CARROTS.
The wild parent of garden and field varieties of carrots is a rampant weed in most parts of Europe, and has invaded America, via England. No greater nuisance distresses the farmer than this plant, for it takes possession of pasture and meadow land, and runs out the grass and clover. Only the plow and hoe keeps it from over-running field and garden, for its seeds are abundant, and the wind sows them.
Have you seen the roadside and hillside white in late summer with the lace umbrellas of the wild carrot? You have called them "Queen Anne's lace." The cluster is made up of hundreds of small, white flowers, in a flat-topped cluster, the big umbrella made of numerous little ones. Each arm of the much-branched stalk bears flowers. After blossoming, the umbrella turns wrong-side out, forming a tight ball while the seeds are ripen ing. Each seed is ridged and roughened by prickly hooks, by which it is able to catch a ride on a cow's tail, for instance, if one brushes near by. The stems are brittle; so the heads are blown about by the wind, and the seeds gradually sown wher ever they travel. The vitality of the seeds lasts for years. If they do not germinate the first year, they may later on. No wonder the wild carrot seems to inherit the earth, or a large part of it! No wonder it is hated cordially by farmers, and is considered one of their most dangerous foes.
Plant wild carrot seed in rich garden soil and the stringy, white root of the roadside weed be comes more fleshy. Save seed of this favored plant, and see still more fleshy roots on the plants that come from this seed. Vilmorin, a great French horticulturist, got a very creditable garden carrot in the third generation. Just as surprising is the change that comes to neglected plants of the best varieties : three generations of running wild will reduce the fleshy-rooted, tender carrot to the stringy, strong-flavored type of its wild original species. It reverts promptly.
Carrots have two distinct layers of flesh under the thin skin. The outer layer is richer in food elements and less fibrous than the inner one, which gardeners call the core. The effort to reduce this inferior middle portion and increase the nutritious outer flesh has succeeded in developing a coreless group of varieties. In shape, and colors, carrots offer considerable range for our choice. White ones are grown for cattle. For the table, carrots are red, orange, or yellow. From long, tapering roots they range to round, turnip shapes. Some of the choicest kinds are small and shaped like a frankfurter. There are early, medium, and late varieties; the last are among the best winter vegetables for storage in root cellars or in pits.
The Greeks cultivated the wild carrots over two thousand years ago. Their writers talk about it. In France and England, improvement has gone on nearly as long, until carrots are as common vegetables as potatoes. They are constantly used in stews and soups for flavoring, and boiled to be served alone or with other vegetables in salads. The very best way to cook tender young carrots is to steam them in their skins, removing these before serving with a rich white sauce. • An abundant supply of early, half-grown carrots come north from truck farms of Florida, while it is yet winter. These are among the most attrac tive things in market to those who have learned to enjoy the carrot flavor at its best.
Carrot seeds contain an aromatic oil, used for flavoring liqueurs. The red juice of highly colored varieties is used to color butter and sometimes as a dye.