Carrot
The culture of the carrot is practically the same as the parsnip, except that carrots are not thinned so much and are allowed to grow almost as thickly as planted. Carrots should be dug in the autumn and stored the same as parsnips or turnips. Any surplus can be fed sparingly to horses, mules or cattle. The roots of the carrot are used at all times of the year, mostly in soups, but they may be boiled and served with butter or creamed. Carrots are planted in rows 16 inches apart and the plants thinned out to 4 inches in the row. Chantenay is an excellent table carrot of medium size and dark orange color, slightly tapering and abruptly terminating with a short, fine taproot. The flesh is orange colored, brittle, juicy and mild flavored. What it lacks in size it makes up in quality and good shape. Scarlet Intermediate, somewhat larger than Chantenay, is of good size for table use. In shape more tapering and with a longer taproot. It is dark orange colored; flavor and quality good. Flesh is quite brittle and orange colored with a white center. To these two are added two varieties principally grown for stock feed, similar varieties being grown for table use in many parts of Europe, and more especially those of the White Belgian variety. Both varieties are of slender shape, 1½ to 2 inches in diameter, holding their size well, although averaging 12 inches in length, 3 to 4 inches of which grows above ground and which as a consequence is colored light green on the outside. White Belgian is the sweeter of the two, and while the flesh is somewhat coarse, the flavor of it, when well stewed and mashed, is sweeter and not unlike that of the parsnip. Victoria, the other variety, is of the same texture, fairly sweet and with a more pronounced carrot flavor, the flesh instead of white, being light orange colored. This vegetable can be grown to perfection in Porto Rico almost any time of the year. It prefers a rich loam and grows very well on a heavy clay which is not too wet, but a light sandy soil is not well adapted to it. For fertilizer, stable manure will do when nothing else is available, but a commercial fertilizer, rich in potash and phosphoric acid, is much to be preferred for this crop.—F. B. 255, 295; Mich. E. S. 20; N. C. E. S. 132; U. Idaho E. S. 10; P. R. A. E. S. 7.