1 86 GARDEN FARMING 



crop to lettuce or radishes, for which purpose the short-rooted, 

 quick-maturing French forcing varieties are chiefly used. Figure 16, 

 page 60, shows a hotbed several hundred feet long devoted to 

 this vegetable. In the vicinity of Boston carrot hotbeds are started 

 in late February or early March. The seed is sown in place in rows 

 from 6 to 10 inches apart, the distance depending upon the com- 

 panion crop. The harvest begins as soon as the most advanced roots 

 are large enough, the size varying in different markets, but \ inch 

 in diameter at the crown is usually sufficient. The harvest is con- 

 tinued by removing the largest plants, the crop being thinned in 

 this way. This forced product is marketed in bunches the same 

 as radishes. 



The crop in the open. In the open the crop is handled the same 

 as beets. The seed is sown thinly, about \ inch deep, in drills from 

 14 to 1 8 inches apart, if the cultivation is to be done by hand. 

 Field crops to be cultivated by horse-power implements are usually 

 planted in rows from 22 to 30 inches apart. If the seed is scat- 

 tered in a belt rather than in a narrow drill, less thinning will be 

 necessary. The quantity of seed will vary with the width of the 

 rows from 2 to 4 pounds per acre. The soil should be rich, loamy 

 in character and free from weeds. Young carrot plants are small 

 and delicate, easily smothered, and very difficult to weed by hand if 

 once overrun with weeds. If the plants are kept free from weeds 

 during their early life, all later cultivation can be done by simple 

 hand or horse-power implements. 



Harvesting. At the approach of cold weather the crop should 

 be dug and stored. The manner of digging will depend upon the 

 type of root grown the half-long sorts can easily be thrown out 

 with a spading fork or plow; the long sorts, however, are most 

 easily harvested by the use of a subsoil plow. As soon as the roots 

 have been loosened they should be gathered into heaps or into con- 

 venient receptacles to facilitate the work of topping. After the tops 

 have been removed the roots can be stored in a cellar in the same 

 manner as potatoes, or they may be buried like beets in conical 

 heaps and covered with straw and earth. They can be kept in better 

 condition in the root cellar if packed in sand, but only those roots 

 intended for table use should be given this treatment. After the 

 weather becomes warm enough to induce growth either in the pit 



