52 GARDENING FOE YOUNG AND OLD. 



was necessary to thin out the onions, leaving only one 

 plant every three or four inches ; but we have discovered 

 that the onion will bear crowding. If three or four 

 onions be left in a bunch, they will push each other up- 

 wards and downwards, lengthwise and sidewise, and you 

 will get three or four good sized onions instead of one 

 large overgrown one which no one wants. And so it is 

 with carrots. Such varieties as the Early Short Horn or 

 the Half Long will bear a good deal of crowding. I have 

 often left four or five carrots in a bunch and had them 

 all grow to good size. They push each other sidewise in 

 the loose, well cultivated soil. Leaving them thick in 

 this way not only saves the unpleasant labor of thinning 

 with the fingers, but this thick crop of carrots keeps 

 down the weeds in the row and saves much labor in 

 weeding. 



The true plan is, to sow the carrots pretty thick, drop- 

 ping, say two or three seeds to each inch of row, and in- 

 stead of thinning them out by hand, as is usually done, 

 I would push or pull a narrow hoe through them and 

 thus leave a bunch of plants every five or six inches in 

 the row ; each bunch may have four or five carrots, which 

 will grow strong enough to keep down the weeds which 

 may be left in the bunch, and the entire work of weed- 

 ing can be done with a cultivator and hoe. The large 

 long varieties of carrots, like the Long Orange and 

 White Belgian, can not be left so thick in the bunches, 

 and for this reason, I prefer to grow the Half Long vari- 

 ety ; it is more nutritious and is much more easily har- 

 vested. 



CELERY. 



Celery is a crop which should be largely grown in the 

 field-garden. It is essentially a farm crop, just as much 

 so as cabbage. I mean by this that it requires a good 



