470 THE CARROT CROP. 



of the subsoil plough for about 10s. to ]2s. per acre. In 

 Belgium and France, where carrots are largely cultivated, 

 the same practice of stirring the subsoil, by forking below 

 the plough- furrow, is always carried out previous to carrot 

 sowing. 



The manure applied should be always in a well-rotted 

 condition, so that it may at once get mixed up with the 

 soil, and have distributed some of its fertilizing ingre- 

 dients through the mass before the seed is sown in the fol- 

 lowing spring. Indeed, it would be better for the growth 

 of the plant if no manure at all were applied directly 

 to it, provided the soil, by manuring for the preceding 

 crop, were left in sufficiently high condition for supplying 

 the requirements of a carrot crop. In this case the manu- 

 rial substances would have become more intimately mixed 

 up with .the soil, and would offer less inducements for 

 the formation of forks or lateral roots than where they 

 were met with in the soil, collected together in the shape 

 of solid masses of "green" or fresh dung. 



The field having been duly cleaned, manured, and laid 

 up with a high-shouldered winter furrow, needs no more 

 attention until seed-time in the spring, which should not 

 be left later than the end of March, as the carrot is a more 

 hardy plant than either the turnip or the mangold, and can 

 with safety be left longer in the soil for the purpose of in- 

 creasing its produce. At this early period of the season 

 it is rarely advisable to touch the field with the plough 

 previous to sowing; a good turn or two with the grubber 

 or cultivator across the line of ploughing will be sufficient 

 to break up any part of the old furrow slice that may still 

 hold together, and to mix up the manure in the soil, while 

 the fine winter tilth on the surface, so necessary for a suc- 

 cessful seed-bed, is left undisturbed. Dry weather, of 

 course, is desirable for this operation, and as we have the 

 choice of time during the whole month, a few days' delay 



