468 THE CARROT CROP. 



ments, and susceptibility to climatal influences and insect 

 injuries, we may calculate with far more security on the 

 aggregate returns averaging one year with another the 

 quantity which we may consider necessary to have for 

 our winter supplies. As one of these auxiliary root crops, 

 carrots are most valuable on a farm, and might in most 

 cases occupy, very beneficially, a portion of the acreage 

 destined for the root crop of the season. They precede in 

 the field work both the mangold and the turnips, occupy- 

 ing the hand labour of the farm at a season when the 

 demand for it is not very great ; they are far less liable to 

 insect injuries during their growth than the turnip, and 

 are not affected by the dryness of a season, which so fre- 

 quently produces mildew and stays its further growth; 

 and when harvested and properly stored, will keep good 

 in substance and in flavour, long after the turnips, and 

 even the mangolds, have been all consumed. The only 

 drawback to their cultivation is the extra labour they 

 require in lifting, as, owing to the depth they grow in the 

 soil, they have to be forked out separately, instead of 

 being merely pulled up as ordinary roots. This adds 

 somewhat to the expense of the crop, but at the same time 

 is an excellent preparation for the succeeding straw crop, 

 which without doubt derives great benefit from it. 



In preparing the land for the carrot crop, every advantage 

 should be taken of autumnal cultivation for the purpose 

 of getting the field cleared of weeds, whether annual or 

 perennial, before it is finally laid up for the winter. These 

 points have been already alluded to, and full directions 

 given at page 294, whicli we cannot do better than recom- 

 mend to be followed on the present purpose. Indeed, it 

 is even of more importance to the carrot crop than to 

 most others, that the soil should have been well cleared 

 of weeds, as, owing to the early period at which the young 

 plants show themselves above the surface, and their ex- 



