CARROT. 



123 



Neither pound nor salt the cabbage too much, watch closely, 

 and keep clear from scum for good sauer kraut. — Buckeye Cook 

 Book. 



CARROT. ( Daiicus carota. ) 

 Native of Europe.— Biennial. — In the wild state this rootis 

 valueless, being slender and woody, and the plant is a bad 

 weed. Under cultivation it exhibits the widest difference in 

 shape, size and color. Some kinds have roots that are broad- 

 er than long and extend not over two or three inches in the 

 ground, while others attain a length of two feet, and still oth- 

 ers may be found having 

 the various intermediate 

 forms between these ex- 

 tremes. There are also 

 varieties having red, 

 white and yellow flesh. 

 The ] eaves are very much 

 divided and deeply cut. 

 The flowers are white 

 and crowded together in 

 compound umbels on 

 stalks two to five feet 

 high. The roots of the 

 cultivated kind will 

 stand considerable frost 

 but not severe freezing. 

 Two seeds are produced 

 by each flower; they are 

 flat on one side and con- 

 vex on the other, and 

 are partly covered by 

 minute bristles. When sold, the bristles have generally been 

 removed. Carrots are used to some extent as a table vege- 

 table, but they are especially valuable as a food for horses 

 and other stock. 



Cultivation. The carrot is of the easiest culture. It re- 

 quires a fine, yellow, rich, upland soil. On moist soils, the 

 roots are apt to branch and somewhat liable to disease. The 

 seedlings are quite delicata when they first come up. and every 

 precaution should be taken to have the land clean, so that the 



Fig. 59. Carrot phint in flower. 



