276 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



incorporated. Therefore, in feeding 

 liberally, follow the same rules as have 

 been already set forth in these papers 

 as to the growth of cauliflowers, bro- 

 coli, and other high-class vegetables. 

 Keep the land in good tilth, promote 

 the filtration from it of heavy rains by 

 proper drainage, and be not sparing of 

 labour in working it freely, and ma- 

 nuring it without stint, but with judg- 

 ment. 



Suppose we are about to put out a 

 batch of young plants for the first crop, 

 I should caution you at once not to be 

 in haste. Unless they lift with good 

 bunches of fibrous roots, they had 

 better wait a week or ten days to 

 strengthen ; it will only check them to 

 no purpose to plant before they are in 

 a fit state to strike out at once into 

 their well-manured and well-pulverized 

 soil. This lot should be put into 

 trenches ten inches deep, as they will 

 have to battle with the hottest of the 

 hot weather. Cut the trenches, and 

 throw the soil up regularly on each 

 side, then fork in plenty of good dung, 

 and break the soil well all along the 

 trench. If the weather is dry, plant 

 at sunset, and water well at once ; but 

 showery weather, while the soil is still 

 in a good workable condition, i9 pre- 

 ferable. Lift the plants with a trowel, 

 place them in a hand-basket, and plant 

 them along the centres of the trenches 

 true to the line, seven inches apart, 

 removing, at the time of planting, any 

 broken or decayed leaves, by a clean 

 cut to the base, but on no account cut 

 the healthy leaves, for the practice is 

 mischievous. These early plantings 

 are generally accommodated to the 

 crops that have gone before, and the 

 celery trenches take the place of spring 

 cabbage, early peas, etc., with, per- 

 haps, a row of cabbage or brocoli be- 

 tween every two trenches. If the sea- 

 son proves a dry one, abundant water- 

 ing will do wonders for these rows, and 

 the water may be poured into the 

 trenches at night, so as to help the 

 plants before the hot sun comes upon 

 them again. If, at every other water- 

 ing, a strong liquid can be made by 

 steeping sheep's or goats' dung in the 

 water, a peck of fresh dung to every 

 five-and-twenty gallons, the growth 

 will be rapid, find the produce succu- 



lent and fine. There are two accidents 

 possible in the progress of the plants 

 to maturity — the stems may come hol- 

 low, or the plants may bolt, that is, 

 run into flower. Hollow stems are 

 generally the result of overfeeding, 

 pushing the growth too fast, and is 

 most likely to happen with plants that 

 have been ill-used in the seed-bed, or 

 have been taken from the pricked-out 

 plots before having acquired a proper 

 degree of strength. Bolting is gene- 

 rally the result of drought, or a 

 sudden check. If the plants are 

 injured in taking up, if exposed 

 to the sun for any length of time 

 in the operation of planting, if left to 

 fight it out without water in dry wea- 

 ther immediatelj' after planting, or if 

 starved through insufficiency of manure, 

 bolting is pretty sure to happen, and 

 if it does not happen, the plants will 

 be stunted and stringy, and the culture 

 might as well not have been attempted 

 at all. Celery should have no severe 

 check from the day the seed is com- 

 mitted to the soil till its growth is 

 fully completed. In poor soils, thinly 

 manured, a hot, dry season will cause 

 the greater part of the crop to bolt, 

 and, generally, there is no help for it, 

 for in such places both water and 

 manure are generally scarce. But the 

 mention of the fact, in connection with 

 its predisposing circumstances, will 

 suffice to encourage the cultivator to 

 make the best of his position in the 

 management of this favourite vege- 

 table. 



While this first planting is in pro- 

 gress, others will come on, and the 

 planting of these will be in the same 

 fashion ; but the trenches must be shal- 

 lower and shallower as the season pro- 

 ceeds, so that that which is le to 

 stand the winter must be put out on 

 level ground. Fond as it is of mois- 

 ture, it is one of the first things to 

 rot in winter if caught by frost in 

 deep trenches that hold the rains. 

 There is yet another system of plant- 

 ing, and that is in beds. Mark out a 

 bed any length, and four and a-half 

 feet wide. Lower it eighteen inches, 

 placing the soil removed in a bank on 

 each side. Manure the bed well and 

 thoroughly mix the manure with the 

 soil by the fork first, and then Vith the 



