178 



CULINAEY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



employed; and indeed, in large private 

 gardens, rolling is a more business-like 

 way of performing the operation, and in- 

 volves a less expenditure of time. 



It is a common practice with carrot- 

 growers to assist the germination of the 

 seed — a process by which several days are 

 gained, and which is of advantage in late 

 wet springs, and also in gardens, where the 

 ground may not be prepared, or where the 

 previous crop has scarcely been removed 

 from it. This process is effected by mix- 

 ing the seed with damp sand, and placing 

 it in a warm situation, such as on the floor 

 of a hothouse, or indeed anywhere else, 

 if in a temperature from 1 0° to 20° higher 

 than the soil into which it is to be sown. 

 Others place the seed in a bag, and steep 

 it in rain-water for about forty-eight hours, 

 eight or ten days before sowing is to take 

 place. If in quantity, and spread out on 

 a floor to the thickness of 9 or 10 inches, 

 it will of itself generate sufficient heat, by 

 a slight fermentation which will take place 

 in consequence of being thus wetted, to 

 cause the seeds to chip or germinate ; but 

 if in small quantities, it had better be laid 

 upon a floor, or in shallow boxes, in some 

 warm room, until this takes place. In 

 either case, great care must be taken that 

 germination is not allowed to go too far, 

 else, in the process of sowing, the germs of 

 vegetation wiU be liable to be broken ofij 

 which will destroy the seed. In careful 

 hands, this is a process in seed-sowing 

 which might be advantageously applied to 

 all seeds that are long in vegetating. On 

 the principle of simultaneous cropping, 

 many market-gardeners sow a thin crop 

 of radishes broadcast along with their 

 carrots; the former come off for use before 

 any damage is done to the latter. The 

 carrot-seed, when not prepared as we have 

 stated, will, early in the season, lie in the 

 ground for five or six weeks before they 

 come up, while the radishes seldom lie 

 above a fortnight. Others, particularly 

 private gardeners, sow a thin sprinkling of 

 leek-seed along with the carrot, which may 

 be done in the same drill, to admit of 

 early hoeing. Others sow onions, and 

 instances have been known where cab- 

 bages, savoys, or Brussels sprouts have 

 been planted in the same line, and at 4 or 5 

 feet apart, as well as where planted pro- 

 miscuously over the ground, in which the 

 carrot crop has escaped the attacks of 



insects, while crops adjoining, sown alone, 

 have been completely destroyed. We have 

 seen a case of this sort, in the very old 

 garden of the Earl of Morton, which has 

 probably existed as such for two centu- 

 ries, on which as fine clean carrots were 

 produced as could be wished, and not for 

 one season only, but for several consecu- 

 tive years ; and we were informed by Mr 

 Smeal, the gardener, that before he prac- 

 tised planting brassicaceous plants along 

 with his carrots, none had been produced 

 previously in the garden, in the recollection 

 of the oldest person living at Dalmahoy. 

 The Brussels sprout is the best for this 

 purpose, as it grows tall and slender, and 

 shades the carrots less than any of the 

 spreading sorts. 



Carrot- seed is more liable to be bad 

 than most other garden-seeds; it will, 

 therefore, be a wise precaution to sow 60 

 or 100 seeds in a flower-pot, and place it 

 in the heat of a mild hothouse to vegetate. 

 By counting the number of plants which 

 come up, the quality of the seed will be 

 correctly ascertained. One ounce of seed, 

 if good, will be sufficient for a bed of 130 

 square feet, if sown broadcast ; and if sown 

 in drills, the same quantity will be suffi- 

 cient for 150 feet. 



Subsequent culture. — When the broad-^ 

 cast-sown crop comes above the ground, 

 it should be thinned out with the 2- 

 inch draw-hoe ; this hoeing, however, is 

 more to suppress weeds and keep the sur- 

 face of the ground open ; the principal 

 thinning should take place when the plants 

 have attained the height of from 2 to 3 

 inches, and then they should be singled 

 out to from 4 to 5 inches, clearing the 

 ground at the same time of every weed. 

 This will admit of after-thinning for im- 

 mediate use ; and, should the demand not 

 require them in sufficient time, then a 

 third and final thinning should take place, 

 leaving the horn sorts 6 or 7 inches apart, 

 and the large-growing sorts 9 or 10 inches. 

 Those of the former, in drills, may be left 

 at 5 or 6 inches apart, and the latter at 

 from 6 to 8 inches. 



Much as we advocate deep-stirring the 

 ground between the rows of crops gene- 

 rally, the carrot forms almost the only 

 exception, as, by so doing, it encourages 

 the lateral fibres to grow large, and pro- 

 duce what is technically called forked 

 roots ; flat-hoeing, however, for the 



