326 



STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



should be alternately harrowed and dragged until it is brought down 

 lo a very fine condition. After it is thus prepared, the soil should be 

 liarrowed again after every rain or at least about once a week until 

 planting time. 



FERTILIZERS. 



Celery is a rapid growing crop and requires heavy feeding to pro- 

 duce a continuous and healthy growth. Even on the rich muck lands, 

 it requires heavy fertilization if continuous crops of celery are to be 

 grown. Celery, too, requires a soil of loose texture well filled with or- 

 ganic matter. For these reasons, stable manure is universally consid- 

 ered the best fertilizer, as it fills these requirements most satisfac 



Fig. 3. — The second crop is started in hot beds about the last week in March. 



torily. The amount that can be applied at a profit depends upon the 

 intensiveness under which the crop is grown, the general condition and 

 fertility of the land, and the cost of manure per ton laid on the land. 

 From thirty to forty tons per acre is considered advisable each year 

 on the Kalamazoo and Muskegon lands, where the same soil is used 

 continuously and where two or three crops are harvested each season. 

 In these sections, being convenient to the cit}', little difiBculty is ex- 

 perienced in obtaining a suflicient supply at a reasonable price. 

 Whether or not outlying districts where land is cheaper and the cost 

 of manure higher, can atford to fertilize as heavily and produce as in- 

 tensively, is a local problem. Where but one crop of celery is grown, 

 about twenty-five tons per acre is sufficient on good muck lands. Many 

 of the outlying celery districts and some of the Kalamazoo growers ob- 



