36 THE SEED-GROWER. 
as for beets, and are set out as soon as heavy frost is over 
in the spring, being placed with the crowns even with the 
surface, in rows three feet apart, six inches in the row. 
As required with all planting, the earth should be 
pressed firmly about the roots. Cultivate thoroughly 
and keep down weeds. 
In California, wintering of roots.is done somewhat 
differently from the practice on the Atlantic side as 
above stated. There the roots which are ploughed up 
in the fall, instead of being stored in pits as in the 
East, are topped, and then put into sacks, which are 
simply kept stored in sheds or out of doors until wanted 
for planting in January or February. 
Carrot seed forms in umbels or clusters, and when 
bulk of the crop is ripe, indicated by the. stalks becom- 
ing dry, and the umbels turning brown, harvest is in 
order. Cutting is usually done by hand. 
Threshing and Cleaning.—When seed is thor- 
oughly dry, thresh lightly with a flail on a cloth spread 
on the floor, for if the stalks are broken too much, it 
will render seed more difficult to clean. 
In Europe, cleaning is done in a special machine 
made with a wooden cylinder having steel teeth, for the 
purpose of taking out the beard and small splinters. 
Without this machine, seed is cleaned with hand sieves, 
using first, one with a coarse mesh to remove the pieces 
of stalks; next, one with a finer mesh, in which seed is 
rubbed by hand to remove the beard. Seed is then 
spread on a cloth and left in the sun for a day or so to 
dry. It is again cleaned in the sieve, hand rubbing 
being repeated and sticks picked out. The next day, 
another cleaning is given, and finally seed is passed 
through the fan mill. It will then be ready for storing 
in sacks. 
