CAROB—CARROTS—CARROT DISEASES 
The carob tree is one of the necessi- 
ties, almost, of the average Italian farm- 
er. It gives him and his stock ample pro- 
tection against the hot summer sun; its 
pods are food for the animals, and for 
himself as well, if necessary; and it does 
not demand rich soil. It is most fre- 
quently planted where little else will 
grow, in rocky land or about the edges 
of gardens or olive groves, and with its 
sturdy form and thick, heavy leaves it 
withstands perfectly the hot dry Sicilian 
summers. 
E. J. NEWCOMBER, 
In the California Cultivator. 
Carrots 
The carrot grows wild in the fields and 
on the roadsides of Great Britain and 
the seashores of the North Temperate 
zone of the Old World. It resembles the 
cultivated carrot, except in the root, 
which is thin and woody. However this 
wild carrot is the parent of the cultivated 
varieties. 
Carrots vary considerably in the 
length, shape and color of their roots, 
and in the proportion of rind to core. The 
White Belgian, which gives the largest 
crops, has a very thick root which is 
white, becoming pale green above, where 
it projects above the ground. For nutrit- 
ive purposes, it is inferior to the red 
varieties. The carrot succeeds best on a 
light sandy soil, which should be well 
drained and deeply trenched. If not 
naturally fertile the ground should be 
well prepared and heavily manured, in 
the autumn or winter. For the long- 
rooted sorts, the soil should be at least 
three feet deep; but for the shorter 
rooted varieties a soil of less depth is 
sufficient. 
Growing Carrots 
For the early crop sow the seed as 
early in spring as the ground can be 
worked in rows 10 to 12 inches apart if 
hand cultivated, and 18 to 24 inches if 
cultivated with a horse. About two 
pounds of seed are required per acre. 
Cover the seed about one inch deep. It 
is advisable to mix in a few radish seed 
to help locate the rows, since the carrot 
157 
Seed germinates slowly, and cultivation 
to keep down weeds is frequently neces- 
sary before the young carrots make their 
appearance. When the plants are well up 
they should be thinned to stand two to 
three inches apart in the row. Frequent 
shallow cultivation should be given with 
some light implement throughout the sea- 
son. Late varieties for stock may be 
sown the latter part of May or as late 
as the middle of June in the Northern 
states. The plant makes its best growth 
in the cool weather of fall. 
The crop is harvested usually by hand 
pulling and topping. The work of pulling 
is often facilitated by running a plow 
alongside the rows to loosen them. Where 
the half-long varieties are grown they 
can frequently be plowed out. From 200 
to 300 bushels per acre is a good yield. 
The roots may be stored in pits or in the 
cellar like potatoes. There is a consid- 
erable amount of hand labor in the cul- 
ture of carrots, which makes their growth 
relatively expensive. 
Besides the use of carrots as a table 
vegetable they form a favorite succulent 
food for horses and dairy cows. Foreign 
experiments show that for stock feeding 
purposes carrots are about equal to other 
roots. The agricultural experiment sta- 
tions in this country have reported but 
few experiments with this crop as a stock 
food. Except for the purpose of variety 
in the diet it will probably be economy to 
grow other larger yielding root crops, 
like mangels and rutabagas. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
CARROTS IN ALASKA. See Alaska. 
CARROT DISEASES 
Leaf Spct 
(Cercospora Apii Fres.) 
Same fungus as causes celery leaf spot, 
See under Celery Diseases. 
Root Rot or Rhizoctoria 
Corticium vagum B. & C. Var. 
Solani Burt. 
Same as potato root rot, which see. 
Soft Rot 
Bacillus carotovorous Jones 
One of the commonest bacilli parasitic 
upon plants. It produces a soft rot on 
