CARROT, Daucus, a genus of plants of the natural order umbelliferce. They are mostly natives of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean sea. The common C. (D. rarota) is a biennial plant, common in Britain and most parts of Europe, also in the Cauen-ms; and is universally cultivated not only in Europe and the European colonies, but in China, Cochin,China, etc., for the sake of its root. The root of the wild plant is slender, woody, and of a very strong flavor; that of the cultivated variety is much thicker and more fleshy, much milder in its flavor and qualities, generally red, but some times orange or yellowish white. The sub-varieties in cultivation are also distinguished by their form—some being longer and more tapering than others—by their size, and by the duration of their the early kinds being also comparatively small, and almost exclusively cultivated in gardens for culinary use, whilst the larger and late kinds are often also grown in fields, for feeding cattle. The field cultivation of the C. is carried on to a much greater extent in some parts of France, Germany, and Belgium, than in Britain; but it is increasing iu Britain. The C. appears to have been cultivated at an early period in Flanders and Germany, and to have been introduced into the gardens of England in the beginning of the 16th century. In the reign of Charles I., ladies wore C. leaves as an ornament instead of feathers; and the beauty of the leaves is still occa sionally acknowledged by placing a root, or the upper portion of one, in water, that it may throw out young leaves to adorn apartments in winter. The C. prefers a light and rather sandy soil, and often succeeds very well ou a peat soil. It is very liable to the attacks of the larva of the crane fly (q.v.), by which the greater part of a crop is some times destroyed when the piling roots are about the thickness of a quill; on which account, in gardens where there is particular reason to apprehend danger from this enemy, it is the practice to make a number of successive sowings, some of which may probably escape. As an article of food, C. contains a large amount of what
are called heat-producing compounds, with a small proportion of flesh-forming mat ter. It consists essentially of starch, sugar, and albumen, along with a volatile oil, which communicates a flavor to many dyspeptics very unpleasant. The following is the composition of dried carrot: Starch and sugar 93.71 Albumen 4.35 Red neutral substance (carotin) 0.34 Fixed and volatile oils • 1.00 Ash 0.60 100.00 C. is easy of digestion, and gently laxative. Boiled C. is used as a poultice for foul ulcers and other sores, and as a vermifuge. Grated C. forms an agreeable cooling but also stimulant application. A sirup is prepared from carrots; and when cut into small pieces and roasted, they are occasionally used in Germany as a substitute for coffee. A strong ardent spirit is distilled from them in some parts of Europe, 10 lbs. of carrots yielding about half a pint. C. seeds are employed as a diuretic, also as a carminative and stimulant; those of the wild C. being preferred.—Besides the crane fly, already noticed, carrots have numerous other insect enemies. One of the most troublesome is the carrot fly (psila row), a small dipterous fly, the larvre of which, by eating away the surface of the root, cause what is commonly known as rust in carrots, and prepare them for the further operations of millepedes and other destroyers. The larvre of several species of moth (depressaria) are very injurious to them when in flower and seed. An aphis (A. &mei) often kills the young plants.