THE ANNUAL MEETING. 131 



three inches below the surface. Keep the bed well weeded and mellow and the 

 plants will thrive. Cut the shoots when five or six inches long with a sloping 

 cut, a little below the surface. Do not forget to make the bed deep and rich. 



CAULIFLOWEK. 



Plants of this delicious vegetable should be set out the same time with early 

 cabbage — about April 1st — and treated almost exactly like cabbage. It needs 

 considerable moisture, and should be planted thus early to head out before hot 

 weather. Early Erfurt is a good sort. In planting this and also cabbage, 

 tomatoes, etc., a strip of paper may be wound around the stalk of the plants, 

 extending a little below the ground, to prevent cut-worms attacking it. 



CELERY. 



The cultivation of celery is far more easy than many suppose. The seed 

 should be sown early in April, in a rich bed, covering very lightly, or simply 

 patting down with the spade. Keep the bed free from weeds, and as the plants 

 grow, shear off the top leaves once or twice to make them grow stocky. Some 

 time during July, on a moist day if possible, set out the plants on the level 

 ground, or in a slight trench, six inches apart, in rows three feet apart. Firm 

 the earth closely around the plants while setting. Keep the plants free from 

 weeds, and allow them to grow till a month or two before it is wanted for use. 

 Then, since celery must be blanched to make it edible, the earth must be 

 drawn up close around the plants with the hands and then banked up with the 

 spade to the top of the plant. This may be done about the 1st of September, 

 if it is expected to use the celery along in the fall. If wanted for winter use, 

 no banking up is necessary, but the earth should be drawn up around the plants 

 to keep the leaves in an upright state. Then when dug up in November it 

 may be taken into a cool cellar and packed, with the earth clinging to the 

 roots, into a barrel or long box, which may be made with some rough boards 

 for one side aud the cellar wall for the other. Packed together closely in this 

 way, it will be likely to keep fresh, and being dark, it will blanch by the time 

 it is wanted for use. This is the best way 1 know of keeping it, all things con- 

 sidered. This plan of cultivation is certainly not so laborious but that any one 

 may have the delicious vegetable. Celery needs a moist, cool atmosphere to do 

 well, and I find that when planted along the north side of my rows of sweet 

 corn it does better, being in the shade, than when in the hot sun. The soil 

 should be rather moist, and the best variety is some dwarf kind, as Boston 

 Market or Sandringham Dwarf. It will stand quite a sharp frost without in- 

 jury, but like any other vegetable, must not be touched while frozen, as this 

 will induce decay. 



EGG PLANT. 



This plant is very tender, aud the seeds must be sown in a hot-bed about 

 April 1st and planted out in the open ground about two months later, in a rich 

 soil, two or three feet apart. 



RADISH. 



A light soil is necessary for the radish, and it is easily raised by sowing the 

 seed broadcast over the ground and covering lightly with the rake. Early long 

 scarlet short top is the best. 



