2i8 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTtJRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 21, 1872. 



It may, jierliaps, be well to afld a short list of the best sorts. 

 The Brown Turkey is one of the best known, and is also an 

 excellent sort. Grizzly Bonrjassotte is Tery free-bearing 

 and richlj'-flavoured, but the fruit is not so large as the Brown 

 Turkey. Singleton Pei-petual, or White Ischia, is excellent for 

 pot-culture; the fruit is small, but produced in gi-eat abun- 

 dance. White Marseilles does not beai' fi'eely with me, but the 

 fruit is large, and unsurpassed in flavour ; it is a good variety 

 to force. Col di Signora Blanca and the Striped variety should 

 be included in the most select collection. Brunswick and Castle 

 Kennedy have large handsome fruit, but are better adapted 

 for planting-out than for pot-culture. — J. Douglas. 



SUCCESSIONS OF VEGETABLES.— No. 8. 



CELERY. 



Sandringh^vm DWiiEF White. — Stout-growing, solid, crisp, 

 and of a fine nutty flavour. A most excellent sort. 



Incompabable Dwabf White. — Stout-growing, and dwarf er 

 than the Sandringham, solid, crisp, and of a fine nutty flavour. 

 This is the best white Celeiy for late spring use, keeping in ex- 

 cellent condition until the middle or end of Api-ij. 



Seeley's Leviathan White. — Large, and of excellent flavour. 

 It will suit those who grow for market or exhibition. 



Sevmouk's Superb Solid White. — Large, sohd, and of ex- 

 cellent flavour. Good for early crops. 



Ivekt's Nonsuch Pink. — Large, sohd, and of fine nutty 

 flavour. One of the best, if not the best, of the red Celeries for 

 autumn and winter use. 



Williams's Matchless Red. — A stout-growing, solid, crisp, 

 fine, juicy sort, of excellent flavour. It is the best of all the red 

 Celeries for late spring use, as it stands well until the close of 

 April. 



Hood's Impeelu. Dw.tRF Red. — Stout-growing, sohd, crisp, 

 and of a sweet nutty flavour. Very good. 



Cole's Deflince Bed. — Stout-gi-owing, solid, and of a crisp 

 nutty flavour. 



Above we have eight sorts which will be sufficient for general 

 purjioses. There are, no doubt, others as good or better, but 

 I have grown, I think, all the kinds of Celei-y except two, 

 which I have provided myself with this year. I grow all the 

 sorts named, sowing a panful of each. This is suiEcient for 

 our requirements of three to four thousand plants. A quai'ter 

 of an ounce of each is thrice as much seed as is necessary for 

 a garden of two acres. Four kinds are — Sandringham Dwarf 

 White, Incomparable Dwarf White, Ivery's Nonsuch Pink, and 

 WilUams's Matchless Bed ; and two, Sandringham Dwarf White 

 and Williams's Matchless Red. 



The sowings should be three in number. The first, consist- 

 ing of Sandi-ingham Dwarf White, Seymour's Superb Solid 

 Wliite, Ivery's Nonsuch, and Cole's Defiance, should be made 

 in the third week of February. This is done in well-drained 

 pans filled with rich light soil, which ai-e afterwards placed in 

 a gentle hotbed of from 60° to 6.5°, where the soil must be kept 

 moist, aud the pans raised as the plants begin to make their 

 appearance, in order to bring them to about 3 inches from the 

 glass. When the jilants have one rough leaf, and the second 

 about half an inch long, there should be a hotbed ready for 

 their reception, the bottom heat of which .should range be- 

 tween 05° and 75°, and be covered with 3 or 4 inches of rich 

 light BOH, wherein the plants ought to be placed up to 

 the seed leaves, at a distance of 2 inches apai't every way. 

 So disposed, a two-light frame measuring 6 feet square will 

 hold more than 1200 plants. They should be gently watered, 

 and in bright weather shaded until they h.ave become esta- 

 blished, after which plenty of air and a temperature of 50° to 

 55° may be given them. 



By the beginning of May, when the plants are beginning to 

 look crowded and the bed has grown cold, the lights may be 

 withdrawn and used only in cold and frosty intervals ; or if they 

 are required for some other purpose, entu'ely removed, and the 

 Celery protected by means of mats placed on hoops or sticks 

 bent semicircularly over the bed. The water, with which they 

 should be plentifully supplied, ought to be warm, or else it is 

 apt, by causing a great check, to render their " bolting " before 

 they are fit for anything but flavouring soup extremely probable. 



