174 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
| May, 
laud is dry, to put a narrow strip of board di- 
rectly in front of tlie rear teeth, securing it by 
two or tbree nails driven into the beam. This 
will mash such lumps as pass between the front 
teeth. The distance between each pair of teeth 
in the rows is about five inches, and the teeth in 
the rear row stand opposite the middle of the 
spaces between those in the front row. 
How to Raise Carrots. 
BY AN OLD SEED GROWER. 
A light, rich, sandy loam is the best for car- 
rots, though they will grow very well on heav- 
ier soil, if rich and well tilled. Fine old ma- 
nure, well-rotted compost, or the scrapings of 
the barn-yard, should be used in preference to 
fresh and coarse manure, which will cause the 
roots to grow pronged and ill-shaped. Carrots 
had better not be sown before May, and it will 
do to sow quite late in the month. June I 
think loo late to get very large roots. 
It is better to plow twice : first, as soon as the 
ground becomes dry and warm, as deep as the 
soil will admit; and again, about two-thirds as 
deep, after the weeds have started, immediately 
before sowing. Prepare the ground by harrow- 
ing and back-harrowing, as directed for onions 
in the April number of the Agriculturist. Mark 
off the land with the reel and line, and marking 
rake, in 16'|g-inch drills, and sow the seed pretty 
thickly, cay 2'| 2 to 3 pounds to the acre. Some 
carrot seed is twice the size of other samples, 
and soma samples are very badly cleaned, so 
that no definite quantity can be stated; only 
sow so thick that there shall not be half an 
incli space between the seeds in the drill. 
As soon as the carrots are up and have put 
out the third leaf, weed the rows with Corn- 
stock's Hand-Cultivator and Weeder, as directed 
for onions — no band-weeding being required at 
this stage of the crop. When they are up three 
inches or so, or of suitable size to thin out, com- 
mence at one corner of the plot, (which should be 
as nearly square as convenient, unless the ficl 
is large,) and lay the line across the rows the 
whole width ; adjust the marking rake to 14, 15, 
or 16' | j inches, (using the largest space when 
large roots are wanted,) and mark in straight 
lines. Lay the line again half way between 
the marks first made, and mark again ; the cross- 
marks will then be 7, 7 l [2, oi- 8 1 1< inches apart. 
Then adjust the Weeder to such width as will 
take out all the carrots between the marks, ex- 
cept a few in the angles, which are very quickly 
thinned and weeded by hand; select the strong- 
est plant to remain, and remove all the others. 
The object of sowing thick is to make sure of 
a carrot in every angle. The perfect regularity 
of this way of thinning presents a beautiful ap- 
pearance when the crop is half grown, gives 
very uniform sized roots, and the labor is not 
half that of hoeing and thinning by hand. No 
hoeing is needed, the Cultivator and Weeder 
doing the work so much quicker and better. 
Carrots require cultivating to keep the weeds 
down until the tops nearly cover the ground. 
When a heavy soil has been packed by rains 
early in the fall, I have found great benefit in 
running the smallest sized subsoil lifting plow 
between the rows to loosen it. To do this 
without injury, it is necessary to use a small, 
well-trained horse or mule that treads narrow. 
When intending to use this, the rows should 
be 18 or 21 inches apart. When the land has 
lacked strength 1 have sown on Peruvian 
guano before subsoil plowing, with fjood effect. 
The last week in October or first in Novem- 
ber, dig the carrots on a dry day, when the roots 
will come up clean. This may be done with 
spades, or by turning a furrow away from the 
rows with a plow so near that they can be 
pulled out by hand. Strip off the tops and put 
the roots into small heaps to dry, a day or two, 
in the sun, covering them with the tops at 
night. They must not be allowed to get wet or 
freeze after they are dug. Keep in long heaps, 
iu a cool, dry cellar, secure from frost. Carrots 
are very apt to heat when packed away in large 
heaps. They should be examined occasionally, 
and overhauled if they begin to sweat. The 
yield is anywhere from 400 to 800 bushels to 
the acre. Price, in Connecticut, the last five 
years, 50 cents per bushel of 50 pounds. Al- 
ways of ready sale for horses and cows. 
The American Deep Long Orange Carrot is 
the best for general crop. Messrs. Bliss & Son 
have an improved variety of this, very produc- 
tive, smooth, and handsome. The French Half 
Long Scarlet, (stump-rooted Early Horn, not 
Early Short Horn,) is an early and very desira- 
ble sort, more delicate for the table, and will 
yield about as much to the acre if allowed to 
stand thicker in the rows. This variety is 
better adapted to shallow soils. 
■ i w — »— ■ — 
Portable Fence or Hurdle. 
