the CARROT, in botany: A genus of the digynia order, belonging to the pentandria clas of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 45th order, Umbellatae. The corolla is a little radiated, all hermaphrodite. The fruit bristly with short hairs. There are five species; but the only one which merits attention is the carota or common carrot. This is so well known as to need no description. There are several varieties, as the white, the orange, and the purple carrot; but of these the orange carrot is the most esteemed. It grows longer, larger, and is commonly more handsome than the others, being often 15 or 18 inches long in the eatable part, and from two to four in diameter at top. Carrots are propagated by seeds, which which are sown at different seasons of the year, in order to procure a supply of young roots for the table at all times. The season for sowing for the earliest crop is soon after Christmas. They should be sown in an open situation, but near a wall; though if they are sown close under it they will be apt to run up to feed too fast, and give no good roots; about eight inches distance is the most proper. They delight in a warm sandy soil, which should be light, and well dug to a good depth, that the roots may meet with no obstruction in running down, so as to make them forked, and shoot out lateral branches. This will happen especially when the ground has been too much dugged the same year that the seeds were sown, which will also occasion them to be worm-eaten. The hairiness of these seeds makes the sowing of them difficult, on account of their being so apt to stick together. Before sowing, therefore, they should be put through a fine chaff sieve; and a calm day should be chosen for sowing them. When sown, they should be trod in with the feet, and the ground raked level over them. When they first come up they should be cut up to four inches distance, and a month after this they are to be cleared again; and if drawn while young, they are now to be left at six inches distance every way; if they are to stand to grow large, they must be separated to ten inches distance. The second season for sowing carrots is in February. This must be done under a wall or hedge, on warm banks: but those which are to be on open large quarters should not be sown till the beginning of March. In July, carrots may be sown for an autumnal crop; and lastly, in the end of August, for those which are to stand the winter. These last will be fit for use in March, before any of the spring ones; but they are seldom so tender or well tasted. In order to preserve carrots for use all winter, they are to be dug up in the beginning of November, and laid in a dry place in sand; and these roots being again planted in February, will ripen seeds in August for succeeding crops: the longest and straightest roots are to be chosen for this purpose.

Under the article Agriculture, No. 44, we have taken notice of the good properties of carrots as a food for cattle. They have been greatly recommended as proper for fattening hogs; but from some experiments mentioned in the Geographical Essays, it appears, that though the bacon thus fed is of excellent quality, the feeding is considerably dearer than that fed with pease, pollard, &c. In the same essays, the following experiment is mentioned by Dr Hunter, concerning the propriety of raising carrots for the use of the distiller. "In the month of October (1773), I took 24 bushels of carrots. After being washed, topped, and tailed, I put them into a large brewing copper with four gallons of water; and covering them up with cloths to halve the maceration, I ordered a fire to be kindled underneath, which in a short time reduced the whole into a tender pulp. They were then put into a common screw-press, and the juice taken from them; which, together with the liquor left in the copper, was run through a flannel bag. The juice was then returned into the copper; and as it was my design to make it into ale, I put to it a proportionable quantity of hops. The liquor was then boiled about an hour, when it acquired both the taste and colour of wort. It was next put into a cooler, and afterwards into the working vessel, where the yeast was added to it. It worked kindly, and in all respects was treated as ale. I allowed it to remain in the talk about four months, when I broached it, but found it of a thick, muddy appearance. I attempted to fine it, but in vain. The taste was by no means displeasing, as it much resembled malt liquor. My first intention being frustrated, I threw it into the still, being about 40 gallons in measure, and by two distillations obtained four gallons of a clean proof spirit. It had, however, contracted a flavour from the hop, which should be left out when the intention is to reduce the liquor into spirit. From a gross calculation, I am induced to think that a good acre of carrots manufactured in this manner, will leave a profit of L. 40. after deducting the landlord's rent, cultivation, distillation, and other incidental expenses. In this calculation, I presume that the spirit is worth five shillings per gallon, and not excised. An acre of barley will by no means produce so much spirit. A rich sandy loam is the best land for carrots; which, after the crop is removed, will be in high cultivation for corn."

Attempts have also been made to prepare sugar from carrots, but without success; a thick syrupy matter like treacle being only obtainable.—Raw carrots are given to children troubled with worms. They pass through most people but little changed.—A poultice made of the roots hath been found to mitigate the pain and abate the stench of foul and cancerous ulcers.—Crickets are very fond of carrots; and are easily destroyed by making a paste of powdered arsenic, wheat-meal, and scraped carrots, which must be placed near their habitations.—By their strong antiseptic qualities, a marmalade made from carrots has also been found useful in preventing and curing the sea-scurvy.—The seeds have been reckoned carminative and diuretic; and were formerly much used as a remedy for the stone, but are at present disregarded.—Carrots were first introduced into England by the Flemings, in the reign of queen Elizabeth.