34 VEGECULTUHE 



otherwise have received, and this is reduced to a minimum when 

 the treatment given the previous winter is considered. I would, 

 moreover, like to suggest the use of a small fork between the 

 rows where the ground tends to consolidate ; the soil cannot 

 be kept too free. 



Variations among Parsnips are not at all numerous ; indeed, 

 there are but three or four distinct kinds, those offered as 

 specialities by seedsmen being simply improvements on existing 

 types. The Hollow Crowned Parsnip is the one most generally 

 in cultivation. The Student is another fine sort, of medium 

 length, and most suitable for exhibition purposes. There is 

 also a dwarf variety suited to shallow soils. 



CARROTS (Daucus carota). Unlike the Parsnip, the Carrot 

 can justly lay claim to a number of distinct varieties, suited to 

 various uses and seasons. It is, on the whole, a deep-rooting 

 subject ; and although the stump-rooted varieties will flourish 

 on soil of medium depth, there is every prospect of securing 

 better produce on well-trenched ground. Here is another case, 

 moreover, in which no fresh, rank, or strong manure, organic 

 or artificial, should be put in any effective quantity into the 

 upper layer of soil, but rather it must be well mixed, deep down, 

 with the subsoil. Its presence in the top-soil will inevitably 

 lead to the production of badly-shaped, stringy roots, with 

 large core and very little flesh just the opposite to that so 

 greatly desired in a Carrot destined for kitchen operations. 

 This reminder will suffice to suggest the best procedure as to 

 the treatment of the ground. 



The Carrot succeeds best in an open site, free from heavy 

 shade, with a well-worked subsoil, and the surface kept in a 

 loose, porous condition by frequent cultivation. Carrots should 

 never be allowed to exist in what is little more than a hole in 

 hard, unyielding ground, sometimes very dry, sometimes sodden. 



Seed-sowing is most profitably performed when the ground is 

 in a friable, moist condition ; if the soil is excessively wet or 

 dry, failure to germinate will be the lot of the majority of the 

 seeds. Early sowings are made somewhat thickly, in order to 

 compensate for a percentage of losses, but thin sowing should 

 be the general rule. 



The different classes of Carrot accommodate themselves 

 splendidly to the special requirements of the culinary art at 

 different times of the year ; and their cultivation may be under- 

 taken with this end kept well in view. Three divisions may be 



