354 



On the Improvement of the Wild Carrot, 



of the old varieties, especially in the Breteuil.) The dark yellow 

 began to appear in the crop of 1837, but it was very slightly repro- 

 duced. This shade is difficult to fix ; it passes to the lemon 

 colour, the white, sometimes to the pale red (orange). 



Two roots of a dull violet, or the colour of wine lees, were found 

 in the crop of 1835 ; they were spoiled in the winter and I was un- 

 able to obtain any race from them ; 2 or 3 others appeared again 

 in 1837, but they were so bad that we cast them aside. Many had 

 only the neck stained with the same colour ; amongst them how- 

 ever one was so fine and clean that I replanted it by itself. This 

 year it yielded very few individuals of the same character ; but its 

 produce which has varied from white to lemon colour, has gene- 

 rally been excellent. 



The red colour appeared for the first time in the third genera- 

 tion in 1837, and in very trifling proportion, perhaps one in three 

 or four hundred. Contrary to the yellow, it became immediately 

 fixed, the seeds of these first roots reproduced this year almost all 

 red carrots more or less dark- coloured. They are, in general, 

 coarse and rough on the surface. One of them, which I cut, was 

 red only in the rind, or cortical layer, the centre was of a pale 

 yellow.* 



Disposition to run. It has been seen that at first the crop of 

 March and of April ran to seed totally, and even those of May and 

 June almost entirely.^ This disposition became weaker in each 



* The same effect appears in a more remarkable manner in the violet carrot ; under 

 the rind, which is of a deep violet, the interior is sometimes found of a fine yellow. 



f At the time of making these first trials, I wished to ascertain if shortening the stems 

 would produce any favourable influence on the root ; consequently a certain number of 

 plants were submitted to a rigourous and successive pinching as they grew up ; they 

 were pinched off just above the neck, taking care to preserve entire the radical leaves. 

 Thus these plants would develope neither stems nor flower branches, but the roots gained 

 nothing by this suppression; they were not less hard than those of the individuals 

 which had run up freely ; they even appeared to us more branched. 



