HORTICULTURE. 335 



Celery. 



When celery-plants commence to be bushy, I find they do best to be cut down, and I 

 repeat that process some three or four times, and each time I give them soluble manure. 

 This plan renders them so strong, that when I plant them out in rows they do not require 

 shading with leaves even, as is usual. It is wrong to plant celery in low, damp places, where 

 the land is not drained. But if the land be drained so as to let off the water, you will do 

 well to keep up a constant stream all day. It is a good plan to have a trough made with 

 two boards a V-shape, and place it across the highest part of the celery rows. Have a plug- 

 hole over each row, so as to allow the water to run into any row required to be irrigated ; 

 the stream should always be kept up until the water has reached the extremity of the trench. 

 It will pay well to keep a man pumping all day, if the land be such as to get rid of the 

 water, and not allow it to become stagnant. Celery cultivated in this way will grow six feet 

 long. — Prof. Mapes, Proc. New York Farmers' Club. 



Sprouted Wheat good for Seed. 



A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker, W. Garbut, Wheatland, New York, states that 

 sprouted wheat is about as good for seed as that which is uninjured by wet weather. Mr. 

 Garbut says — 



The excessive wet weather in harvest sprouted so much of the wheat in this section, that 

 many of the farmers are very anxious to procure sound wheat for seed. I can assure them 

 that they need not be solicitous on that account, for wheat that has been sprouted will ger- 

 minate as freely a second time as it did the first, and with equal vigor. To test the fact, on 

 the 17th of this month I took some of the worst sprouted wheat that I had; every kernel of 

 it had grown, and it was so thoroughly dry that the sprouts all rubbed off. I put it into 

 rich soil of suitable moisture. On the fifth day much of it made its appearance, and now, 

 on the eighth day, many of the spears are three inches long, and as strong and as vigorous 

 as I ever saw young shoots of wheat. Every kernel of it has grown. 



New Use for the Sweet-Potato Vines. 



Mr. P. A. Strobel communicates the following information to the Georgia Telegraph : — It 

 may not be generally known that the sweet-potato vine may be saved during the winter, and 

 used the following spring, in propagating a new crop. I have tried the experiment during 

 this year to my entire satisfaction, and therefore feel it my duty to communicate the result 

 for the benefit of the public. In the fall, (any time before frost,) the vines may be cut in 

 any convenient length, and placed in layers, on the surface of the earth, to the depth of 

 twelve or eighteen inches ; cover the vines, while damp, with partially-rotted straw (either 

 pine or wheat will answer) to the depth of six inches, and cover the whole with a light 

 soil about four inches deep. In this way the vines will keep during the winter, and in the 

 spring they will put out sprouts as abundantly as the potato itself when bedded. The draws or 

 sprouts can be planted first, and the vine itself can be subsequently cut and used, as we gene- 

 rally plant slips. This experiment is worthy the consideration of farmers, as it will save a 

 great many seed-potatoes, (particularly on large plantations,) which can be used for feeding. 



Cultivation of Root Crops. 



No subject connected with agricultural improvement is more frequently discussed than 

 that of root culture. Each root, from carrots to common turnips, and from ruta bagas to 

 radishes, has its advocates. Yet, with a few exceptions, even our best writers seem to have 

 confused ideas as to the object and effect of an extensive cultivation of root crops, and their 

 consumption on the farm by animals. Most writers advocate the cultivation of root crops 

 because more nutritious food can be obtained from an acre of land in this way than in any 

 other. This is a one-sided view of the matter, and leads to numerous errors in opinion and 