For a very early crop take out trenches in a warm border 

 15 inches wide and 2 feet deep, at distances of 1 yard between 

 each, fill these with a foot of solidly-trodden short dung, cover 

 this with 6 inches of soil enriched with well-decayed manure, 

 and over all lay a 3-iuch layer of leaf soil. Transfer the plants 

 to the centre of these beds, placing them half a foot apart, 

 water them gently , and protect them with a double overing of 

 tifl'any upon hoops. The beds should be prepared about four 



daj-s before, in order that the soil may become sUghtly warm. 

 The plants may be put out in the second week of May, and 

 the tiffany removed towards the end of the same month. 



Those which were left behind when the first lot were pricked 

 out, should be planted into trenches at the close of May or 

 early in .Tune. These ought to be 15 inches wide, 18 inches 

 deei), and 3 feet 6 inches apart, filled with 6 inches of decayed 

 manure well mixed with the same depth of soil below, and the 

 plants placed in them with the balls entire, being afterwards 

 carefully watered. When these have attained the height of 

 9 inches go over them and remove, by slipping off close down- 

 wards with the thumb, all offsets at the base of the first leaves, 

 thus causing the sap to become more concentrated. Afterwards 

 heap-up a little soil around each plant, and give the whole a 

 thorough watering with liquid manure — 1 lb. of guano to twenty 

 gallons of water — then and twice during every week following. 

 It U better to di'aw the leaves together by means of a little 

 matting, as the outer ones if not so treated droop. 



At the beginning of July both these crops wOl be strong, 

 especially the first, and then earthing-up may be done, the 

 soil for this purpose being taken from the sides of the trench 

 so as to form channels along which water may be sent. About 

 the middle of the month the plants will be fit for gathering, 

 and will continue so until the end of August or a little longer. 

 In very hot weather they should be watered overhead morning 

 and evening. 



For a main crop sow about the 7th of March much in the 

 same way as before, begin to harden the plants oft when showing 

 their second rough leaves, and a fortnight after this let them 

 be transplanted. The beds for this purjjose should be 4 feet wide, 

 and situated in a warm open spot. In making them, 6 inches 

 of soil should be taken out, and hot dung to the depth of 

 1 foot substituted for it. This is overlaid with soil consisting 

 half of loam and half of leaf soil and dung, well mixed, and the 

 whole worked into a fine tilth. Tread this firm and rake it 

 very fine, aud after aUowiug a few hours to elapse put in the 

 plants 3 inches apart every way. Water gently, and shade 

 with mats uutU they are established, when the shading may be 

 discontinued. 



As soon as the plants are above 4 inches high plant them 

 out. The trenches for this purpose should be made 4 feet 

 apart upon ground that has been previously well manured and 

 trenched, they should be 18 inches broad and of the same 

 depth Cunless the soil is unfavourable), and filled with half 

 a foot of manure well mixed with a portion of the soil beneath. 

 Into this last the jilants, after having had the offsets all re- 

 moved, must be placed with their balls entire, and 8 inches 

 from one another. They will be ready to be jilanted out about 

 the middle of June ; and after this is done aud they are es- 

 tablished, let them be frequently watered with pure water, 

 aud once a-week with hquid manure. 



When the plants have reached a height of about a foot the 

 leaves should be tied and the stems earthed-np to about the 

 extent of 6 inches. In this latter respect a moderate course 

 should be adopted, not earthing too much for fear of making 

 the stems grow crooked, nor too httle to allow of the possibility 

 of their being broken by the wind. The final earthing should 

 be made about three weeks before the time they wiU be required 

 for use, heaping the soO firmly around them, but taking care 

 that none of it reach the centres of the plants. The earthing 

 should be well advanced in the early part of October, and will 

 only require a finishing touch in November. 



The raising and treatment of those plants intended to form 

 the last crop are much the same in the case of those grown for 

 the first. 'The beds into which they are transplanted should be 

 rich and hght, and they may be removed into trenches on a 

 light, well-sheltered spot about the middle of July, being there 

 well watered. If the soil is not well drained and friable, they 

 can scarcely be expected to keep sound during the winter. 

 They must be well earthed-up during October, November, and 

 even December, and should severe weather set in covered over 

 with litter, which may be removed in mild weather. Where 

 the soil is not in a fit state to earth-up the jjlants, ashes or 

 sawdust may be used. Soot dusted over the plants when 

 wet with dew, and continually applied from July to October, 

 will be found effective in keeping off the Celeiy fly. — G. Abbey. 



Sale of Stove and Greenhouse Plants. — The fine collec- 

 tion of specimen plants belonging to P. L. Hinds, Esq., of 

 Eyfleet Lodge, Weybridge, many of which have figured success- 

 fully at the metropolitan shows in past years, came under the 



