October, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS All 
Carrots as a House Decoration 
attractiveobjects, 
which will be es- 
pecially welcome to those who make a 
pastime of the indoor garden. All that 
iS necessary to carry out the plan indi- 
cated below, is to obtain some well- 
developed carrots, stumps which are 
rather old answering the purpose best. 
The carrots should be scrubbed 
quite clean with a small brush in the 
first place. Then take a sharp knife, 
and with a clean cut, sever the root 
in such a way that the cleavage is made 
about two inches from the crown or 
upper part of the carrots. The taper- 
ing ends will be of no further service 
and may be thrown away. The next 
step is to hollow out the interior of 
the portions that are retained. This 
is perhaps most easily accomplished 
with the end of a rather blunt knife; 
holding the stump firmly in one hand 
while the tip of the implement is 
turned round and round. It is well 
to leave a good thickness between the 
interior of the carrot and the outside, 
and also to avoid boring too deeply 
toward the crown. A great deal of 
the success of the experiment depends upon leaving a good 
amount of root at that which has been the top of the carrot. 
As well great care must be taken to avoid making a hole 
right through in any part of the stump, as in this case the 
portion will be quite useless. 
When all the stumps have been hollowed out as indicated, 
steps may be taken to pre- 
pare the carrots in such a~ - 
way that they may be sus- 
pended. In the first place, 
with a bradawl, or any 
sharply pointed instrument, 
pierce four holes in each 
portion. These should go 
right through from the 
outside to the inside, and 
be about a quarter of 
an inch from the cut 
end as shown in the illustra- 
tion. The holes should be 
exactly at the four “‘cor- 
ners’—if one may use the 
word in connection with an 
article which is nearly cir- 
cular. A good deal de- 
pends upon arranging that 
each perforation is as near- 
ly opposite to its fellow as 
possible. Now obtain some 
string which is rather thin, 
all FIRST sight it must be admitted that 
there does not appear to be anything which 
is decorative about the homely carrot. 
However, with a little care it is possible to 
convert any number of roots into really 
By S. Leonard Bastin 
The root prepared for budding 
but such as will not rot easily if it is kept continuously wet. 
Cut a number of pieces of this about fifteen inches in length, 
allowing two portions for every carrot. Each of these lengths 
is to be threaded through two of the holes in every root. It 
will probably not be very easy to do this by forcing the 
twine through the holes, and the best 
way by far is to get a large needle— 
carrying the string through the open- 
ings being a simple matter in this man- 
ner. When each carrot is threaded the 
pieces of string should be pulled out so 
that they all meet quite evenly, and 
then they may be tied together firmly 
into a knot. If this has not already 
been done, any portion of the foliage 
which may be attached to the carrots 
should be removed. 
It is now necessary to find some 
light position where the stumps may 
be hung up, the crowns being of 
course downward. Perhaps the best 
place is in front of a window where 
there will be plenty of illumination. 
A little ingenuity will be needed in 
order to devise some arrangement 
whereby the carrots may be suspended 
in a good situation. Any place actu- 
ally on the framework of the window 
will probably be too near the glass 
and it will be undesirable to damage 
the woodwork with the driving in of 
pins or nails. A little temporary shelf 
may be improvised supported on two 
piles of books or boxes, and from this the carrots may be sus- 
pended, a tack or anything that will keep them in place 
answering the purpose admirably. ‘The next thing to do now 
will be to fill each portion of carrot with clean water. The 
following day it is likely that the root will have absorbed 
Boring the holes in the carrot 
nearly all the moisture, and the carrot must be filled up again 
and kept well supplied all 
along. The water must al- 
ways be sweet and pure, 
and in order to keep it so, 
it is a good plan to place in 
each root a tiny lump of 
charcoal. 
Of course, a good deal 
depends upon the tempera- 
ture of the apartment, but 
if the room is reasonably 
warm it will not be very 
long before a number of 
shoots are to be observed 
coming from the crown of 
the carrots. This will na- 
turally tend to grow out 
towards the light, and if 
this were allowed to take 
place, the result would be 
a one-sided affair which will 
be very far from attractive. 
The best way in which to 
get over the difficulty is to 
