490 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 19, 1884. 
by larger fruit and more of it than would be the case if they were 
treated only to the customary winter pruning.—H. J. H. 
HISTORICAL JOTTINGS ON VEGETABLES. 
THE CARROT. 
A glance at the history of the Carrot shows us the circum¬ 
stance, noticeable in connection with other well-known vege¬ 
tables, that its annals present a dark space, falling during the 
period when civilisation declined throughout Europe, after the 
downfall of the Roman empire. We find the Carrot is mentioned 
by several authors writing early in the Christian era, and then 
we have a long interval, until the Carrot reappears in books 
belonging to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is unlikely that 
the plant ever went out of cultivation, but where it was grown, 
and by whom chie'ly, we do not know. There is no doubt, 
however, that the monks of the middle and dark ages grew many 
fruits and vegetables in their gardens with which the world 
generally had no acquaintance, and they have at least a title to 
be called the friends of horticulture, or its preservers, whatever 
may be said against their teaching and their morals. 
The Carrot (Daucus Carota) is one of the plants in that 
rather extensive order, the Umbellifer®, which embraces a 
singular variety of species—some most wholesome, some as 
dangerously poisonous. It occurs wild in various parts of 
Britain, seemingly having a preference for chalky ground. 
When in bloom, owing to the shortness of the central stalks in 
the mass of umbels, there is a hollow in the centre of the flower 
head which has been compared to the nest of a bird, and within 
this is a crimson flower, the others surrounding it being whitish. 
A less common species (D. maritima), found upon the Cornish 
cliffs, has no crimson flowers, and leaves that are thicker, also 
less finely divided. In these wild plants is perceivable a tap¬ 
shaped root, which is white, but tough, and various methods 
have been tried in vain for centuries past, with the object of 
changing or “educating” our native species. Varieties have 
indeed been produced by the culture of the wild Carrot for 
generations, and large roots—white, yellow, or red—grown ; but 
these had not the flavour of the garden Carrot. Yet that is 
really no distinct species ; it is considered to have been developed 
from D. Carota, through influences of soil, climate, or culture, 
and^some conjecture the early Lome of the Carrot was the Isle 
of Candia; at all events, good evidence points to the vicinity of 
Greece. Even in the days of Gerard people called the plant 
the “ Candie Carrot,” prompted to this possibly by Pliny's 
remark that the best plants were grown in Candia, or in Achaia 
he adds. Before his time Theophrastus had referred to the 
culture of the Carrot in Arcadia, and he also commended the 
Spartan Carrots, which may have been a customary item in those 
vegetable broths that delighted and invigorated the hardy Greeks 
of that nationality. By the Romans the Carrot was cultivated 
during the Empire, introduced from Greece, and they again 
probably took this plant to Gaul, to Germany, if not also to 
Britain. Gerard remarks that he had been told the cultivated 
Carrot was found growing apparently wild upon mountains in 
Switzerland and Germany. By the Greek growers the fact was 
noted that the Carrot thrives in dry moderately rich soil, but 
several of the old physicians who write upon it do not always 
clearly separate the Carrot from the Parsnip in their comments 
upon the good qualities of these vegetables, for both were known 
to the ancients; and the generic name of the Carrot is supposed 
to be derived from a classical word alluding to the warmth of 
the plant; the specific one, however, is obviously compounded 
from the Keltic car, or “red,” expressive of the usual colour of 
the root. We glean few particulars concerning the modes of 
cooking Carrots in the Roman days of luxury. It may be that 
the fastidious rejected the inner and fibrous part of the root, 
eating only the dark and more pulpy exterior. 
The Carrot was certainly re-introduced to England by one or 
more parties of those Flemings, who, flying from oersecution at 
home, found a welcome in these shores between 1680 and 1590. 
Most of them landed in Kent (though some probably arrived in 
Essex or Suffolk), and, bringing with them these and other plants, 
they began to cultivate them upon such small plots of ground as 
they could acquire. Such additions to the then scanty stock of 
English vegetables were heartily welcomed, especially in London, 
and by degrees the Flemings worked nearer to the metropolis, 
to form market gardens on a style of their own. One novel use 
to which the leaves of the Carrot were put is mentioned by 
Parkinson. The ladies of the Court during the reigns of James 
and. Charles I. occasionally employed them as an ornament for 
their head-dresses. Gerard does not tell us whether he grew 
Carrots in his city garden. His praise of the vegetable is rather 
cautious. The roots he considered to be moderately nourishing, 
and suitable to accompany fat meat. 
