Part 2

The seed grows with a covering of small, short, stiff hairs, which makes them adhere together; these must be very thoroughly removed before the seed can be relied upon to flow freely from the machine. Much of foreign grown seed reaches this country not properly cleaned. To remove this furze, either thrash the seed with the flail very thoroughly, when the weather is quite cold and dry, or warm the seed slightly and rub it with the hand against the wires of a sieve, of a right degree of fineness to let the hairs fall through. Either winnow or sink in water, to remove all impurities. If sunk, be careful to dry the seed at a very moderate temperature. As Carrot seed vegetates somewhat slowly and the plants are quite small when they first appear, weeds are apt to get the start of them before the rows can be seen with sufficient distinctness to make it safe to use the slide hoe. For this reason some farmers practice soaking the seed in water and keeping it at a temperature that will nearly develop the sprout, before planting. This may be done by soaking the seed from 36 to 48 hours in milk warm, or rather strong manure water, then removing it to where the air is of about the same temperature. Stir, it slightly for a few days, and finally dry it sufficiently to drop freely from the machine by adding plaster, charcoal or dust. Camphor has a wonderful effect in stimulating the vitality of seed, and the addition of a small quantity of it to the manure water would doubtless be of advantage. This process should not be carried so far as to develop the sprout. Should the surface of the ground be very dry when the seed is sown, this soaking process may be fatal, for if the germ is once started it will not live in a dormant state; it must either grow or die: whereas, seed that have not been soaked will vegetate after rains wet the dry surface. Be sure that the seed planter has a good roller attached to it, and not a mere coverer, as this will help confine the moisture and thus materially aid in developing the seed.

QUANTITY OF SEED TO THE ACRE.

Tables vary greatly some advising as high as four pounds to the acre. If the design is to raise small-sized roots for early marketing, possibly this might not be an excess of seed, but to advise so heavy seeding for ordinary field crops, means that much of the seed is poor trash, probably old and worthless, and put in as a make-weight.

Some years ago a party wrote me, offering a variety of garden seed at a very low figure, and stated that it was of his own raising. As it was a kind that I was in the habit of raising, I had the curiosity to write and ask how he could afford to raise it at such a price. He replied that it was of his own growing, but so old as to be good for nothing, and therefore he sold it to seedsmen at a very low figure, to mix with their good seed to _help make weight_! When four pounds of Carrot seed are advised to the acre, for a field crop, I think that some of this kind of seed must somehow have got into the mixture. With everything favoring, and the farmer by experience having his seed sower under perfect control, rather less than a pound of seed will be sufficient for an acre. The great object to aim at is, while having the plants thick enough, not to have much of any thinning to do, as it costs about as much to thin a crop as it does to weed it, with the drawback that the plants left in the ground are more or less started, and so put back by the thinning. As a general rule I would advise one and one-half pounds of seed to the acre, and this the farmer can reduce in proportion as he is favored by circumstances and advances in experience.

Twelve inches is a sufficient distance between the rows of the two small, early varieties, and fifteen between the rows of all other sorts. With the greatest of care the seed will not come up with mathematical precision. Some advocate leaving a plant to about every inch of row; others, to thin to four inches apart. With the exception of the shorter variety including the Guerande, which are somewhat like Onions in their aptitude to grow to a good size when crowded, pushing out either side of the rows, as a rule I advise thinning to four inches, leaving them thicker near the vacant places.

VARIETIES, AND WHAT KINDS TO GROW.

Foreign catalogues give lists of about two dozen varieties, which differ in earliness, size, color, form, termination of root, characteristic of growing entirely under or partly above ground, and in the size of the core or heart. In foreign catalogues, what we call “Orange,” are known as “Red” Carrots. From a test of these varieties I have thus far found two, viz.: the Guerande and the Chantenay worthy of being added to the kinds already grown to a greater or less extent in the United States. The yellow-fleshed sorts are repudiated in New England by general consent; yet the Yellow Belgian, on a limited trial has proved with me to be an exceptionally good keeper. The Purple or Blood-Red is of a deep purple color, a poor cropper and by no means attractive to the eye. The remaining varieties may be classed as follows:--Early, middling early and late. The first class is made up of the Early Very Short Scarlet, the Early Scarlet Horn and Guerande. The second class of all the half-long or short-horn varieties, and the third, of the long varieties, such as Long Orange, Belgian and Altringham sorts.

