The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-06-12
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Carrot Culture.


The carrot prefers light, sandy loan
of medium fertility. A good coat of
manure, applied to the soil the previous
year, will prove of advantage; but if it
is manured the same season it should be
with guano after the crop is up.
AS A GARDEN CROP.-For garden cul-
ture the earliest crop should be sown as
soon as the ground is fit to work. Late
crops for winter use can be sown any
time before the middle of June. The
seed should be soaked couple of days
in water; and Immediately afterward
mixed with small quantity of ashes or
plaster. This will prevent the seed from
adhering together and it can then be
sown more evenly. Sow in rows fifteen
inches apart and cover the seed with
about half an inch of soil. Later, the
young plants should be thinned to three
inches apart in the row. Cultivate
diligently, and remove all weeds from
the rows. The carrot crop is one of
those crops that are irrevocably dam
aged if the weeds are allowed to get the
start The Early Horn and Atringham
are among the best varieties for cooking
purposes. For winter use, carrots are
most conveniently kept in cellar.
packed in dry sand.
AS A FIELD CRoP.-But the carrot is
more extensively cultivated as a field
crop for food for cattle and horses. For
this purpose the Long Orange and Large
White Belgian are the best. In good
soil these may attain a size of twelve
inches long and three inches thick, and
give yield of fiom 1900 to 1,4O0 BUSH
els to the acre. The land, which though
light must not suffer from lack of mois-
ture. should be thoroughly pulverized
by deep plowing and repeated harrow
ing. Soak the seed and mix it with
ashes OF plaster as before, and sow it
from the middle of May to the first of
June. in rows two feet apart with a
seed-drill, taking care that it does not
clog in the hopper. Hoe the crop as soon
as the rows can be seen, and when a
couple of inches high, the plants should
be thinned to six or seven inches apart.
After this, the shorse-cultivator should
90 through the plat ut least once a fort
night, as long as the crop is growing.
In the fall, when the roots are taken up,
they should be allowed to dry in the sun
for a couple of days after the tops are cut
off, before they are put up for winter
use. They may be stored in cellar,
out-Of-doors, or in pits, like potatoes and
turnips, but having a greater tendency
to decay than these, when put together
in large quantities, they should be placed
in small heaps only.
A crop of carrots is somewhat more
expensive to raise than crop of turnips,
but for winter and spring feed, both for
horses and cattle. they are said to be
better than any other root crop. Fed in
moderate quantities, they strengthen the
digestive organs of the animals and help
TO assimi1ate other food eaten in connec-
ton with them. Experienced dairymen
have maintained that carrots, fed to
milch cows, not only increase the flow
of milk, but that they impart flavor to
the milk similar to that from green pas
turage, and that the butter from cows
fed on the Orange varieties acquires q
color like summer butter. The follow
ing analysis gives the composition of
carrots: