54 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



tTieir thii^d leaf, to four, and afcerwards to six, eight, or 

 ten, inches apart. 



.When weeds are left to grow, or the thinnings are not 

 attended to, the carrots will be small and spindly. In 

 drilled crops, the ground must not be dug between, or it 

 will cause forking. In the month of October the whole 

 of the crop should be taken from the ground, deprived of 

 their tops, though not too closely, and placed in a jjit for 

 the winter, covering them first with straw, and afierwards 

 with two or three inches of soil; the straw is intended 

 to keep them from being injured by excessive moisture, 

 and the soil to preserve them from the attacks of frost. 

 Where, however, a place in the cellar can be devoted to 

 this purpose, they should be piled in heaps, with a small 

 quantity of river or drift sand placed between each 

 layer, and in this manner they may be preserved soimd 

 and healthy, without losing any of their flavour, or drying 

 up any of the nutritive juices they contain. If allowed to 

 become too moist and warm, they begin to grow freely, 

 and at once consume the greater part of their sugar ; 

 thus rendering them flavourless. When permitted to 

 get dry and flabby before being housed, they never recover 

 their plumpness, and have a stale, disagreeable taste after 

 boiling. One plant of each sort in the bed may be left 

 to go to seed, or may be planted out for this purpose in 

 the following spring. 



Very large carrots may be grown by making deep and 

 large dibble holes, hard rammed at the sides, filling them 

 loosely with rich earth, sowing a few seeds of the long 

 sorts on the top, and when they come up, removing all 

 but the plant nearest the centre. 



Carrots are generally grown to an immense size when 

 planted in river or sea sand: therefore, it is important 

 that the soil in which they are sown should be of a very 

 light and sandy nature, and rendered fine by frequent 

 digging. Indeed, this is the only point in the cultivation 

 of carrots that demands particular attention, for if the 

 soil is at all adhesive, or not well broken, the descent of 

 the roots will be obstructed, and consequently they will 

 become branched or forked, aud when this is the case, 

 they are generally worthless. So that, the lighter the 



