64 STATE HORTICTILTURAX. SOCIETY. 



vanity and vexation of spirit." The next season I did not make any 

 trenches at all, but set my plants on level ground, the soil thoroughly 

 prepared the fall previous, in rows four feet apart. The celery grew 

 beautifully, and I hilled it up gradually as the " books " recommended, 

 but when it was fit for digging I found it was so rusty as to be almost 

 unsalable. Then I made up my mind to care nothing for the "books" 

 and tried an experiment of my own. I made the rows one foot and a half 

 apart, and set the plants six inches apart in the row, and worked them 

 until they were half grown without filling them up. I never saw celery 

 grow so fast, each plant trying to grow taller than the others, as they had 

 no room for spreading themselves, and by fall I had as fine a crop of 

 celery as anyone would wish to have, white as snow, tender and brittle, 

 and of the most delicious flavor. Such celery will never beg for a market. 

 I have stuck to this practice ever since, and I shall stick to it until I find 

 a better way. I set my plants in July after I have gathered a crop of early 

 cabbage, beets, or lettuce, as my ground is limited and every inch must 

 be made use of. 



KEEPING IT THEOUGH THE WINTER. 



I dig pits one and a half foot wide in some place where the water will 

 not stand, and deep enough so that the tops of the celery will be level with 

 the ground, being careful not to handle it while wet, as it is liable to decay 

 if put in while damj). I leave it exposed to the weather until hard freezing 

 sets in, when I cover it with boards and straw. Thus it will be accessible 

 any time in the winter. 



VARIETIES. 



Every year some new variety is added to the already too long list of 

 celeries. I do not think there is a variety to be found to exceed the old 

 favorite, the Golden Heart or Dwarf. The White Plume is a very valuable 

 variety for early market, but its flavor is inferior. The Golden Self- 

 Blanching is very sweet and juicy, but a very poor keeper. The Kalamazoo 

 and Perfection Heartwell are both excellent varieties and good keepers. 

 Henderson's New Rose is a beautiful pink variety, very sweet and nutty in 

 flavor, but will not sell, at least not in this market, as long as there is any 

 white celery to be had. The Giant New Pascal is but lately introduced, 

 and I think it will be a very valuable variety. 



Now I have given my way of growing celery and I suppose there is no 

 use of my trying any more to compete for premiums at the Detroit 

 Exposition or any other place. 



By the way, I presume you all know, that Michigan carried away all the 

 celery premiums at Vick's great exhibition at the Illinois state fair which 

 was held at Peoria, where every state in the Union was represented, also 

 Canada. Michigan came out ahead of them all. Our state also took first 

 and second premiums on cabbage, and first on potatoes. I wnll give the 

 figures as they came to me from the report, beginning with the Empire 

 state, which carried away $205, Wisconsin $125, Iowa $150, Illinois $65, 

 Massachusetts $75, Dominion of Canada $35 ; and now comes our own state 

 with $310, or thirty-one per cent, of the whole thousand dollar premium, of 

 which Barry county took $110, Jackson county $110, and Ionia county $90. 



Have we not reason to be proud of our own beloved state? Talk about 



