558 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



1 74 1. The celery-plant, A2)iurii graveolens, is a biennial in its wild state, 

 although the mode of cultivation adopted makes an annual, except when grown 

 for seed : it grows naturally in our marshy grounds, but we are indebted to Italy 

 for the esculent vegetable as well as the name, celeri ; ache being the popular 

 English name given to it by Ray and the older writers. It is propagated by 

 seed, which is best obtained from the seed-shops. It may be sown in any 

 month from Christmas to April. To get plants for the table in September, it 

 should be sown in February in pans, which should be placed on a moderate 

 hotbed : in about three weeks they will germinate, and, when about two 

 inches high, the plants should be pricked out under glass, either in a frame 

 or in pots, in a compost of loam, and three pai'ts well-rotted dung. If in pots, 

 shift them in April, and at the end of May plant them in shallow trenches in 

 a warm part of the garden. If the trenches are dug out to the depth of two 

 feet, six inches of hot dung placed in the bottom to stimulate the plants, the 

 soil replaced, and the plants put in and covered with hand-glasses, an early 

 crop will be the result. A second sowing should be made in March, still on a 

 hotbed or in pans, or protected by sashes and mats imtil the plants are ujd ; 

 when fit to handle, they should be pricked out on a slight hotbed, or on a warm 

 border. After a few weeks they should be again transplanted into a similar 

 bed, and placed four or five inches apart each way. In July the plants will 

 be fit to plant out in trenches for autumn use; a third sowing in April, 

 treated in a similar manner, will be ready for winter use, pricking them out 

 in fresh loam and decomposed leaf-mould when large enough to handle. 



1742. The mode of cultivation recommended by Mr, Cuthill ''is to dig out a 

 trench two spades deep and five to six feet wide, banking up the mould on 

 either side in the bottom of the trench ; fill in a foot of the strongest manure, 

 such as decomposed cow-dung, and cover it over with three or four inches of 

 mould for planting in ; or if the ground is very rich, half the quantity of 

 manure. The plants are then taken direct from the beds and planted, root 

 and head entire, not trimmed, — a plan which ought to be discontinued in every- 

 thing." The plants are placed eight inches apart, the rows four to six feet 

 apart, according to the size of plants required. When the plants are about 

 18 inches high, blanching commences by throwing the soil round the roots 

 and ridging up, the intermediate ground being planted with coleworts, 

 lettuce, and other light crops likely to be off before the celery requires 

 earthing-up, 



1743. In gentlemen's and other private gardens, where more importance is 

 attached to having crisp well-flavoured heads than those of large size, trenches 

 six feet wide are dug out to a foot deep ; in the bottom of this trench, a layer 

 of decomposed dung, or decayed leaves, three parts reduced, is laid. This is 

 worked up with the bottom spit of the soil, but sometimes it is laid in, trodden 

 down, and three inches of soil laid over it, in which the plants are set in rows 

 across the bed, nine inches apart, and ten inches apart in the row. Others 

 put a second layer of manure over the first when it has been incorporated with 

 the first spit. This is sometimes mixed with soil before planting, the whole 



