The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-03-18
CARROTS FOR STOCK.
A Crop Which Requires Much Work, Blu
Pays Well.

A crop hn1cn requires huch HOrk, but
Pays Well.
During the past few years there has
been quite large demand for carrots
for feeding to horses in this city and
the demand for them is said to be in
creasing. The proprietOrs of omnibus
lines are the most liberal purchasers,
though many are bought by the owners
of dray horses. Farmers in the vicinity
of the city have received during the
past few months ten dollars per ton for
good carrots delivered at stables Car
load lots raised in Wisconsin have sold
at from six to seven dollars per
ton. AS a rule parties who buy carrots
do not like to 90 to the trouble of
moving them from railway stations to
their stables. The average crop is about
sixteen tons to the acre, though as high
as twenty tons have been reported.
Farmers should be satisfied with crop
that pays from one hundred and sixty to
two hundred dollars per acre and the
production of which does not injure the
soil, even if It calls for considerable
hard work. 1t is doubted if the costly
land near large cities can be devoted to
any crop that will pay as well as car
rots. During the season of wedding
and thinning considerable hard work is
required, but this can be done by
women and children, whose labor can
be obtained at low rates.
Probably carrots are the most profit
able roots that can be raised for feed
ing stock in most parts of this country.
Our climate is not us favorable as that
of the British islands and some of the
countries on the continent of Europe
for producing mangels and turnips. As
these roots grow mostly out of ground,
they are likely to become hard and
tough during hot and dry weather.
The yield of them will be small and the
quality poor il protracted drought
occurs during the summer. Carrots re-
ceive less injury from the sun and the
occurrence of drought than beets and
turnips DO, as their roots are entirely
covered ny the soil, while their leaves
are close to the surface of the ground.
Mangels and Swedish, or rutabaga turn
Ups, are so large that it is generally
or to pulp them before animals will eat
them. 1t is tedious to do this work by
hand, or even by the use of Il machine
operated by man-power. There are
power machines for cutting and for
pulping these roots. but they are ex-
pensive and are not adapted to the use
of people that keep but few animals.
As carrots are smaller and more tender.
horses, cows and sheep can eat them if
they are fed to them as they are taken
from the ground.
Carrots require a long time in which
to grow. The seed should be sown in
MAY, and as early in the month as the
condition of the ground will adj
nit To get as large crop as
possible the rows should not be more
than two feet apart. This will allow a
narrow eultivatOr to pass between
them. About four pounds of seed are
required Tor an acre. The long orange
variety is the most productive, though
the roofs, being quite long, are not
easily prlled from the ground. The
early French horn, or '.half-long stump
root" variety is easy to pull, but is not
as productive. The land intended for
the production of carrots should be
fairly dry. deeply plowed and well pull
verizet It. should be rich, but green
manure or that containing the seeds of
weeds and grass should not be applied
to it. Old and well-rotted stable ma
nure is the best fertilizer. 1t should be
finely pulverized and well distributed
through the soil. 1t is well to drop a
few radish. turnip or cabbage seed in
the row with the carrot seed. They
VIII come up in few days. Mark the
rows and allow the ground to be
worked between them. The plants,
after they have made considerable root,
should be thinned so they will be from
FIVE C six inches apart-Ch Chicago Times.