MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 733 



and best competent to judge. Prof. Mapes says, " The carrot 

 is the most valuable of vegetables for the feeding of horses and 

 milch cows." Mr. Quincy, in a paper on root culture, Agr. 

 Rep. vol. IV. p. 212, says : " Among vegetables, the carrot com- 

 bines more advantages than any other, considering the quantity 

 and quality of its produce, and the effect of its cultivation, in 

 deepening, cleaning and ameliorating the ground, and in mak- 

 ing the best preparation for subsequent crops." 



Carrots require a strong soil, deep and thorough cultivation, 

 and liberal manuring. An abundant crop may not be ex- 

 pected, without much labor in the preparation of the land. 

 The soil must be deeply stirred, finely pulverized, and the ma- 

 nure must be thoroughly intermingled with the soil, and not 

 left here and there in bunches. The subsoiling process should 

 never be required of the plants. Deep stirring of the soil is 

 found a remedy against too much as well as too little moist- 

 ure. The principles involved in the subsoiling process need 

 only to be better understood to insure its being more practised, 

 especially where vegetables are to be grown. The late Mr. 

 Phinney, of Lexington, than whom we have had few more in- 

 telligent observers of culture, said, " no man should presume 

 to farm, without subsoiling." 



When the ground is properly prepared, the seed of the carrot 

 is usually distributed, the last of May or early in June, in rows 

 from 14 to 18 inches apart. When fairly started — for at first 

 the plants are extremely tender — it is well to thin them, so as 

 to leave four or five inches space between. This will give an 

 opportunity to expand, and fill the rows, at the close of their 

 growth. Nothing is lost by this thinning process ; large car- 

 rots are better than small ones. After carrots have been twice 

 wed, their leaves spread, so that weeds have little opportunity 

 to vegetate. The carrot is exposed to less casualties than most 

 other vegetables. It is not often destroyed by insects. When it 

 gets fairly under way, its growth is as certain as any other crop. 



Different opinions are entertained as to the expediency of 

 continuing to grow carrots, year after year, on the same 

 ground. An early impression, taken from my father, himself 

 an observing cultivator, was, that they would not do well more 

 than two years successively. I have known them do well for 

 three years, and have been informed by Col. Lincoln, of Wor- 



