18 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
without stopping to inquire if this is all lhat 
is required for raising a good crop. With 
most crops,this is insufficient; and especial¬ 
ly is it the case with the carrot, parsnip, and 
the like, which require the finest pulveriza¬ 
tion, to afford their delicate seeds and incip¬ 
ient vegetation a proper bed. To secure 
this, harrowing with a heavy implement, in 
two or more directions, if necessary, is an 
important step in the preparation of the 
ground. It assists in the early and rapid 
germination of the plant, and materially less¬ 
ens the labor of subsequent cultivation. 
Varieties for a Field Crop. —The Long 
Orange, the Long Red, the Altringham, and 
especially the White or Belgian, are deemed 
the best for feeding purposes. All of these 
are of great size, and the first three grow 
deeply in the ground where the soil admits 
of it. The White or Belgian is shorter, but 
much larger than either of the above, and 
produces immense crops under favorable 
circumstances, though of less nutritive value, 
pound for pound, than either of the others. 
It also grows much of its root above ground, 
which renders it more easily harvested ; and 
it does not apparently exhaust the soil so 
much as the others, thus leaving us to infer, 
that it derives a much larger proportion of 
its substance from the atmosphere. 
For Garden Culture, the Early Horn is 
the best variety we are familiar with. This 
is of early and rapid growth, solid, rich, and 
of fine flavor, and though small, compared 
with those previously mentioned, they soon 
reach maturity, and are fit for the table at 
any period of their growth. 
Preparation of the Seed for Planting. —It is 
better to mix the seed with damp mold for a 
few days previous to planting, leaving the 
heap in a warm place and occasionally stir¬ 
ring. This breaks the fibers of the seed, 
and thus prevents their adhesion ; and it 
promotes rapid germination. This is fre¬ 
quently of great consequence, and espe¬ 
cially in weedy lands. The carrot like 
the beet and some other plants, is slow in 
getting out of the ground; and as this can 
not be properly worked till the young plants 
emerge from the surface, the weeds some¬ 
times get under great headway before they 
can be put down. 
Time for Sowing. —This must depend on 
the kind of seed sown, the soil, latitude and 
location. Careful observation will enable 
you to judge what time is just early enough 
to mature the roots before frost, when re¬ 
quired for fall and winter feeding. Beside 
the circumstances above-mentioned, the in¬ 
clination of a field to the north or south ; its 
tendency to wetness and other things, will 
affect the period of ripening the roots. If 
too early planted, and allowed to remain in 
the ground after maturity, when the season 
is favorable to growth, they are liable to 
send up seed-stocks and thus become stringy 
and worthless. 
TJse of the Seed-sower in Planting. —The 
breaking of the fibers, has this great advan¬ 
tage, that after being thoroughly mixed with 
several times its bulk of mold, charcoal, 
plaster, or ashes, the seed can be sown with 
the seed-drill. This highly useful labor¬ 
saving implement will open the furrow to 
any required depth, drop the seed in any 
quantity, and at any required distance, cover 
and roll it at a single operation. It may be 
propelled either by a man or horse, and it 
will do the work of eight or ten persons, and 
much more accurately. 
About Two Pounds of Good Seed is sufficient 
for one Acre, and this ought to be of the pre¬ 
vious season’s growth. 
Lse of the Field-roller. —Heavy land re¬ 
quires to have all the lumps broken down, 
and this can seldom be effectually done by 
either the plow or harrow. If a heavy field- 
roller be used in addition, it will be found a 
most effectual pulverizer, and such lumps of 
stiff clods as will not yield to its pressure, 
it will sink below the surface, so as to be out 
of the way in the subsequent cultivation. 
Light soils equally require the use of the 
heavy roller and for another purpose The 
surface requires to be settled closely around 
the seed, to afford a firm, compact footing 
for the young roots. The adoption of the 
field-roller has been greatly beneficial in 
such crops as have required it, increasing 
their products from 15 to 50 per cent. 
The Distance at which the Plants should 
Stand in the Rows, may be six or eight inch¬ 
es for the smaller, and ten to twelve inches 
for the large white carrot. The drills should 
be 18 to 30 inches apart, to admit the use of 
a horse in the subsequent cultivation. 
Implements Useful for Cultivating. —With 
tools properly selected for the cultivation, 
the use of the hoe may be dispensed with. 
