ESCULENT- ROOTED PLANTS.— THE CARROT. 



179 



suppression of weeds, must be attended 

 to. 



Soil and manure. — A light deep sandy 

 soil is natural to the carrot ; in fresh 

 loamy soils it also flourishes in great per- 

 fection ; a cold stiflf clayey one is the least 

 of all adapted to it, and in such soils ex- 

 pedients like the following are sometimes 

 had recourse to — namely, to thrust a long 

 dibber, such as is used for planting horse- 

 radish, into the soil, filling up the per- 

 foration with sand, and dropping 3 or 4 

 seeds into it, to be thinned out to one, 

 after they have attained the height of 2 

 inches. In this way, carrots of large size 

 have been obtained. In well-drained peaty 

 soil, they have been successfully grown, 

 and in such are usually free of disease, or 

 the attacks of underground insects. In 

 strong soils, they are often difficult to get 

 up : to aid them in this, deep drills are 

 drawn, and filled with light soil, such as 

 leaf-mould, in which clean sea or river 

 sand has been incorporated ; in this the 

 seeds are sown, and vegetate freely, and 

 establish themselves until of a size and 

 strength to penetrate the stronger soil 

 below. The manures best suited to this 

 crop are those in a liquid state, applied 

 during growth : stable-yard manure, un- 

 less in a very decomposed state, should 

 not be applied; and to keep it until it is 

 in a proper state for this crop is an evi- 

 dent waste of its fertilising powers, which 

 had much better have been employed in 

 the feeding of the previous crop. The 

 application of fresh manure causes them 

 to grow forked and misshapen, as well as 

 to be attacked by insects : the only ma- 

 nure we apply, and even that is seldom, 

 is a light dressing of pigeons' dung; guano 

 may also be applied with advantage, espe- 

 cially if in a liquid form. The experiments 

 made some years ago by Mr C. W. John- 

 ston, on the application of salt to various 

 crops, gave the following result in the case 

 of carrots : Light sandy soil, manured 

 with 80 bushels of salt, and 20 tons of 

 stable-yard manure per English acre, 

 yielded 23 tons 6 cwt. 1 qr. 18 lb. ; the 

 same extent, with 20 tons of manure, only 

 22 tons 18 cwt. qr. 26 lb. ; manured 

 with 20 bushels of salt, only 18 tons 2 

 cwt. ; without any manure or salt, 13 tons 

 4 cwt. Salt and soot is a favourite manure 

 for carrots, and the quantity applied may 

 be to the extent of 10 bushels of salt and 



20 bushels of soot per acre. Turf-ashes, 

 and the ashes of wood and garden-refuse, 

 have been found beneficial jphen applied 

 in a newly-formed state to carrot, onion, 

 potato, and beet crops ; they contain silica, 

 alumina, oxides of iron and manganese, 

 sulphates of potash and lime, phosphates 

 of lime, magnesia, common salt, and char- 

 coal ; they should not only be dug into 

 the ground, but sown also on the surface, 

 previous to drilling, by which means they 

 come in immediate contact with the seed. 



Forcing. — To obtain carrots in a young 

 state, fit for use during winter, artificial 

 means must be resorted to. A mild hot- 

 bed of dung and leaves, or a tanked pit, 

 is the proper accommodation for their 

 seed ; therefore, if the true early horn, 

 which is the best suited for forcing, as 

 well as most approved of by cooks, should 

 be sown at the periods stated above, 

 either the tank or bed should be covered, 

 to the depth of 9 inches, with light rich 

 sandy soil, and the seed sown in the broad- 

 cast manner, and covered about half an 

 inch with sharp dry sand ; a temperature 

 ranging from 55° to 65° will be sufficient, 

 and instead of raising this temperature by 

 additional fire-heat, during frosty weather, 

 rather cover up the glass roof to exclude 

 the extra cold. Where a less abundant 

 supply is wanted, seed may be sown in 

 shallow pots, and these placed in a mildly- 

 heated pit, close to the glass. Radishes 

 and young onions may be obtained in the 

 same manner. 



The London market-gardeners' practice 

 is to sow the early horn only, in frames 

 and beds to be hooped over, and covered 

 with mats. A sowing is made in Novem- 

 ber, and another in January. When the 

 plants are up, they are thinned to 4 inches 

 apart. The hooping-over and mat-cover- 

 ing practice is behind the intelligence of 

 the present times. Private gardeners act 

 better, and grow their winter carrots un- 

 der the protection of glass coverings, either 

 in pits or in frames. 



Taking the crop, and subsequent preserva- 

 tion. — Carrots should be taken up on the 

 approach of winter, and when their grow- 

 ing season is over. To leave them in the 

 ground injures their flavour and colour ; 

 and if so left after the turn of the year, 

 they begin to become hard, fibrous, and 

 ultimately, when their spring growth com- 

 mences, unfit for use. Besides, it is evi- 



