CULTIVATION OF CELERY. 55 



in the compass of an inch ; whilst in the pampered tree of the 

 kitclieii garden one joint or node alone will frequently occupy- 

 more space. 



The proper ripening of peais in the room is, moreover, a 

 matter of great importance, and about this I conceive we have 

 all much to learn. It is quite probable with me that scarcely 

 any two require precisely the same conditions of warmth to do 

 them justice. This, if correct, is a necessary consequence of 

 hybridisation, every pear, of course, being intermediate between 

 some other two kinds, at least for the most part. 



The critical period, that makes or mars them, is, I conceive, 

 when they first show a tendency to mellowness for the table. 

 At this period, if their ripening is arrested for the sake of 

 retarding them, it is almost sure to be at the expense both of 

 their flavour and their melting properties. 



If I wei-e to build a fruit-room for myself, I would have a 

 door at the further end leading into a pear-closet, in which I 

 would have a slight amount of artificial warmth at command. 

 The pears should all be on movable trays, and these trays, when 

 required for use, should be removed a week or so previously, 

 without disturbing the pears, to the warm room. A temperature 

 of 60^ to 65° would perhaps be sufliicient. 



IX. — On the Cultivation of Celery. By W. Cole, Gardener 

 to H. Colyer, Esq., Dartford. 



(Read at the Meeting, December 5, ISiS.) 



Herewith I take the liberty of handing you six sticks of 

 celery, of a kind which I have grown for the last three years, 

 and which I think both in point of size, solidity, and flavour will 

 be found superior to any which has hitherto been cultivated. 

 The specimens sent are not selected, but are merely examples of 

 a general crop, planted without any object in view beyond that 

 of the supply of my employer's table, and entirely without ever 

 thiidcing of sending any of it for public exhibition. My stock 

 consists of six hundred plants, planted in rows, four feet apart, 

 and the plants nine inches apart in the row ; and I have not a 

 doubt that the whole crop would average six pounds per stick. 

 Not the least remarkable excellence in this celery is, tiiat it will 

 stand twelve months without running or starting for seed, and 

 such a thing as a pipy or stringy leaf I have never noticed so 

 long as I have grown it. For a more circumstantial detail of 

 my method of cultivation, I may remark the seed was sown the 

 first week in February, and so soon as the plants were large 



