76 ROCK SAMPHIRE. 
into hay. Carrots contain a large proportion of 
saccharine matter, and various but unsuccessful expe- 
riments have been made to extract sugar from them. 
They have, however, been more advantageously em- 
ployed in distillation. Ten pounds' weight of carrots 
will yield about half a pint of very strong, ardent 
spirit : and the carrots (twenty tons in weight) pro- 
duced by an acre of ground, have been known to pro- 
duce 240 gallons of spirit. A syrup made of these 
roots, and clarified with the white of eggs, has been 
found useful for many purposes. An infusion of the 
seeds and the expressed juice of the roots, are said to 
afford relief in fits of the gravel. A marmalade of 
carrots has been used with success in sea-scurvy, and 
a poultice prepared from them is sometimes employed 
in cancerous ulcers. Crickets are so fond of these 
roots that they may easily be destroyed by making a 
paste of flour, powdered arsenic, and scraped carrots, 
and placing this near their habitations. 
86. ROCK SAMPHIRE (Crithmnm maritimum) is an 
umbelliferous plant, with fleshy, spear-shaped leaflets, and small 
but regular'ShapegjokUcJiozners. 
The cliffs of Dover have long been celebrated for 
the production of this vegetable, which has received an 
additional interest from the notice that Shakspeare has 
taken of the gathering of it : 
" Half-way down 
" Hangs one that gathers samphire ; dreadful trade ! " 
It is also found on cliffs of other parts of the south 
of England, as well as in Italy, France, and Spain ; and 
generally in inaccessible situations. 
In some parts of England the leaves of samphire 
pickled in vinegar are in use for the table : they are 
also used in salads, and for other culinary purposes. 
But their place is frequently supplied by a much more 
common plant, which grows in salt marshes, and has 
the name of marsh samphire (Salicornia). This, how- 
