chap, vi.] THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 175 
or peat. When soils of this nature cannot 
be procured, the ground should be trenched 
two spades deep, and a very little thoroughly 
rotten dung, or vegetable mould., should be 
well mixed with the earth in digging the 
lower spadeful. If manure, in a fresh state, 
be laid on a carrot-bed, or if the soil be 
not thoroughly pulverized, the roots will 
become forked, fibrous, and w r orm-eaten. 
The seeds of the carrot being each furnished 
with a pappus, or feathery wing, are apt to 
become entangled with each other, and can 
only be separated by rubbing them between 
the hands, and mixing them with sand. 
They are then to be sown very thinly, the 
ground slightly raked over to cover them, 
and then beaten fiat with the back of the 
spade. When the young plants are up, the 
ground should be occasionally loosened, 
from time to time, with a small hoe, round 
each. When the leaves begin to change 
colour, the roots should be taken up, dry 
weather being chosen for that purpose ; and 
the tops being cut off, the carrots should 
be carried into a cellar, or outhouse, and 
there buried in sand. Early carrots are 
