236 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Maich 23, 1876. 



extensive range of offices, inolading a new fruit-room 30 feet 

 long by 10 wide. Near this ia the Maehroom house, which is 

 ueed also for forcing Sealcale and Rhubarb, the crop of Mush- 

 rooms being quite extraordinary ; the Mushrooms as it were 

 fighting each other for space on every inch of the bed. 



The liitchen garden is about two acres in extent. The walls 

 are latticed for the trainiug of trees, and the vegetable crops 

 are well tended. Noticeable amongst these was a Brocooli 

 which had been selected by Mr. Druitt, and which had passed 

 the winter better than any other kind. The soil is a sticky 

 clay difficult to work, and it is only by waiting for fine days 

 that the crops can be pat in at all. 



On the opposite side of the park-like grounds, which are 

 divided by Morton's wire fences, is another pleasure ground 

 surrounded by a grass terrace, which is charmmg in itself and 

 commands views of diversified beauty and extent. 



Besides the church mentioned as having been erected for the 

 neighbourhood, a dispensary is provided, and medicine and 

 advice is procurable gratis bv the inhabitants. This valuable 

 institution is supported by Mrs. Cubitt. 



The demesne is under the able supervisiofl of G. Cubitt, Esq., 

 M.P., whose good taste and management is everywhere seen 

 in the excellent condition of the buildings, walks, fences, &a. 

 The gardens are under the management of Mr. Beesley, but 

 with that modesty usually attending merit he is anxious that 

 whatever credit his charge exemplifies should be given first to 

 a liberal owner, and next to his honoured predecessor, Mr. 

 Druitt, under whom he served for many years ; but it is only 

 right to say that owner, tutor, and pupil are to be complimented 

 in the superior condition of this fine garden, which is so emi- 

 nently worthy of public notice. — J. W. 



CELERY AND ITS CULTURE.-No. 2. 



Havino detailed the mode of culture which was adopted in 

 raising large heads for exhibition purposes, and pronounced 

 that mode and that produce to a great extent wasteful — a waste 

 of time, manure, and labour — I will now state how I grow 

 Celery for everyday use. This, while a very ordinary opera- 

 tion, may be seasonably alluded to at the present time, when 

 the ground is being apportioned to the several crops which are 

 required during the season. 



In a few gardens, and perhaps only a few, ground sufficient 

 is set apart for the cultivation of vegetables on what may be 

 termed the one-crop system — that is, there is sufficient vacant 

 ground in spring to allot a due portion of fallow to every crop. 

 When that is so the duties of the gardener are greatly simpli- 

 fied, and if he has sufficient assistance) he ought to produce 

 every crop of the greatest excellence. That, however, is an un- 

 common condition of things, and by far the greatest number 

 of cultivators have to double, and more than double, crop the 

 ground to meet the culinary requirements of the household. 



When the wants of a family are considerable, and the garden 

 (as often is the case) is disproportionally small, the most care- 

 ful planning is needed, and much foresight must be exercised 

 and correct calculations made to make " both ends meet." 

 The manager must not only know when and what to sow and 

 plant, but he must also know within a week when each crop 

 will be off the ground, and have another ready to take its 

 place. Young men especially, when entering on a charge for 

 the first time, frequently find themselves at a loss in the 

 kitchen garden department ; and if it happens, as it has 

 happened, that they are too " starchy " to take the advice of 

 a sensible old labourer, they will not be on good terms with the 

 cook for long together. I was taught, as were others who have 

 also experienced the benefit of the teachings, to make myself 

 thoroughly master of the art of kitchen gardening if I wished 

 to spend a comfortable life as a gardener. My excellent tutor 

 was fully sensible of the weak point in young men, and ever 

 urged the impoitance of special study in the useful part of our 

 duties — namely, the rotation and duration of crops. That is an 

 important lesson to be learned by all who have not learned it. 



Another matter must also be known, and that is the respec- 

 tive quantities of the different vegetables which are required by 

 a family. It is no use cropping according to any fanciful, and 

 it may be correct, theory. The only safe principle to work on 

 is to understand the tastes and requirements of the family. 

