THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 151 
being required for this crop, it may be trenched two spits 
deep, and a good bed of manure may be laid in the trench as 
the work proceeds. It is of the utmost importance to have 
the surface soil dry and pulverulent, and it is better to wait 
for fine weather and a good seed bed than sow when the 
ground is cold and pasty. Carrot-seed is light, chaffy stuff, 
requiring careful handling to distribute it regularly in the 
drill. It is the custom of some cultivators to mix it with 
sand, to render it more tangible, but the practised hand needs 
no such aid. The drills should be drawn very shallow, at a 
distance of six to nine inches apart for the smaller kinds, and 
a foot apart for the larger. It is usual to sow rather thick, 
and to thin severely ; and as the seed is cheap, we need not 
find fault with the common practice ; but, with good seed, thin 
sowing is certainly better than thick, because seed is saved, 
and there is less thinning to do afterwards. The thinning of 
the crop should commence as soon as the plants are large 
enough to handle, and, at the same time, if weeds are rising 
with them, the scuffle-hoe should be employed between the 
rows, to keep the ground clean. A few very nice dishes of 
tender summer carrots may be obtained by careful thinning of 
the beds sown for winter use. But the proper carrot for 
summer is the French Horn, a small, elegant root, which may 
be stored for winter, but is most useful to draw when young 
for immediate cooking, when it is peculiarly tender and delicate. 
This small carrot is sown for an early crop on beds of light 
rich soil, made up with foundations of half-exhausted ferment- 
ing material, such as stable manure or leaves, and covered 
with frames. A proper hotbed would force them too rapidly, 
but a gentle warmth of soil and judicious sheltering, with 
plenty of air as weather may permit, are the conditions under 
which an early supply may be most surely secured. The first 
sowings are made in this way in January and Februaiy, and 
these are succeeded by sowings on open borders, in warm and 
sheltered spots, in March and April, and on any piece of 
ground that may be vacant in July. As a rule, the Horn 
carrot should be sown in very small breadths, or there will be 
a superabundant supply ; but as [the requirements of families 
differ immensely, a general caution against “ overdoing 
it” is all that can be offered here. In our garden we always 
grow more than suffices for the kitchen, and so the cattle come 
in for a pleasant variation of their daily food. 
