EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



339 



the boards are removed only as fast as the celery is cut. Using a stifif 

 knife or spading shovel, the roots are cut a sliort distance below the 

 surface of the soil and the plants laid in small i)iles along the boards. 

 As the packing shed is generally nearby, wheelbarrows are used to 

 gather the plants as fast as they are cut, and they are carried at once 

 to the packing house. Where this building is more distant or the opera- 

 tions more extensive, wagons are used and the plants covered with can- 

 vas on the way to the j)acking house. 

 After reaching the packing house, the plants are trimmed by removing 



Fig. 13. — Open crates will be used more as their advantages become known. 



the outer leaves and cutting the roots to a more or less conical shape 

 with a flat point near the base of the plant. They are then thoroughly 

 washed in clean cold water which helps to keep them in a firm, fresh 

 condition. After being allowed to thoroughly drain for sometime, they 

 are tied into round bunches containing twelve good sized plants. In 

 early July, when the plants are rather small, thirteen or fourteen of 

 them are sometimes necessary to make a good sized bunch. 



Generally the only grading practiced by the growers consists in dis- 

 carding the smallest plants or "culls" and bunching all the marketable 

 sized plants together. Pome growers, practice more rigid grading, select- 

 ing the largest and best plants, bunching separately and shipping these 



