It is important in selecting a location for the Carrot bed that the
land should be nearly level, as otherwise the seed will be liable to
wash out after heavy showers, and the plants while young be either
washed out or covered with soil and killed. The land should be, as
far as possible, clear of all stones. The presence of large rocks “in
place,” as the geologists say, would interfere with the continuity of
the rows, while the loose stones are not only always in the way while
raking and planting the bed, but are also in the way of the slide or
wheel hoes which are apt to knock them against the young plants to
their injury. The strongest objections to a stony soil, for Carrots,
are that it interferes with the growth of the roots and greatly
increases the labor of digging them. It is important that the piece
of ground selected for a crop that will require so much manure and
labor should have every advantage possible in its favor; it should
not only be level and comparatively free from stones, but if possible
should have been previously under high cultivation, that it may come
to Carrots when in high condition.
The best soil, particularly for the Long Orange variety, is a loam
mellow to the depth of two feet or more. On such soil the Carrot
will perfect itself, growing straight and altogether beautiful to
look upon, as they stretch from side to side of the bushel boxes. On
some market gardens near critical markets, farmers find it for their
interest to ascertain by actual experiment on what part of their
grounds the root will grow longest and straightest, and when such
plot is found make it a permanent bed. If the soil does not naturally
grow a long Carrot and they are desired, the end may be attained by
trenching deep and adding sand. The difference in the shape of the
Long Orange, when grown on a deep mellow loam, and on a heavy soil
with a compact sub-soil, is so remarkable that it would be almost
impossible to make an inexperienced person believe each lot was from
the same seed,--those grown on the heavy soil, resting on a compact
sub-soil, oftentimes so closely resembling the Intermediate varieties
as not to be distinguished from them. Though the course is not on the
whole to be advised, yet Carrots can be raised on freshly turned sod.
Such land will be very free from weeds, and by making good use of the
wheel harrow, and applying manure in a very fine state, should the
season be a moist one, fair crops may be raised. Reclaimed meadows
in a good state of cultivation, which are well-drained to the depth
of thirty inches, will oftentimes grow crops, large in bulk, but the
individual roots are oftentimes inclined to “sprangle,” and unless
such meadows have been well drained, and liberally covered with sand
or gravelly loam, they are apt to be spongy and inferior. When grown
on land inclining to clay, they are apt to be small and woody in
structure; still, such land, if made friable by good underdraining
and the application of sand, may be made fair Carrot ground.