476 THE CARROT CROP. 



be taken to insure satisfactory results. The roots should 

 be selected at the time of "lifting," and only such as are 

 symmetrical in shape, free from disease or injury, with a 

 sound head, and single stem well set on with a narrow 

 neck, should be taken. The tops should be cut off about 

 1 inch from the crown of the root, and they should then 

 be removed and planted at once in the piece already 

 prepared for them, or they may be kept in a dry place, 

 either in sand or otherwise, properly protected, until the 

 spring, when they may be planted at about 2 feet distances 

 apart in the row and in the drill. The spot appointed for 

 their reception should have been previously prepared by 

 deep digging and the application of well-rotted manure. 

 Under favourable circumstances the roots speedily resume 

 their functions when placed again in the soil. A round 

 and fistular seed-stem is speedily thrown up, carrying 

 branching and vigorous shoots, terminating in umbels, 

 which, as the flowers fade away and the seeds begin to 

 ripen, contract somewhat in size (circumference), and 

 assume a form depressed in the centre and resembling a 

 "bird's nest." The seed is usually ready for gathering 

 about the first or second week in August, and as it ripens 

 very irregularly, it requires to be gathered by hand-, which 

 is usually performed by children, who cut off the ripened 

 umbels and carry them off in small baskets with which 

 they are provided. When the seed has grown on a large 

 scale the stems are severed with a hook, and the whole 

 plant left in the field in small bundles until ready to be 

 carted home, when it is either stacked or threshed out by 

 the flail in the usual manner. This, although more 

 expeditious and less expensive in labour, is, after all, 

 perhaps, the least remunerative, as the seed is very un- 

 equally matured, and requires to be gone over with the 

 flail three or four times before it can be all separated, and 

 when on the floor presents a far less even and marketable 