In addition to about one-half of these foreign varieties, cultivated more or less generally in this country, there are several kinds catalogued by seedsmen, all of which are but improved strains made by careful selections, through a series of years, from what was originally imported stock. These strains usually bear the name of some person. A brief discussion of the more valuable varieties will now be in order. Here I will lay down three general facts, viz.:--1st, that of the various orange colored varieties, the shorter growing kinds are, as a rule, the darker colored and sweeter flavored. 2d, that the proportion of dark, orange-colored roots in any crop, while it will depend largely on the care that has been used in the selection of seed stock for a series of years, does not turn wholly on this, but soil, season or manure, one or all, have some influence in this direction. 3d, that the fact that more or less of the Carrots tend to push seed shoots the first year, while with the long varieties it may prove that the seed has been allowed to mix with the wild varieties, yet the probability (marked cases excepted) is decidedly the other way; while with the short horn varieties this tendency to push seed shoots the first season, so as to make something of a show when an acre is glanced over, is quite a common characteristic with seed of the very purest strain.

[Illustration: EARLY VERY EARLY SHORT SHORT HORN. LONG ORANGE. SHORT SCARLET. SCARLET.]

=Early Very Short Scarlet.= (see engraving.)

=Early Short Scarlet Horn.= (see engraving). These two varieties are the shortest grown and are raised at times in forcing beds, for an early market, the former very generally so. They are of a very rich orange color, fine-grained, sweet, and of excellent flavor, heading the list for quality. Their rich color makes them valuable above all other kinds for coloring butter. Though quite short, yet the Early Short Scarlet Horn can be grown to yield a great bulk of roots, from the fact that from the smallness of their tops the roots can be grown very thick, two or three abreast all along the rows. When the small, handy size of this variety is considered in connection with the superior quality, it stands foremost as a table Carrot, and I therefore recommend it in preference to all others for family use.

=Short Horn.= (See engraving.) This variety intermediate between the Early Forcing and Long Orange, with but slight variations in form, is shown under various names, as Intermediate, Nantes, Half Long, James’ Improved, Stump-Rooted, etc. It is characterized by a darker color than the average of the Long Orange, finer grain, and a sweeter and richer flavor. In part from the more solid structure of the Carrot, and in part from its better stowage, thirty-six measured bushels of this variety make a ton, while of the larger varieties forty bushels are required. The best strain of this variety is doubtless the kind known as the “Danvers” Carrot.

=Danvers Carrot.= In the town of Danvers, Mass., the raising of Carrots on an extensive scale has for years been quite a business--the farmers finding a large market in the neighboring cities of Salem, Lynn and Boston. After years of experimenting they settled upon a variety which originated among them (as did the Danvers Onion) known in their locality as the “Danvers Carrot.” It is in form about midway between the Long Orange and Short Horn class, growing very generally with a stump root. The great problem in Carrot growing is to get the greatest bulk with the smallest length of root, and this is what the Danvers’ growers have attained in their Carrot. Under their cultivation they raise from twenty to forty tons to the acre. This Carrot is of a rich, dark orange in color, very smooth and handsome, and from its length, is easier to dig than the Long Orange. It is a first-class Carrot for any soil.

[Illustration: GUERANDE CARROT.]

=Guerande or Ox Heart.= This variety is a great favorite with many who raise Carrots for stock. It is short and chunky in build, of a rich orange color, and of excellent quality, and the crop can be hand pulled.

[Illustration: IMPROVED LONG ORANGE.]

[Illustration: DANVERS CARROT.]

=Long Orange, or Long Surry.= This is a standard variety, and in its various strains is doubtless more generally grown than any other kind. The chief objection to it is the depth to which it penetrates the ground, and hence the extra work of digging it; while the end of the root which causes the extra work is of inferior quality when compared with the body, differing in this respect from the shorter varieties, which are of the same quality throughout. The heart is larger in proportion than in the shorter varieties, which is considered an objection. The keeping properties are excellent, and in this respect it is superior to the earlier kinds. On light soil the roots grow long, straight and make a fine show in the market.

=Altringham.= This is a Carrot of excellent quality for the table, the flesh being of a rich orange color, crisp and sweet, but as a cropper it is inferior to the Intermediate or Long Orange varieties, and hence is but little cultivated.

[Illustration: LARGE WHITE BELGIAN.]

