EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



329 



tains an abundance of plant food and that will not pack and harden. 

 In this state, muck soil is generally used and found very satisfactory. 

 As the celery seed is very small and also very slow to germinate, the 

 soil should be made very fine and smooth before sowing. It is the usual 

 practice to sow the seed broadcast, rather than in rows, although the 

 latter method has the advantage of permitting room between the rows 

 to cultivate and water. The seed should be covered not over one-eighth 

 of an inch with soil and sowed sufiQciently thick to give a good stand 

 of plants without crowding. If the seed is good, about sixty per cent 

 of it should germinate under favorable conditions. One ounce of seed 

 should produce at least ten thousand plants. 



After sowing, the seed-bed may be rolled or carefully raked by hand. 

 Many growers prefer to simply scatter the seed and allow the rains 



Fig. 4. — A celery greenhouse in summer at Kalamazoo. Sashes removed. 



to wash it into the soil. With indoor sowing, burlap is often spread 

 over the soil and the beds sprinkled. A large percentage of culls or 

 small plants at harvesting time is largely due to one, or a combination 

 of two things, namely — the use of poor seed or the crowding of the plants 

 in the seed bed. Therefore, care should be exercised at this time, to 

 be certain of obtaining the best seed and in not sowing the same too 

 thick in the seed bed. 



The seed of the second crop is sown about the last week in March 

 and usually started in hotbeds. If space is available, the seed may be 

 started in a greenhouse. 



To construct a hotbed select a well drained spot exposed lo the south. 

 but protected from the north and have the bed run east and west. The 

 standard hotbed sash is three feet Avide and six feet long, although many 

 growers prefer a longer sash, making a wider bed. Therefore the width 



