VEGETABLES. 359 



I do not think all have my experience, for I know there are some fine 

 crops of celery raised in this state; but the question with me is, does it 

 pay, with the risk, beginning wit,h starting the seed, to the plants, to 

 setting out, considering the hot weather, dry weather and winds, and 

 that it requires the best soil under high cultivation? And yet, we cannot 

 afford to stop raising it. Those who are always successful may be able to 

 give reasons and causes whereby I have failed. To get a perfect article it 

 must be clear, tender, crisp, with its own nutty flavor; and that article 

 will always be in demand at a good price. 



DISCUSSION. 



President Underwood: I would like to ask Mr. Sampson, 

 who had such fine celery last winter at Owatonna. to open the 

 discussion and give us his views upon raising celery. 



Mr. Sampson. Well, I have had a varied experience in grow- 

 ing celery. There are several things that a person must look 

 out for in order to raise good celery. In the first place, one 

 must be careful that the plants do not wash out or get cov- 

 ered up by the dirt washing on top of them. The ground 

 wants to be of a moist character, either very loose and springy 

 underneath, and yet so situated as not to overflow too much, or 

 it wants to be somewhere where it will not get too dry. It 

 must be just about right, neither too wet nor too dry. 



The trouble with my ground the past season has been that in 

 the extreme wet weather the drain in my marsh was not large 

 enough to run off the watei?, "and, in consequence, my celery was 

 injured. Now, I had a marsh containing peat, and I decided 

 that it was a good place to raise celery if it was properly 

 drained and put in projDer shape. My laborers laughed at me 

 when I told them I proposed to put that marsh into cultivating 

 shape. Before I began to improve it, you could not drive a 

 horse on it. After I had succeeded in draining and develop- 

 ing the ground, I grew about two or three hundred bushels of 

 potatoes on it, right from the breaking. That surprised a good 

 many of my neighbors, who had not believed the ground was 

 good for anything. Well, the next year I put in my celery. I 

 sold from three to four hundred dollars' worth of celery off 

 that j)iece of marsh land, and I didn't have it all planted either. 

 I intended this year to grow seven or eight hundred dollars" 

 worth of celery on it, but the elements thwarted my intentions, 

 and it was a failure. I didn't sell over a hundred dollars' worth. 

 I do not consider that I know much about growing celery yet, 

 but I shall persevere and look forward to better results. [Ap- 

 plause.] 



Mr. Busch: What variety of celery do you grow? 



