THE FLOEAL WORLD AlVD GARDEN GUIDE. 83 



the head as the head of a young radish — say having four or five 

 leaves each. The way to prick them out is to prepare first a frame, 

 next tread the ground hard where it is to stand. On the hard sur- 

 face lay turves, grass side downwards, and on the turves spread three 

 inches of quite rotten duu!:;; and fine loam, equal parts, well mixed 

 together. On this bed plant them in rows carefully ; water, put on 

 the light, keep shaded and rather close till they begin to grow ; then 

 take the light off" during the day as much as possible, taking care to 

 put it on in case of cold rains, or suow, or frost, all of which are 

 possible eyen up to the middle of May. 



The plants that were i^otted will have to be dealt with according 

 to the weather, and other circumstances. They will soon fill their 

 pots with roots, and when they do so — better, indeed, before they do 

 so — shift them into GO-size, with one rather flat crock only in the 

 pot, the soil half dung and half loam, and keep them in a frame, 

 giving plenty of air and water, and exposing them fully to sunshine. 

 By the time they fill these pots with roots, the season will be sutfi- 

 ciently advanced to allow of planting out ; and this, like all other 

 processes, must be done with care. 



The trenches should be made in the usual way, by throwing out 

 the earth. A liberal allowance of fat manure should then be wheeled 

 in, and the soil of t\\e trench well chopped up with it, so that earth 

 and manure are thoroughly blended together. It is astonishing the 

 difference it makes to such plants as celery, cauliflower, and others 

 that need abundance of manure, whether it is turned in anyhow, so 

 as to lie in masses, or well chopped over, and mingled wdth the soil : 

 in the latter case the growth is regular and good ; in the other it is 

 irregular — a plant here abominally coarse, and overtopping the next, 

 which is as weak as if the ground had never been manured at all. 

 Por the planting choose warm, moist weather, if possible ; if this 

 cannot be done, water the trenches liberally the day previous to 

 planting, and after planting water again, and shade from mid-day 

 sun. In the planting process the line should be put down, and the 

 plants should be handled with as much care as if they were worth 

 a crown each. Let them be turned out of the pots without bruising 

 them ; the ball of roots need not be disturbed, the earth must be 

 closed upon them neatly, and while the planting goes on they must 

 not be left layirrg about in the hot sun, to be half roasted. 



Those pricked out into the bed should be dealt with in a similar 

 manner ; but of course they will not be planted out so soon. In 

 taking them out of the bed, it will be found, that as they are well 

 rooted into the turf, the bed itself can be cut into squares or strips ; 

 and if these squares or strips are carried carefully to the trenches, 

 the plants may be transferred to their final places without damage 

 to a single leaf or root fibre, which is the proper way ; the plants 

 ought not to know, in fact, or indicate by any of their appearances, 

 that they have been shifted. 



As it w^as not intended to write a complete essay on celery- 

 growing, I have to hope tliese few notes will sufiice. Any respect- 

 able work on the kitchen-garden will furnish particulars, to make 

 good any omissions in this paper, which is intended to supplement, 



