Culture of the Bean, Onion, and Carrot. 545 



Dutch hoe up between the drills as soon as the onions can be 

 seen ; and the small hand goose-necked hoes, one in each hand, as 

 soon as the whip (as it is termed in a market-garden) is clear out 

 of the ground. Every practical man must know that an onion 

 comes out of the ground doubled like a whip and handle. A 

 good small-hoer, in the neighbourhood of London, is certain of 

 finding plenty of employment, and, as the work is let by mea- 

 surement, he has the opportunity of earning high wages ; but it 

 is astonishing what mischief a bad workman makes amongst 

 crops by muddling and trampling about. I have known five 

 pounds an acre given for hoeing the onions during the season, 

 that is, for three times ; but it is now done for much less, and 

 I have seen many men attempt to hoe with a hoe in each hand, 

 that could never learn to use it properly with one. 



The Carrot is a very useful vegetable, and much sought for in 

 every family almost every day in the year, and is a very useful 

 hearty food for cattle. I am only surprised that more are not 

 grown by farmers for the cattle. The ground about this 

 neighbourhood is the finest for carrot-growing I ever met with, 

 a beautiful sandy loam ; and I have this season grown a greater 

 weight of the straightest well-coloured carrots, than ever I 

 saw in Surrey, Kent, Essex, or Middlesex. I have sometimes 

 talked to the farmers in this neighbourhood about growing 

 carrots, and the answer I have always got is, that they are 

 sure they would never answer hereabouts ; but I could never 

 discover that any had tried it. They crop with so and so 

 during the spring, because their grandfather had done it before 

 them, fifty years ago, and then find out in some way when it is 

 harvest time ; but complain wonderfully because the land has 

 only brought from fifteen to twenty-five bushels per acre. The 

 very same land, in my humble opinion, under the present im- 

 proved method of cultivation in some neighbourhoods that I 

 have seen, would yield double the above quantity. To grow 

 carrots they must not scuffle over the land as they now do, or 

 they will not get them much longer than my thumb ; but 

 they must let the subsoil plough go to work ; when for several 

 seasons the crops that followed would be much benefited by 

 the change, and by the soil being broken deeper than it ever 

 had been before. I cannot understand why some of the men 

 do not try to break their ground deeper. When in conversation 

 with any of them about it, they always acknowledge it would 

 be better for every thing ; but still they have not the resolution 

 to put it into force on ever so small a scale. The only excuse 

 I ever heard is, that the rents, rates, &c., are so high they 

 cannot manage it; and my argument is, that that would bo 

 the way to get something to pay them with. The best sort of 

 carrot for colour, length, and general crop is the Surrey ; and 



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