Cultivation of Carrots and Cabbages. 
219 
freely under a given temperature of the earth, prior to which the 
seeds of the common annual weeds will have made a vigorous 
start. We have successfully encoutntered this difficulty by har- 
rowing down the land appropriated for carrots about a fortnight 
before we propose to sow the seed : indeed, just before we begin 
to prepare the seed. During this time the seeds of the annual 
weeds brought to the surface by the harrowing will generally 
have vegetated, and the carrot-seed will have just sprouted. A 
second light-harrowing will upset the former, and the carrot-seed, 
thus started, will get sufficiently ahead of the weeds to render 
the destruction of any aftergrowth of them an easy matter. We 
drill the seed in rows 18 inches apart As soon as the rows are 
distinctly visible we flat-hoe between the rows on a dry day, and 
use the horse-hoe when the plants are about 3 inches above the 
ground. 
Carrots are so difficult to single with the hoe that the attempt 
does not answer. Our men cut them out 6 inches apart with a 
sharp hoe, leaving two or three in a bunch, at the cost of 5s. an 
acre ; boys or girls, holding down with one hand the carrot to 
be left, drawing the rest with the other hand, at ?>s. 6d. per 
acre. It must be seen that the men cut the plants off under the 
crowns, otherwise they will shoot again, and injure the crop by 
over-crov.ding. The carrots will be left about 7 inches apart, 
and when about 6 inches high, will require a second hoeing. 
We prepare the land for carrots and cabbages in the same way 
as for the other root-crops, viz., by manuring immediately after 
harvest, and giving as deep a ploughing as the character of the 
soil admits of to lie during the winter. By these means we 
never fail in securing a perfectly regular plant, and covering the 
ground with a very valuable crop. We consume them mainly 
in feeding the horses during the winter and spring months until 
vetches are ready and the fatting pigs. About one peck of 
pulped or sliced carrots, mixed with the chaff and corn at each 
feed, keeps the hoi'ses in good health and condition. 
The lifting a good crop of carrots without breaking them 
requires careful management. We use strong forks made for the 
purpose attached to a com.mon spade-handle, having two prongs 
10 inches long, the space between them being 2i inches at the 
points, and 1^ inch at the base, the iron on which they are 
formed extending 3 inches to the right of the handle, to enable 
the men to press the forks down into the ground with the foot. 
Art iron plate should extend at least a foot up each side of the 
bandle. The strain on the attachment of the fork to the handle 
is great in raising a long carrot. The best mode of raising the 
carrots is for each man to be followed by a boy or girl ; the man 
