(vol. i. p. 129,) we learn that pigeons’ dung, one of the hottest manures, far from injuring carrots, promotes 
their health, by preventing the attacks of various larvae. 
“Carrots are taken up at the approach of winter, cleaned and stored among sand. They may be built 
very firm by laying them heads and tails alternately, and packing with sand. In this way, if frost be ex- 
cluded from the storehouse, they keep perfectly well till March or April of the following year. Some persons 
insist that the tops should be entirely cut off at the time of storing; while others wish to preserve the 
capability of vegetation, though certainly not to encourage the tendency to grow. 
From old Parkinson we learn, that carrot leaves were in his days thought so ornamental that ladies wore 
them in place of feathers. It must be confessed that the leaves are beautiful. If during winter a large root 
be cut over about three or four inches from the top, and be placed in a shallow vessel with water, over the 
chimney-piece, young and delicate leaves will unfold themselves all around, producing a very pretty 
appearance enhanced no doubt by the general deadness of that season of the year.” 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. — The seeds of the wild carrot are aromatic, both in taste and 
odour. Water digested on them becomes impregnated with the latter quality, but it extracts little of their taste 
They yield a yellowish essential oil, and give out all their virtues to spirit. M. Braconot has discovered 
a new acid, named pectic acid, which is universally diffused in all vegetables. The following is the method 
of preparing pectic acid from carrots : — The roots being well washed, are reduced to a pulp by means of a grater. 
The juice is pressed out, and the grounds repeatedly washed with filtered rain-water, till the water 
passes out colourless. With these grounds, and a certain quantity of water, a semiliquid pap is made, into 
which is stirred a solution of potash or soda of commerce, rendered caustic, in quantity sufficient to maintain 
in the liquor, till the end of the operation, a slight excess of alkali, perceptible to the taste. The mixture 
is immediately exposed to heat, and made to boil, till, on taking out with a tube a portion of the thick resulting 
liquor, it coagulates entirely into a jelly with an acid. The boiling liquor is then strained through linen. 
The mass is washed with rain-water, containing no sulphate of lime, and the liquors, which are thick and mu- 
cilaginous, are added together, and will form into a jelly, if allowed to cool. The solution of this pectate is 
decomposed with a little muriate of lime, diluted with a great deal of water. By this means, we obtain an 
extremely abundant transparent jelly of insoluble pectate of lime, which it is easy to wash well upon a linen 
cloth. This combination is boiled for some minutes with water, acidulated by a little muriatic acid, which 
dissolves the lime with the starch. The whole is afterwards thrown upon a linen cloth, and the pectic acid 
is obtained, and may be washed with the greatest facility with pure water. 
The proportions of the ingredients are 50 parts of carrots, 300 parts of water, and one part of potass. 
Pectic acid in jelly liquifies with extreme facility on the affusion of a few drops of ammonia. The solution 
evaporated to dryness, gives a residue, a sub-pectate of ammonia, which swells up extremely in distilled water, 
dissolves in it, and thickens a great quantity of that liquid. 
It is remarkable how small a quantity of this salt can communicate to great quantites of sugared water 
the property of gelatinizing. M. Braconot dissolved, in a quantity of warm water, one part of this salt, 
produced from the root of the turnip. He dissolved some sugar in the liquor, and then added an infinitely 
small quantity of the acid ; a moment after, the whole had formed into a mass of trembling jelly, of the 
weight of three hundred parts. The inventor has prepared, by these means, aromatized jellies, perfectly 
transparent and colourless, very agreeable to the taste and to the eye. This acid is also obtained from fruits, 
and may be used in the preparation of jellies. When it is wished, for example, to make a lemon jelly, one 
part of the acid in jelly, well drained, is mixed with three parts of distilled water ; and to these, a small 
quantity of a dilute solution of pure potash and soda is added, till the acid is dissolved and saturated. This 
solution is exposed to heat, and three parts of sugar are dissolved in it, a small portion of sugar being pre- 
viously rubbed on the rind of a lemon. A small quantity of very diluted muriatic or sulphuric acid is 
added to the liquor to decompose the pectate; the mixture being agitated acquires consistency, and forms 
into a jelly a short time afterward. 
One of the most valuable properties that the author has discovered in the soluble pectates is, that they 
may be considered as the most certain antidotes in cases of poisoning by the metallic salts, with the ex- 
ception of corrosive sublimate, nitrate of silver, and emetic tartar. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — The seeds of Carrot are carminative and somewhat diuretic; and 
by Schroder, and others, have been recommended for flatulent cholic, hiccough, dysentry, chronic coughs, &c. 
They appear to be of little use, excepting as correctors of flatulency. Dr. Ainslie, in his elaborate work, 
informs us, that the Arabians place the root of the Carrot amongst their Mobehyet, Aphrodisiaca, a proof 
that they never could have supposed them to be indigestible ; which they certainly are not, if they be young 
and well boiled. Bergius informs us that the expressed and inspissated juice is sweet, approaching to the 
nature of honey, but not crystallizable : and Marcgraf recommends recent roots to be cut, well washed, and 
beaten into a pulp ; the juice of which is to be expressed through a sieve, and inspissated to the consistence 
of honey, when it may be used at table instead of sugar, and will be found a useful remedy for infantile and 
consumptive coughs, and for worms. The root, beaten into a pulp, forms an excellent antiseptic poultice 
for cancerous and ill-conditioned sores, especially when combined with hemlock. The dose of the bruised 
seed is from 9j to 3j. or more. 
