ROOT CULTURE. 107 



from the master not to strew them too thick. When 

 this was done, each man took the hoe again, and 

 half reversing it, with the edge up, went through 

 again with an increased movement, gently puddling 

 or stirring the soil in the centre of the drills. A 

 piece of board or stick, four or five feet in length, 

 will answer this last purpose about as well as a hoe. 

 A great part of the seed sown by some farmers is 

 lost by deep covering. A shower of rain will bring 

 them up without any covering where the soil is 

 loose and well fitted. The ground between the 

 drills ought to be brushed over with the hoe imme- 

 diately after they begin to come up, or before, if you 

 can see where the drills are, so that you can avoid 

 disturbing the carrots. 



I think a man may cultivate three acres of carrots 

 with the same amount of expense and labour, by 

 keeping in advance of the weeds, that he can one acre 

 in trie common way, with the weeds in advance of 

 him a number of days. When the carrots get up 

 ten or twelve inches high, I plough between the 

 rows with a horse again and again. When I har- 

 vest them, I run a strong team and plough as near 

 the outside rows as possible, and very deep, turning 

 the furrow from the rows ; the hands follow after,, 

 and pull them out by the tops with ease, a number 

 at once, and throw them in heaps ; and so I proceed 

 until the piece is finished. If there was any differ- 

 ence in the crop, it was in favour of that part where 

 the long manure was spread the year before. I 

 planted the same piece in 1837 without any addition- 

 al manure. The crop was about one quarter less. 

 I have no doubt that it would be a great benefit to 

 our farmers who keep stock to cultivate the carrot, 

 especially for milch cows. To those who are not 

 experienced in the cultivation of the carrot, I would 

 say, sow your seeds in drills, at least twenty or 

 twenty-four inches apart ; the earlier in the season 

 the better, if your land is in good order; if they 



