These are cultivated for the table, and for food for animals. Boiled and
pickled, or eaten with an ordinary boiled dish, they are esteemed. They
are really excellent in soups. As a root for animals, they are very
valuable. They are often preferred to beets;--this is a mistake--four
pounds of beet are equal to five pounds of carrot for feeding to
domestic animals. Work the soil for carrots very deep, make it very rich
with stable manure, with a mixture of lime; harrow fine and mellow, and
roll entirely smooth. Plant with a seed-sower, that the rows may be
straight; rows two feet apart will allow a horse and small cultivator to
pass between them. Planted one foot apart, and cultivated with a horse,
and a cultivator that will take three rows at once, they will yield much
more to the acre, and may be cultivated at a moderate expense,
exceeding but a little that of ordinary field-crops. Sow as early as
convenient, as the longer time they have, the larger will be the
product. They grow until hard frosts, whenever you may sow them. There
are several varieties, but the Long Orange is the only one that it is
ever best to grow; it is richer than the white, and yields as well: the
earlier sorts are no better, as the carrot may be used at any stage of
its growth. They should be kept in the ground as long as it is safe.
They will stand hard frosts, but, if too much frozen, they are inclined
to rot in winter. Dig in fair weather, dry in the sun, and keep dry. It
is the best of all root crops, except the beet. All animals will eat it
freely, while they have to acquire a taste for the beet.