=Large White Belgian.= This is the largest of all varieties and will yield at least a quarter more than any other sort. The roots grow several inches out of ground, and all can be readily pulled by the hand. Analysis shows that it is nearly as sweet as the Mangold Wurtzel, rather sweeter than the Swede Turnip, and about two thirds as sweet as the Sugar Beet. The two objections to it are its color and its keeping properties; it being rather a poor keeper, while the color has made it a carrot for horses rather than cows. If farmers have but a small quantity of manure, the White Belgian is a good variety for them to raise for feeding early in the winter.

THE CULTIVATION, AND THE IMPLEMENTS NEEDED.

Just as soon as the young plants can be detected breaking round, the prudent farmer will push the slide hoe, and have his boy weeders follow immediately after it on hands and knees. Boys that have had a little experience, with their nimble fingers can do more work than men, while their wages are only about half as much. On the sea-coast we hire boys who make a business of weeding, for from seventy-five cents to a dollar a day. The one great danger in hiring boys is that careless ones are apt to break off the weeds instead of pulling them up by the roots. To ascertain their comparative faithfulness, it is well to quietly mark a few rows of the different weeders, at their first weeding, and by the time for the second weeding the difference between a good and a bad one will be very plainly visible.

Don’t accept that theory of the shiftless man, that it is well to have the weeds grow pretty tall before the first weeding, that the plants may be protected from the sun. I have noticed that oftentimes those who act on this theory give over their weeding, and plough up the bed before they have half finished it. Promptness in the first hoeing and weeding is exceedingly important in the management of all root crops, and it is where the greatest mistake is apt to be made in their cultivation.

[Illustration: SLIDE HOE.]

[Illustration: WHEEL HOE.]

[Illustration: McGEE CULTIVATOR.]

[Illustration: MICHIGAN SEED SOWER.]

[Illustration: LANG’S HAND WEEDER.]

There are a few implements that are specially needed in the cultivation of root crops, and of these, every wise farmer will get the very best attainable. These implements are the Seed Sower, the Hand Weeder, the Slide Hoe, the common Wheel Hoe, and one for weeding both sides of a row at the same time. Of these there are a great many varieties, each of which are more or less popular among a class of growers. The engravings illustrate such as are in use in my own section of country, where root culture forms a very important part of the agriculture of farmers. Both the slide and the wheel hoe, for rapid work, far surpass the common hand hoe, while they cut up the weeds equally clear. The double wheel hoe is used until the tops of the crops become so large as to be in the way, when the single wheel hoe or slide hoe takes its place. Fuller’s Unique Hoe having a single wheel is preferred, to any double wheeled implement by many gardeners, especially so by reason of its stiffness. Each should be two inches narrower than the space between the rows. A slide hoe is an amazing handy implement about a farm for many uses other than between the rows of root crops. A new class of implements have been introduced within a few years which, to a degree, supersede the use of the common wheel or slide hoe, though there is yet a valuable sphere for each of them; I refer to the weeders which cut each side of the row at the same time. I have tested every variety of these and have found nothing now in the market superior to the McGee Garden Cultivator. These hoes which take each side of the row at once cannot safely be made to go over the ground as fast as those designed for use between the rows, but working close home to the growing crop, they save a large portion of the cost of hard weeding. Of seed drills there are a dozen or more in the market, several of which I have used on my farms. I prefer the Michigan over all others. Among other advantages it can be relied upon to drop almost any variety of small seed, while it is a good coverer and having a roller attached, it packs the earth over the seed, which, as every farmer knows, tends to keep the moisture in and thus hastens their germination. The hand weeder is an excellent little implement to facilitate the laborious work of weeding, especially when the surface is baked and therefore rather hard on the fingers.

GATHERING AND STORING THE CROP.

One of the greatest outlays attending the raising of Carrots is in the gathering and topping of the crop. The common process of digging with a fork and throwing into piles to be afterwards topped is laborious and costly. Where the crop is to be consumed on the farm, the labor and consequent cost may be greatly lessened by first cutting off the tops by a sharp shovel, spade or common hoe, or a slide hoe which has been weighed by a piece of lead pipe, or some similar heavy article, slid down the handle and fastened where that unites with the hoe. Should a slice be taken off the tops of the roots it will do no harm, as Carrots differ in this respect from other roots, in that, when the tops are cut they are not apt to rot; indeed, some practice cutting off a slice of the top when topping, to keep them from sprouting so readily when stored. The common way of gathering the crop, by loosening with spades or forks and then pulling out by the tops, throwing into heaps or scattering over the ground and afterwards topping with a knife, is a long and costly job. An improvement on digging is to run a plough close to the row and then pull out as many as possible by hand and dig up the remainder. Still a better course particularly when the Danvers variety is grown, is beginning in the middle of the piece, to run a subsoil plough close home to the roots, when, if run sufficiently deep it will lift the Carrots a little out of the ground. Follow with forks or hoes and draw the roots inward on the ploughed portion, so far as to give room for the horse to walk. Let the roots remain a few hours scattered over the surface, when in picking up and tossing them into carts or baskets, any earth adhering will be jarred off.

