ROOT CROPS 



ROOT CROPS 



541 



all parts of the world. It is probably native of 

 Europe, where the most attention is now being 

 given to its improvement. Although it has been 

 grown on this continent, practically as long as the 

 European occupation its culture has not assumed 

 any large proportions in any place. 



Varieties. 



Varieties are classified according to their shape, 

 as (Fig. 774): (1) Taper-pointed, (2) stump-rooted 

 or premorse and (3) cylindrical. These are charac- 

 terized as follows : 



(1) Taper-pointed. The roots taper uniformly 

 from crown to taproot.. 



(2) Premorse. The roots end abruptly at the 

 base, the taproot starting from a flat or nearly flat 

 surface. 



(3) Cylindrical. The roots are cylindrical for at 

 least two-thirds of their length and then taper. 



In both (1) and (2) we may have long, half-long 

 and short varieties, according to the ratio existing 

 between the length and greatest diameter ; thus. 



Long = length more than four times the width. 

 Half-long= length more than twice, but less 



than four times the greatest width. 

 Short = length less than twice the width. 



The cylindrical types are all long. Of these 

 three types the following varieties may be given : 

 Taper-pointed, long : White Belgian, Long Orange, 

 Long Red (grown largely for stock, and have one- 

 third to one-quarter of the root out of the ground). 

 Taper-pointed, half-long : Danvers Half -long. Car- 

 ter's One Hundred Ton. Premorse, half -long : Early 

 Horn (various synonyms), Lobberick Agricultural 

 Carrot (stock). Premorse, short: Early Frame 

 (various synonyms). Cylindrical, long: Altringham 

 and Japanese varieties. Vilmorin Coreless Long Red 

 belongs in this class. It is stump-rooted. The 

 colors red, orange, yellow and white exist in all 

 types. 



The stump-rooted type and half-long varieties 

 should be selected for shallow and heavy soils. The 

 long types may be grown on the deeper and more 

 friable soils. 



Culture of carrots. 



Soil. — ^The ideal land for carrots is a deep, sandy 

 loam or an alluvial soil. Carrots grow well on 

 deep, peaty soils and give good crops on light soils 

 if there is a good rainfall, or on clay loams if well 

 drained. The land should be well prepared, deep 

 fall-plowing being recommended. The spring prep- 

 aration consists of harrowing with the disk or 

 acme harrow and finally with the meeker harrow, 

 the latter being an admirable tool for finishing the 

 preparation of the seed-bed for all root crops. 



Manuring. — It is preferable that the land be well 

 manured for the previous crop. If this cannot be 

 done, about twelve tons of rotted manure may be 

 applied per acre in fall and plowed under, 

 or rotted manure may be disked in in the 

 spring. It is important that it be evenly distrib- 

 uted. One important reason for using rotted 

 manure is that carrots are slow in germination and 



growth and permit weeds to grow apace. Manure 

 introduces many weeds to land, and rotted manure 

 is less likely to contain so many. A complete fer- 

 tilizer is usually applied, consisting of, per acre, 

 100 to 200 pounds of muriate or sulfate of potash, 

 applied in fall or spring and harrowed in, although 

 wood-ashes are sometimes used instead ; 400 to 

 800 pounds of acid phosphate, 16 per cent avail- 

 able, or its equivalent, i. e., 64 to 128 pounds of 

 actual phosphoric acid, which is worked into the 

 soil in the spring ; and 100 to 150 pounds of nitrate 



■^ 



\l III 



7 \-r \ 



IT 



y 



y 



Fig. 774. Carrot shapes. Beginning at the left, first three 

 taper-pointed: 1st, long; 2cl, half-long; 3d, short. Second 

 three premorse: 1st, long: 2d, half-long; 3d, short. Third 

 two cylindrical: 1st, taper-pointed; 2d, premorse. 



of soda, which is usually applied in the form of two 

 top-dressings when the plants are growing. Liming 

 the land at the rate of 1,000 pounds per acre is 

 frequently beneficial. 



Seed and seeding. — Carrot seed-is sometimes par- 

 tially germinated by mixing it with wet sand and 

 leaving it for a few days, or by merely dampening 

 it and leaving the .seeds in a pile. Since carrot 

 seeds, which are really fruits, carry many spines, 

 the method of mixing in sand was formerly of 

 value to prevent their sticking together. Today, 

 seeds from which the spines have been removed 

 may be purchased, and such will readily pass 

 through the drill. The seeds should be sown on or 

 very close to the surface. They take ten to four- 

 teen days to germinate. Six to seven pounds may 

 be sown per acre, although if the seed is of good 

 germinating power four or five pounds will suffice. 

 The rows may be narrow, eighteen to twenty-four 

 inches apart when hand culture is used, or twenty- 

 eight to thirty-six inches apart for field conditions 

 and when machinery is used. In the latter case 

 the plants may be left three inches asunder in the 

 rows, and 55,000 to 60,000 plants should be se- 

 cured per acre. 



Subsequent care. — Shallow cultivation should be 

 given as soon as the rows can be seen and be main- 

 tained until the foliage meets in the rows. The 

 plants should be thinned to one in a place as soon 

 as large enough to handle. The crop could well be 

 grown after such a crop as cabbages or potatoes, or 

 any other crop which has been well manured. 



Harvesting. — The varieties that have part of the 



