August  13,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
147 
have  all,  or  most  of  them,  been  emimerated  in  these  pages  at 
various  times.  The  chief  essential,  after  all,  is  a  deep  and 
generous  soil,  thoroughly  worked  and  sufficiently  charged  with 
nutrient  matter  without  being  crammed  to  sourness  with  humus. 
— The  WEN. 
I  notice  that  the  Carrot  di'^ease  is,  as  is  its  wont,  the  cause  of 
some  anxiety  among  a  few  of  your  correspondents.  Few  gardens 
do  really  turn  out  a  crop  of  presentable  Carrots.  This  is  a  pity, 
because  a  more  useful  root  for  the  kitchen  is  not  in  the  category 
of  our  culinary  vegetables.  The  ravages  of  the  dread  Psila  have 
made  many  gardeners  abandon  Carrot  growing  altogether,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  early  forced  ones.  Since  my  first  contact 
with  horticulture,  the  Carrot  problem  shared  a  part  of  my  atten¬ 
tion,  and  as  far  back  as  twenty  years  ago  I  put  some  of  my 
“dreams”  into  practical  effect,  with  the  result  that  I  gave 
expression  to  my  success  in  a  well-known  gardening  paper,  then 
edited  by  Shirley  Hibberd.  This  being  my  first  venture,  no  one 
dung  and  leaf  mould  was  laid  down,  and  the  clay  from  the  bottom 
placed  above  it  on  the  surface.  This  process  was  carried  on  till 
the  whole  plot  was  literally  turned  upside  down.  Of  course,  the 
soil  was  about  2.^ft  above  the  level  of  the  walks.  Evei'y  person 
was  good  enough  to  tell  mo  that  I  “did”  for  that  plot.  My 
employer  thought  differently,  and  encouragingly  assured  me  that 
if  C'arrots  can  be  grown  something  such  as  I  was  essaying  must 
be'  done.  The  Carrots  did  grow,  and  continue  to  do  so. 
I  confess  that  the  appearance  of  that  plot  as  it  lay  bleaching 
in  the  autumn  and  winter  rains  was  not  inviting  nor  at  all  pro¬ 
mising.  The  frost  powdered  down  the  clay,  but  that  did  not  do 
much  to  take  away  its  adhesive  character,  and  it  was  'evident 
before  seeds  of  any  kind  could  catch  on,  that  something  more 
must  be  done.  I  set  the  cart  to  drive  a  few  loads  of  old 
(mellowed  with  age)  leaf  soil,  which  was  forked  and  reforked  into 
the  clay  previous  to  seed  sowing,  so'  that  the  surface  was  in  a 
very  fair  condition  indeed  for  the  first  crop.  Still,  I  was  not 
very  sanguine  of  success.  However,  my  Carrots  and  Onions, 
Cornus  brachypoda  variegata.  (See  page  150.) 
will  be  astonished  to  learn  that  the  cure  was  not  of  a  permanent 
nature.  The  mode  of  operation  was  simply  carting  away  a  part 
of  the  garden  soil  and  refilling  the  excavation  with  a  compost  of 
peat,  sand,  rotted  dung,  and  leaf  mould.  The  first  and  second 
years  gave  capital  crops,  but  afterwards  the  Carrot  fly  found  its 
way  into  the  area,  and  matters  were  as  bad  as  ever.  After  the 
considerable  expense  incurred  by  the  formation  of  this  experi¬ 
ment,  I  naturally  had  recourse  to  every  declared  remedy,  with 
the  effect  that  ever  since  then  I  lost  every  particle  of  faith  in 
topical  treatment  for  the  prevention  or  cure  of  the  attack.  The 
salt  treatment  of  any  was  the  be.st,  but  I  laid  the  task  before 
myself  to  grow  Carrots  without  any  artificial  means  beyond  the 
thorough  tillage  of  the  soil  of  the  garden,  whatever  that  might 
be.  I  found  long  since  my  “  dream  ”  realised,  and  in  this  simple 
matter  lies  the  secret  of  successful  Carrot  growing. 
The  garden  here  was  one  of  those  designated  as  unsuitable  for 
Carrot  culture.  I  got  to  work  as  soon  as  possible,  by  trenching 
a  break  about  3ft  deep,  ju.st  the  depth  of  drainage.  To  my 
horror,  at  the  fir.st  spit  I  found  only  14in  of  black  soil,  all  the  rest 
under  this  was  blue  clay.  Well,  thought  I,  if  I  am  to  do  any-  1 
thing  at  all,  it  is  clear  these  soils  must  change  places.  This 
settled,  I  set  two  men  to  wheel  into  the  trench  vegetable  refuse, 
and  then  filled  it  up  with  well  rotted  dung,  while  two  other  men 
dug  the  soil  over. 
The  first  spit  being  turned,  another  liberal  supply  of  rotted 
Parsnips  and  Beets  were  everything  that  could  be  de.sired,  and 
have  continued  to  be  so  ever  since.  I  grow  them  on  the  same 
plot,  and  only  give  dressings  of  leaf  soil  and  pure  horse  droppings 
each  year. 
This  year  I  have  been  walking  through  my  Carrot  rows,  and 
the  foliage  reached  half  way  above  my  knees,  a  height  of  not 
less  than  24ft.  I  do  not  grow  any  but  the  three  following  good 
old  sorts :  James’  Scarlet,  Long  Red  Surrey,  Altrincham  Im¬ 
proved.  The  soil  for  Carrots  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  of  so 
much  moment  as  its  porosity,  without  being  of  a  nature  that  its 
moisture  i.s  readily  absorbed  by  evaporation.  The  disease  is  also, 
in  my  opinion,  an  effect  of  indifferent  tillage  rather  than  an 
actual  disease.  Perhaps  this  theory  has  wider  ramifications  than 
we  are  at  present  ready  to  admit.  Leastwise,  we  know  much  can 
be  done  by  good  treatment  to  ward  off  many  of  the  ills  of  plant 
life.  Therefore  it  is  not  by  any  means  incongruous  to  suppose 
that  by  adhering  to  the  principles  likely  to  be  conducive  to 
health,  many  disastrous  diseases  may  become  ((uite  unknown, 
and  in  time  perhaps  become  eradicated  altogether. — D.  C.* 
[Mr.  Geo.  Chaplin,  gardener  at  St.  Leonards,  Kdinburgh,  suc¬ 
ceeds  in  growing  splendid  exhibition  Carrots.  He  ti’enches  his 
stiff  soil,  makes  holes  at  Gin  or  Sin  apart,  in  lines ;  fills  these  with 
light  compost;  sows  three  or  four  seeds  carefully  in  each;  thins 
the  few  seedlings  early ;  then  mulches  between  the  rows  with 
mown  lawn  grass.  The  fly  is  baffled. — Ed.] 
