62 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



between varieties. I asked several growers at Tecumseh which was the 

 best variety, and they said they preferred Early Self-blanching for their 

 own use. No one chose White Plume, though every one grew it for 

 market. Out in Nebraska I found farmers selling corn for eight cents 

 per bushel and buying Kalamazoo celery. Yet any farmer can grow 

 celery in his garden. Take a piece of ground, manure it heavily with 

 stable manure, set the plants in slight trenches four feet apart, earth it up 

 as much as you can while it is growing, and finish blanching with boards. 

 Leave it right there for winter, covering with boards and stable manure 

 and digging out as wanted, throwing the manure into the adjoining spaces 

 and setting the plants there the next year. To keep celery in the cellar, bore 

 holes four inches above the bottom of a barrel, put in an inch or two of 

 earth, pack in the celery tightly and pour in water until it runs out of the 

 holes, and add water as needed afterward, but do not throw it over the 

 stalks. 



Mr. Steaens said he believed White Plume celery had been a detriment 

 to the celery business in Kalamazoo because of its poor quality. He 

 keeps celery by Mr. Tracy's plan. 



Mr. MoERrLL: Out of the 30,000 plants per acre, how much is waste? 



Mr. Wilson: I can not say — perhaps five per cent. An insect has 

 lately appeared which attacks the stalks, killing them, until cool weather 

 begins. There is also some kind of blight which is increasing. Some 

 early kinds sometimes go to seed in the July crop but White Plume does 

 not. In my own family we only eat the heart of White Plume celery. 

 White Plume and Hartwell's Perfection are the only kinds grown at 

 Kalamazoo. Strawboard will do as well as lumber for bleaching, but use 

 of it is patented. Tiles are not as good as boards because they smother 

 the j)lants. 



The secretary read the following paj)er by Mr. M. Wetteeling of Ionia, 

 which was accorded very hearty applause at its conclusion. 



THE GROWING OF CELERY— HOW I DO IT— BY AN AMATEUR. 



When our worthy secretary requested me to prepare a paper on the 

 cultivation of celery, I must confess that I felt rather embarassed, 

 especially when I heard it was to be delivered at the greatest celery 

 market on the American continent, from whence carload upon carload is 

 sent daily to supply the wants of the American people throughout the 

 length and breadth of our land, Ionia excej)ted; and then, when I learned 

 afterward that I was to follow, perhaps, one of the old celery veterans, the 

 very champion of our Kalamazoo celery gardens, after he had exhausted 

 the subject, I felt like giving up in despair; but my name was on the list, 

 therefore I must do something, and so I will tell the way I do it, though 

 it conflicts somewhat with all authorities I have seen or read on this topic, 

 and may seem impracticable and perhaps presumptions, but I shall simply 

 give my experience to be accepted or rejected as may seem best. 



PREPARING THE SOIL. 



I prepare my soil thoroughly in the fall, using well decomposed stable 

 manure freely. If for short, stocky celery I use cow manure, if tall celery 

 is wanted horse manure is used. The soil for my seed beds I lay up in 



