1873.] COMMON ERRORS IN OELEEY CULTURE, 227 



every year they are grown in pots after importation, and there can be but little 

 doubt but that keeping the tubers very dry during the resting period has much 

 to do with this unfortunate result. If the species are sufficiently hardy, they 

 may be planted out on rockwork. We have never seen the beautiful Cjipripedium 

 spccfabile do better than it does in Messrs. Backhouse and Son's alpine garden at 

 York, where planted in a bed of peat, on a cool bottom, it throws up its stout woolly 

 growths, and blooms profusely every summer. Now this plant, and a great patch 

 of C. Caleeolus — on which I have counted upwards of twenty flowers at one time — ■ 

 are thoroughly established, and I have not the shghtest doubt but that during the 

 heavy winter rains the soil around their roots is thoroughly saturated with 

 moisture. These facts speak for themselves with refei-ence to the wintering of 

 those beautiful orchids, in the culture of which so few succeed. — F. W. Burbidge. 



1 



COMMON EKRORS IN CELERY CULTURE. 



T is not my intention to enter into the details of the ordinary culture of 

 this useful vegetable, because they are well understood, but to notice three 

 ^^ common errors connected with its growth. The first I will mention is that 

 X of sowing too early. Although Celery is a biennial, yet when the seed is 

 sown too soon — say by the 1st of February — and the planLs are nursed a little, they 

 are very liable to " pipe " or run to seed : while those raised from seed sown about 

 the end of the same month seldom do so. 



The second error is that in earthing up the plants too much soil is applied at 

 one time, by which the hearts are covered in, and they are thus made to bulge 

 out on one side, and become deformed ; whereas when the operation is more 

 lightly done, as well as oftener, the heads are kept upright, and the growth is 

 much more vigorous. 



The third error I have to notice, and which is perhaps the worst, is 

 " earthing " or banking up the crops too heavily in autumn or before winter sets in ; 

 this is a very common practice, especially among cottagers, who often cover their 

 Celery over " head and ears," if I may so express myself. This, moreover, is done 

 with the view of keeping out the wet and frost from the crops ; but in such cases 

 the Celery fails to grow from want of air, in fact, as already indicated, the plants 

 are buried, and they soon become rotten ; and though the v^-et v/eather may bo 

 blamed for this, it may oven happen when the ridges are covered v/ith litter or 

 boards. 



Formerly, I used to fall into the errors above mentioned ; but now I earth 

 up my Celery more sparingly, taking care that the leaves or tops of tlio plants are 

 well above the ridges, especially in the case of late crops. Hence I have had no 

 reason to complain of my crops rotting, however damp and s^ere the winter 

 may have been. Those who protect the ridges to fence off the weather, seem 

 to overlook the fact that the means employed for this purpose prevent the 

 escape of moisture by evaporation from the earth, in consequence of which the 

 crops are more apt to rot than if their tops had been freely exposed to the air. — 

 J. WiGiiTON, Cosseij Park, 