 This must be the keynote to which all points of practice must 

 be Bubservient. When ground is scarce we cannot afford to 

 grow a crop that is not wanted, because the almost certain 

 corollary of that is that we fail in something which is daily in 

 demand. There are only two ways of asceitaiuing the speoial 



requirements of a family, the best of which is experience ; henoe 

 it is that employers, whsn they find they are well supplied, do 

 not willingly part with a certain provider, but rather and 

 wisely grant him increased remuneration commensurate with 

 the proved and improved value of hia services. That is sound 

 economy. But time is required to attain experience, and every 

 young man must have a " start." lu that oa^e let him not be 

 above inquiring of and learning from an older man, even if he 

 is in an humbler situation than himself. Mttny an old garden 

 labourer can give serviceable counsel to a young man if the 

 latter is not above asking for it, and I do not consider it 

 derogatory to admit that I have learned many a valuable hint 

 in vegetable- catering to a humble garden labourer. This pre- 

 amble is not incongruous with the heading of this communica- 

 tion, because it bears directly on the supply of Celery in a 

 garden where ground is unusually scarce, and where the crop 

 has to be provided by the system of forethought and calcula- 

 tion, which I am seeking to inculcate as prime essentials to a 

 gardener's proficiency. 



My Celery demands have always been large, and I have never 

 had vacant ground to produce the supply — that is, like many 

 others, I must have a crop of other vegetables from the ground 

 before occupying it with Celery. This crop must be off the 

 ground by the last week in June. By that time the ground 

 which had been occupied by winter Greens and Broccolis is at 

 liberty, but it is too far distant from the water supply, and 

 besides, it is required for lute Peas. The south border is at 

 liberty, from which the first crops of Peas and Potatoes have 

 been taken ; but I do not consider it good practice to occupy 

 fruit-tree borders with Celery, for by earthing there is danger 

 of injuring the roots of the trees ; and further, borders which 

 are necessary to provide shelter to crops in the spiiug are 

 equally useful in affording shelter to crops in the autumn. 



My Celery must be grown in an open square, and must follow 

 a growing crop. What about the Cabbage ground ? Well, 

 that comes in capitally for Celery, provided the Cabbages are 

 not required for " Sprouts." My honoured chief frequently let 

 the stumps remain for that purpose, a practice which 1 do not 

 adopt, i'he second growth of Cabbages is tender and good, 

 but not more tender than fresh young Coleworts, nor so likely 

 to withstand the severity of the weather. The Cabbage ground 

 is therefore thrown into trenches 4 feet wide and planted with 

 Celery, and the Celery is in turn a fine preparatory crop lor 

 Onions. 



But the Cabbage ground is not sufficient for the Celery, and 

 the Potato crop is not cleared. But I require Potatoes for seed, 

 and by taking-up every fourth row for this purpose I gain two 

 important advantages — namely, space for the Celery, and a 

 disease- free— aye, and almost disease-proof — stock of tubers. 

 The Potatoes are unripe, and it is that which constitutes their 

 special value for seed purposes. They are not at that stage 

 stricken by the murrain ; and if they were, the " resting spores " 

 of the Peronospora could not well " rest " on the smooth sur- 

 face of the unripe tubers, and, if they did, the tubers cast their 

 skins during the process of taking-up and moving, and are left 

 pure and uncontaminated. That is at least what twenty years' 

 practice has proved, for during that time I have always had 

 sound seed, and the constitution of the tubers has not been 

 debilitated, for the crops are as full as ever. Thus have I 

 found room for Celery and stole a march on the Potato disease, 

 securing a full supply of sound seed. It is only necessary to 

 say that manure has been dug into the vacant spaces, forming 

 each into a natural hollow, and Celery of superior quality has 

 always been produced. 



But occasionally, or I might say frequently, the Celery 

 ground has been previously occupied by a crop of fiowers and 

 also of Potatoes. The wide trenches have been planted with 

 Calceolarias and many other flower garden plants in March, 

 and protected with mats and canvas. Potatoes have also been 

 planted in the trenches and similarly protected from frost. 

 I have never had finer crops of early Potatoes than those grown 

 in Celery trenches. The tubers are well prepared, planted 

 early, and the growth preserved by coverings, and the crops 

 are ready for use and removed just in time for planting the 

 Celery. Where there are no sheltered borders that is an excel- 

 lent mode of growing the first outdoor crop of Potatoes. As 

 soon as the crop is removed the trenches must be first deluged 

 with water and then manure be added for the Celery. 



The heads by this mode of culture are not large, but quite 

 large enough for table use. I learned from a clergyman that 

 at the dinner tables of the affluent the smallest heads of Celery 

 ue invariably selected by the guests, and that to grow huge 



