



The soil should be ploughed deep and made 

 fine. Tne rows of plants placed twenty to 

 twenty-four inches apart and the plants in the 

 rows four to six inches apart. 



It is the practice of many persons not to 

 sow the carrot until about the first of June. 

 The reason assigned is, that by waiting until 

 the soil is thoroughly warmtd, the weeds will 

 start up in great numbers — if tLeir seeds are 

 in the soil — and by working the soil at that 

 time they will be destro}ed. Then put the 

 carrot seed in and they will come quick and 

 get out of the way of the later weeds which 

 may appear. This plan does not usually 

 operate well. It is better to sow carrots as 

 early in May as the soil can he made suit- 

 ably fine. If the first week in May, so much 

 the better. 



The rows should be perfectly straight, and 

 the crop cultivated, mainly, by horse power. 

 The thinning of the plants in the row may be 

 done with a hoe of proper width, leaving only 

 the standing bunches ; if there are too many 

 plants together they must be thinned by the 

 fingers. 



In selecting land for this crop, some per- 

 sons select an old sward, manure it heavily 

 on the surface and turn it over late in the fall ; 

 pulverize well in the spring, apply guano, su- 

 perphpsphate, or some fertilizer that has no 

 seeds of weeds, and put in the crop early in 

 May. If the sod so turned over is a thick one 

 and well cracked into pieces in ploughing, this 

 plan is the best that can be adopted. 



About two pounds of seed are required for 

 an acre. It is cheaper to sow liberally than to 

 leave vacancies, or be perplexed in mixing in 

 some other crop. There are excellent ma- 

 chines to sow with now, which do the work 

 quickly and well. 



Judging from actual experience in feeding 

 carrots to stock, we are inclined to believe their 

 value is generally underrated. The analysis 

 of chemists, also, give them more value than 

 is usually accoided to them. EinhoiF, a Ger- 

 man chemist, stutes that 200 lbs. of potatoes, 

 460 lbs. of beet root, o50 lbs. of ruta baga, 

 and 266 lbs. of carrots, are each equal to 100 

 lbs of good hay. He says that carrots have 

 a highly beneficial effect upon milk, and adds, 

 "It has long been known in our country that 

 carrots are eagerly eaten by horses, and are 

 very wholesome for them ; in consequence of 

 which they have been adopted as a remedy for ' 

 horses that are overheated. The Englisb, and 

 particularly the Suffolk cultivators were the 

 first to show that horses may be kept in full 

 vigor, although they are employed upon the 

 most laborious occupation, upon seventy or 

 eighty pounds of carrots per day, and eight 

 pounds of hay. 



It is sometimes said that the carrot cannot 

 be a nutritious food because so large a pro- 

 portion of it is water. The same may be said 

 of the potato, although we presume a person 

 might live well upon it for months together. 

 It is not altogether what we call the nutritive 

 properties of a plant that gives it all its value. 

 When analyzed, the carrot gives but Lttle 

 more solid matter than any other root, eighty- 

 five per cent, being water, but its influence in 

 the stomach upon other articles of food is 