If any hand-implements are required, they 
should be the hand-plow or hand-cultivator, 
which may be run as closely to the rows as 
necessary, and either bank up or withdraw 
the earth from them as desired. But for 
field-purposes, we should prefer some of the 
variously constructed cultivators that are 
drawn by horses, to run deeper or shallower, 
and cut the weeds or only stir the earth, as 
might be required. By the use of this im¬ 
plement, nine-tenths ’of the labor of hand- 
cultivation is saved. If the ground has been 
properly prepared, subsequent deep tillage 
is not only superfluous, but absolutely inju¬ 
rious. Keeping the surface rough, loose 
and free from weeds is all that is necessary, 
while all the soil below should be allowed 
to remain undisturbed. It is fully occupied 
by the smaller roots, which are pushing in all 
directions, and pervading every portion of 
the earth in search of food for the parent 
root, and any operation that breaks up their 
connection is highly injurious. Such weeds' 
as have effected a lodgment in the drills un¬ 
der shelter of the plants, must be extermin¬ 
ated by hand. Where there is any deficien¬ 
cy of plants, their places maybe supplied by 
transplanting in wet weather, though it is 
better to sow thick enough to bear much 
thinning instead of filling up. 
Application of Manures subsequent to Plant¬ 
ing. —We are advocates for the most liberal 
application of manures previous to planting, 
believing they may thus administer as effec¬ 
tually (if not more so) to the growth of 
crops, as if subsequently added. Yet if from 
any cause there is a deficiency of manure, 
some of the finest descriptions, such as 
ashes, plaster, guano, superphosphate, or 
poudrette, may be very advantageously ap¬ 
plied. 
Tanks for Liquid Manures. —If you have 
been so provident as to have a supply of 
liquid manure, the drainage from your sta¬ 
bles or cow yards, or ammoniacal liquor 
from the gas-works, you may make an appli¬ 
cation of this with great advantage to the 
crop. It must, however, be first diluted with 
water to a degree, that it will not injure the 
plants by contact; or, what is much better, 
if it can be carried to the grounds when rain¬ 
ing, scarcely any degree of strength is suffi¬ 
cient to injure the plants. 
Harvesting. —In many parts of England, 
the carrot is harvested only as wanted for 
use ; and this is better where the frost is not 
severe enough to injure the roots, which is 
seldom the case in the United States. The 
carrot is easily harvested, by running a light 
plow as closely as possible to the rows yet 
not injure the roots, then pull them by hand, 
and as pulled, trim off the leaves, but by no 
means cut the crown. Better leave an ex¬ 
cess of top than endanger the root, which 
keeps much better when the skin is unbrok¬ 
en. This is a good reason for avoiding the 
use of the potato-hook, or any of the many¬ 
pronged forks so useful for unearthing the 
shorter roots. After remaining above ground 
long enough to remove the moisture of the 
adhering earth, they should be moved to their 
place of deposit for the winter, and thrown 
into compact heaps. These may be oblong 
or round, trussed up against a wall, or stored 
in a cool cellar, at the option of the owner ; 
but in whichever condition they are placed, 
avoidance of too much heat or frost must 
equally be studied. The proper tempera¬ 
ture may be secured by more or less covering 
or ventilation. Either frost or germination 
while in the heap, is equally injurious to the 
nutritive properties of carrots. If properly 
stored, they may be kept in fine feeding order 
till June. They require spreading in a cool 
dry place after April, to avoid sprouting. 
The Tops of Carrots are an excellent food 
for sheep or horned cattle, but it is better to 
mix with dry feed to prevent scouring, to 
which animals are liable that eat too freely 
of these or green beet leaves. 
Manner of Feeding. —Carrots may be fed 
raw, after cutting with a knife or a large root 
cutting box, to horses, cattle, sheep, goats, 
rabbits, and aquatic fowls ; but they are bet¬ 
ter when steamed or boiled, for pigs and 
poultry. No animal was ever made sick by 
eating a due quantity of carrots, and a great 
many that were sick have been made well 
by this diet. They should in no case con¬ 
stitute the entire food of any animal; but 
for one or two feeds per day, in connection 
with dry food, no better rations can be pro¬ 
vided for farm stock. We know an intelli¬ 
gent man who buys halt and ailing horses, 
that are worth the curing—and there are 
numberless such animals about every city, 
slightly injured by over-driving, over-feeding 
or other injury or neglect—and by plentiful 
feeding with carrots and some coarse, cheap 
forage, he speedily brings them up to a high 
