478 THE CARROT CROP. 



The flax is ready for pulling about the middle of June. 

 This operation is far less injurious than that of mowing to 

 the young carrot plants, which, as soon as the field is 

 cleared, immediately occupy the entire surface with their 

 own foliage, and generally prove a productive crop. 



In this country carrots have been frequently grown 

 as an intercalary crop with beans, either a row of beans 

 and of carrots alternately all over the field, or two rows 

 of beans and then two or more rows of carrots, as 

 may be thought best either for the growth of the two 

 plants or for the requirements of the farm. For this 

 method the field is usually prepared in time for early 

 bean sowing, either laid up in ridges or left on the flat, 

 the two crops being sown at about the same time and 

 in the same manner. The object, however, is not so 

 much to favour the growth of the carrots as of the 

 beans, which have, by the wider intervals between them, 

 more access to light and air, both of which act so benefi- 

 cially on all vegetable growth. Carrots have also been sown 

 advantageously in alternate rows with mangold- wurzel. 

 By this practice the more erect-growing and smaller top of 

 the carrot leaves an increased space between the rows for the 

 development of the wide-spreading leaves of the mangold. 1 



Under favourable conditions of soil and cultivation, the 

 carrot is generally a very productive crop. It is less 

 liable to disease and insect injuries than most of the root 

 crops is sown earlier, before the pressure of labour is 

 felt, and may be left with safety in the field until the 

 others are safely got up and stored. The only drawback 

 attached to their cultivation is the extra care and expense 

 attending their removal from the soil. This, however, should 



1 In 1852 a paper was read at a meeting of the Botley Farmers' Club, " On 

 the Cultivation of Carrots," the details of which are given in the Agri. Gaz. 

 for 1852, p. 90. Details are also given in the volume for 1851, p. 218, of the 

 culture of carrots on poor soils. 



