318 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



the soil is light, they will be better flayored. When the 

 plants are an inch or so high, thin out to three or four 

 inches apart. The varieties most in use are Early French 

 Forcing, Early Horn, and Long Orange. Eight ounces 

 of seed will sow three hundred feet of row, which, for 

 most families, would be an abundance, both for summer 

 and winter use. Carrots are much prized as food for 

 horses and cows, and if wanted for this purpose in quan- 

 tity, they should be sown with a seed-drill, in rows one 

 and a half to two feet apart. About foui* pounds of seed 

 per acre are required. 



CELERY (Aphtm graveolens]. 



If I am fitted to instruct on the cultivation of any veg- 

 etable, it is this, as for many years I have cultivated 

 nearly half a million roots annually, and this experience 

 has resulted in greatly simplifying the operation. The 

 seeds are sown on a well-pulverized, rich border, in the 

 open ground, as early in the season as the ground can be 

 worked. The bed is kept clear of weeds until July, when 

 the plants are set out for the crop. But as the seedling 

 plants are rather troublesome to raise, the small number 

 wanted for private use can usually be purchased cheaper 

 than they can be raised on a small scale (they cost from 

 fifty cents to a dollar per hundred); and if they can be 

 procured fresh from the seedsmen, market gardeners, or 

 florists in the neighborhood, it is never worth while to sow 

 the seed, as from three hundred to five hundred plants are 

 ample for ordinary sized families. The European plan is to 

 make a trench six or eight inches deep in which to plant 

 Celery; but our violent rain storms in summer soon 

 showed us that this plan was not a good one here, so we 

 set about planting on the level surface of the ground, 

 just as we do with all vegetables. 



Celery is a ^' gross feeder," and requires two or three 