When suburban London did not exhibit, as now, a network of 
streets and terraces, but was prolific in market gardens and 
nm-series, sui rounding here and there a village or hamlet, some 
little space was allotted to the Carrot, though it was not a 
favourite plant with those cultivators who endeavoured to have 
a quick succession of crops ; hence a good part of the supply of 
Carrots required by the metropolis came from a distance, and 
railway facilities widened still more the area that contributes 
vegetables to its hungry millions. For their main crops the 
market gardeners of the eighteenth century rel’ed upon what 
they called the Orange Carrot, which produced roots both long 
and large. This crop they sowed in February generally, and 
Abercrombie, Mawe, and others insist much upon the importance 
of having the ground dug very thoroughly with the spade before¬ 
hand, and also that the Carrot should not be grown near the 
shade of trees if that could be avoided. They seem to have supo 
posed the best Carrots were raised by sowing them in beds 4 or 
5 feet wide, with “alleys” dividing these from each other. We 
have some mention made of the Horn Carrot in the reign of 
George III., but until a comparatively recent date gardeners 
paid little attention to the culture of varieties of this vegetable; 
and the Carrot came but slowly into use here as a food for 
animals, being grown for that purpose on the continent long 
jDreviously, in Belgium especially. 
The clever but eccentric Arthur Young, however, in the 
course of his peregrinations discovered that Carrots were cul¬ 
tivated freely on sandy fields in East Suffolk, and published the 
fact with his comments thereon. An impetus was also given to 
the progress of this vegetable in the esteem of farmers by some 
statements put forth through the medium of the Society of Arts 
in 1765. Then Mr. Billing, a Norfolk farmer, informed the 
world that he had raised from 20 acres 500 loads of Carrots in 
one season, which proved of as much utility as 1000 loads of 
Turnips or 300 loads of hay. Other northern farmers began to 
follow in his footsteps, and the value of the Carrot as a winter 
food for cattle was recognised. The roots appear to have been 
first given to horses by breeders in the way of medicine rather 
than food. A very marked effect was produced upon the wind 
where horses suffered from shortness of breath, and others sug¬ 
gested eventually the vegetable would prove a good food for 
horses mixed with Oats. Then Carrots were tried with sheep 
and pigs, the i-esult being satisfactory, and the crop on the whole 
is not found to be prejudicially affected by the variableness of 
our climate. Probably at this time between 20,000 and 21,000 
acres are devoted to the culture of the Carrot in the United 
Kingdom. 
Amongst the ancients thei’e prevailed a belief that the Carrot, 
more particularly its seed, was a cure for stings an 1 bites, used 
both internally and externally, and a few physicians of modern 
days have recommended Carrots to be given as a part of the 
diet of consumptives where they can be digested. Having some 
antiseptic qualities, a poultice of this root is good for several 
kinds of malignant skin diseases, There appears to be some 
special aromatic principle contained in the Carrot, but the bulk 
of the root is starch and sugar wuth a little albumen.—J. R. S. C. 
GROWING PLANTS IN MOSS. 
Capt. Halford Thompson recently exhibited at the Royal Botanic 
and Crystal Palace Shows some boxes and baskets filled with plants 
grown in moss which attracted some attention. A number of plants 
were employed, the majority of which were healthy and growing strongly, 
though the system certainly seemed to suit the foliage plants better than 
those grown for their flowers, as might be expected, for a loose rooting 
material is generally more inducive of rapid foliage growth than the pro¬ 
duction of flowers. Possibly this disadvantage may be overcome, and 
there are some obvious conveniences in using the moss. In a small 
pamphlet by Capt. Thompson, his method and its uses are thus described— 
“ Attention was called two years ago to the possibility of growing 
plants in moss, without any earth at all. A Frenchman of the name of 
Dumesnilclaimed to be able to do so with the aid of some ‘fertilising 
moss ’ that he had patented. 1 made several experiments with this moss, 
but though in some instances they were successful, I found that it was 
open to very great objections, and was by no means certain in its re¬ 
sults ; moreover, the fact that this ‘ fertilising moss ’ must on no account 
be allowed to touch the roots of the plant was a great source of danger, 
and precluded its being used by anyone who was not a skilled gardener. 
Mons. Dumesnil told us that if his moss was allowed to touch the roots 
the plant would die, and my experiments proved that he was correct. 
The method he adopted was to place a layer of his patent moss above and 
below, the plant itself being in ordinary moss ; the basket was, in fact, 
planted ‘ sandwich fashion.’ As I have already said, this required skill, 
and besides this it frightened people to be told that the compound was so 
dangerous. 