Let the crop remain out as late as it can be risked without freezing; and if they are in good growing condition this will be well towards November, in the latitude of central New England, and even into the first week of that month in the milder temperature of the sea-coast. Roots not fully matured will keep better than those fully ripe when dug, on the principle that the varieties of apples we call “winter” apples are simply those kinds that do not ripen on the tree--they are not winter apples, because they are Baldwins, or Greenings, for these same kinds in the South where the ripening season is longer, are Fall apples. If the Carrots have been planted too early they will ripen before digging, and be apt to send out roots and prove poor keepers, besides losing the advantage of October weather which is the Carrot month, doing more for the weight of the late planted crop than all the season besides.

Rake the tops off the bed but do not waste them, for they are highly relished by animals, and if the Carrots are harvested when they ought to be, to keep well, that is, when in good growing condition, there will be a great weight of tops, sometimes as high as a quarter of the weight of roots; and this mass of green fodder, coming at a time when the fields are usually bare of grasses, will prove very valuable and acceptable food for the cows.

In storing, one fact must be borne in mind; that Carrots will heat, sprout and rot, under circumstances in which Mangolds would keep sound and uninjured. I have several times lost quantities when buried in the ground where Mangolds and common table Beets, under precisely the same conditions, have kept perfectly sound. If the crop is to be fed at once, they may be dumped into the cellar or barn floor in the most expeditious way; but if to be fed into the winter, then all depth of the heap above two and a half feet means a proportionate increase of danger of heating, sprouting and rotting, and so much greater care to air the cellar in cool, dry weather. I need hardly state that cellars for keeping Carrots and all roots should be free from standing water, and as cool as possible without actually freezing. They should not be put directly on the cellar floor, but on a platform to admit air under them and it is an excellent plan to scatter a little sand among them. I find that Carrots keep exceedingly well if poured (not placed) in a trench 14 inches wide and 2½ feet deep, to be covered slightly at first and more as cold increases, so that they have first a little coarse litter, then a foot of earth, and on this about 18 inches of waste or cheap hay. When the roots are large they will keep sufficiently better to pay for the extra trouble, if they are piled “heads and points” to the height of two and a half feet, with a slight space for air between the piles. If there are not cellar conveniences for storing the entire crop, with a good protection of hay under and around them, a few tons may be stored, for early feeding, in the barn, provided it is not so cold as to freeze them.

RAISING CARROTS WITH ONIONS.

I transfer from my Treatise on Onions, a paragraph relative to growing Carrots with onions.

The plan of raising Carrots with onions is considered an improvement by some who have adopted it, as the yield of Carrots is thought to be clear gain, diminishing but little or none the yield of onions. Carrots are planted in two ways; one by sowing them in drills between every other row of onions, and the other, which is considered an improvement, called the Long Island plan, by planting the onions in hills from seven to eight inches from center to center, dropping a number of seed in each hill, and from the first to the twelfth of June, planting the Carrot seed, usually by hand, between these hills in two rows then skipping one, and thus on through the piece. The onions, as they are pulled are thrown into every third row, the Carrots being left to mature. By this method from two to six hundred bushels of Carrots are raised per acre in addition to the crop of onions. More manure is required for the two crops than for the onions alone.

The machine used for sowing in drills has two boxes attached to the axle at equi-distance from the wheels; there are three or four holes in the axle that communicate with the seed in the boxes, and as these holes pass under the boxes they are filled with seed, and as they turn the seed are dropped into the earth. Screws are sunk into the holes, which can be sunk more or less at pleasure, and the quantity of seed which the holes will contain is thus graded.

The machine should first be tested, and so regulated that on a barn floor it will drop from eleven to twelve seed from each hole. When so regulated, on using in the field it will drop but from seven to twelve, owing to the more uneven motion.

MARKETING AND FEEDING.