71 



be run near the side of the range of carrots, and as deep as 

 pos. ible. This loosens the dirt, and clears one side of the 

 cariots almost entirely from the earth. The labourers then, 

 with great facility, take them by their tops out of the beds, 

 and throw them into carts, with only an occasional use of 

 the hoe to plants which the plough has not loosened. 



" I have no question that, conducted in this mode, a car- 

 rot crop may be made more productive, and much less ex- 

 pensive, than the potato crop usually is. In sowing, I use 

 a small hand-drill,which lays the seed with great regularity — 

 a circumstance very important both to facilitate weeding and 

 harvesting; since, if the carrots stand straggling, and not in 

 a line, the plough, when harvesting, leaves the more to be 

 loosened by the hoe or the forls.,'^'^— Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Repository^ vol, iv. p. 24. 



A mode of cultivating carrots, differing slightly from the 

 above, is described by Mr. Quincy, in the same work, vol. 

 iv. p. 212. 



For other modes of cultivating this root, see Mass. Agr. 

 Rep, vol. V. pp. 20, 255, 347. 



Use. — Horses are remarkably fond of carrots, and it is 

 even said, that, when oats and carrots are given together^ 

 the horses leave the oats, and eat the carrots. The ordinary 

 allowance is about forty or fifty pounds a day to each horse. 

 Carrots, when mixed with chaff, that is, cut straw, and a 

 little hay, without corn, keep horses in excellent condition 

 for performing all kinds of ordinary labour. 



" In comparing the carrot with the potato, an additional 

 circumstance greatly in favour of the former is, that it does 

 not require to be steamed or boiled, and it is not more dif- 

 ficult to wash than the potato. These and other circum- 

 stances considered, it appears to be the most valuable of all 

 roots for working horses. 



The use of the carrot in domestic economy is well 

 known. Their produce of nutritive matter, as ascertained 

 by Sir H. Davy, is ninety-eight parts in one thousand; of 

 which three are starch, and ninety-five sugar. They are 

 used in the dairy in winter and spring to give colour and 

 flavour to butter. In the distillery, owing to the great pro- 

 portion of sugar in their composition, they yield more spirit 

 than the potato ; the usual quantity is twelve gallons per 