The accompanying figure represents a very 
cheap and strong hurdle, which is sufficient to 
turn any ritly animals, except hogs. The fence 
proposed is made of half-inch oak, or three- 
quarter-inch pine, or spruce, with slats four inch- 
es wide, fastened with clinch nails to six-inch 
cross-strips, the cross-strips being placed a 
foot from the ends. If the panels .are more 
than 10 feet long, two two-inch strips should be 
PORTABLE FENCE OR nURDLE. 
nailed in the form of an inverted V in the cen- 
ter, as braces. In setting the fence tip, the ends 
are simply lapped, and stakes are driven cross- 
ing beneath the upper rail. These will hold 
the fence well unless strong winds prevail, in 
which case a strong block, with holes bored 
obliquely through it, like that represented at the 
left of the engraving, may be placed on at the 
time the stakes are driven, to connect them; or 
they may be bound together by a withe. The 
cross-strips, which ought to project three to six 
inches below the bottom slat, should rest upon 
stones or blocks of wood to prevent decay ; 
and low stakes twelve or fourteen inches long, 
driven into the ground at the side of each cross- 
strip, will bold the bottom so firmly that we 
think the fence would even confine pigs. 
Washing Sheep.— Grease or yolk, with 
which the fleece of all sheep is more or less im- 
bued, is a natural soap, consisting chiefly of 
potash and oily matter. It is not immediately 
soluble in water, but after the fleece is wet, and 
remains so for a few hours, it. is in condition to 
be quickly washed out, bringing the dirt with 
it. This is, to a considerable extent, accom- 
plished by the sheep being exposed to a rain 
the day before the washing. Sometimes sheep 
are dipped, and then shut in close sheds or 
rooms over night, to keep one another warm, 
and washed the next day, and this secures a 
very thorough cleansing. Shearing may be 
done much earlier in the season if the sheep 
are not washed. Colds and snuffles ensue if 
the weather be not very favorable, and there 
is even great risk of losing valuable sheep. 
•-. u «» •— 
The Great Poultry Show. 
The week ending March 27lh was devoted by 
the New York State Poultry Society to an 
exhibition of poultry and animal pets, having 
the use of the building known as the Empire 
Skating Rink, 350 feet long and 150 feet wide, the 
roof resting upon trestle-work arches, spanning 
the floor without support, and springing to a 
bight of 70 feet. It was well lighted by windows, 
and by gas jets arranged beneath the arches. 
The arrangements for the exhibition were very 
complete, the preparations were ample, the 
room the best that could be devised, the entries 
unprecedented, and the quality of the fowls, 
etc., and the number of varieties, better and 
greater than ever before exhibited in this country. 
From an elevated gallery a view could be had 
of the entire floor, showing the coops (coupd'ecil) 
arranged iu circles or ovals, each class by it- 
self, — the central pyramid of startling groups of 
stuffed wild beasts and large dogs, surmounting 
the coops for pheasants, swans, and pea-foul, — 
the dog show at the extreme end, — the ponies at 
the sides, etc. The classes attracting most no- 
tice, and indeed, most worthy of study, were the 
French fowls and the Asiatics. Of the former 
not less than three-fourths were imported, and 
most of the remainder were the direct progeny 
of imported fowls. They comprised many 
noble specimens — the Creve Cceur and La Fleche 
varieties rivaling the Brahmas and Cochins 
in size, and the Houdans were the recipients of 
endless encomiums from their breeders as hardy 
and excellent in every particular. No La Bresse 
fowls were shown. We presume none have 
ever been imported, but there were two coops 
of Guelders fowls, white and black, — for many 
years rare birds at our shows. (See page 175.) 
The Asiatic fowls comprised Light and Dark 
Brahmas, Buff, Partridge and Black Cochins. 
Of the first there were nearly or quite sixty 
coops, the majority of them worthy of receiv- 
ing first prizes, had there been none better. We 
did not learn of a single Light Brahma import- 
ation, nor of a coop the progeny of imported 
stock. Several trios of the finest in point of 
size and feathering were from the yard of Mr. 
Tees, of Pennsylvania, owned by Mr. S. B, 
Haines, of New Jersey, who is reported to have 
sold a trio during the exhibition for $200. An 
English fancier who admired these fowls and 
asked the owner from which of the famous 
English breeders he had received his stock, was 
answered "We do not go to England for our 
Light Brahmas, Sir," — much to his surprise. The 
Dark Brahmas were a select few, and either mag- 
nificent or unworthy of notice. The trio admit- 
ted to be the finest, after no little consideration 
by the judges, was sent to the show with others 
by Mr. James Cooper, of Limerick, Ireland. 
They were sold at the close of the show for $235, 
and bought by Mr. Hicks, of Long Island. The 
groups of single-combed Dark and Light Brah- 
mas contained not one even fair trio. The hens 
were pretty good, but the cocks very faulty in 
plumage and size. We think this indicates that 
they should hereafter be dropped from the pre- 
mium lists. The great Buff Cochins rolled about 
i» their roomy cages like balls of fluff and fat 
