Cdcry Under Glass' 



A FEW years ago I began to think 

 that the time would come when 

 there would be an overproduction 

 of lettuce and began to experiment in a 

 small way with several vegetables in 

 order to find out whether they would 

 be suitable for greenhouse crops and to 

 get some knowledge of them before try- 

 ing them on anything like a large scale. 

 Celery is one of these vegetables and 

 although I have not yet passed from 

 the experimental stage to the commer- 

 cial stage, I believe that it can be made 

 a very profitable crop when used as a 

 spring crop to come into the market in 

 April, May or early June. 



Young celery plants grow slowly dur- 

 ing the winter and in order to get plants 

 for planting in March or April, the seed 

 must be sown in November or early 

 December. It takes two or three weeks 

 for the seed to come up and the seed- 

 lings grow so slowly that they are hard- 

 ly ready for the first transplanting be- 

 fore February. 



I sow the seed in flats, cover lightly 

 with soil and cover the fiats with glass 

 until germinated. They stay in the 

 fiats until about an inch high and then 

 are transplanted about two inches apart 

 into other flats or a bed. When the 

 plants get about five inches high or be- 

 fore they get at all spindly they are 

 transplanted again into their permanent 

 quarters. 



The kind of plant wanted in your mar- 

 ket will be the ruling factor in deciding 

 the distance apart to plant in the beds. 

 Six inches apart will give a plant twenty 

 to twenty-four inches high with narrow 

 stems ; seven inches, a somewhat short- 

 er plant, and heavier stems ; and eight 

 inches, a still shorter plant and heavier 

 stems. But then six inches gives four 

 plants per square foot, seven inches three 

 plants, and eight inches only two and 

 one-fourth plants per square foot. 



VAEIETIES 



The varieties tried have been Golden 

 Self-Blanching, Snow White and White 

 Plume. Plume is not to be considered, 

 at least in warm weather, because it 

 makes too many seed stalks and there 

 is too great a variation in the size of 

 the plants. There is certainly great 

 room for improvement in this variety 

 before it can be used in the greenhouse. 

 G. S. Blanching makes excellent stalks 

 but grows slowly and is subject to heart 

 rot. Snow White has been the best so 

 far; it grows about as fast and as tall 

 as Plume and has not made any .seed 

 stalks or rotted at the heart. 



Although both Snow White and W. 

 Plume have made a fair percentage of 



•A paper read at the convention of the Green- 

 house Vegetable Growers' Association of Ameri- 

 ca, at Ashtabn'a. Ohio, in October. 



B. H. Thornc, Woostcr, Ohio 



trimmed stalks seven inches in circum- 

 ference and twenty-four inches high to 

 the tip of the leaves at six inches apart, 

 I believe seven inches is a better distance 

 to plant. 



Celery grows quite fast in the spring 

 months after it gets a start and if the 

 blanching is begun soon enough it can 

 be ready for market in about eight 

 weeks. To grow quickly celery needs 

 frequent heavy waterings. 



BLANCHING 



Blanching is the most critical part 

 of celery growing under glass. It must 

 begin as soon as possible for each day's 

 delay in getting the blanching papers 

 on means that the crop occupies the bed 

 that much longer and may even delay 

 the crop until the home grown outdoor 

 comes in. 



The stalks refuse absolutely to 

 blanch by the new celery culture meth- 



as the average outdoor celery and much 

 better than muck-grown celery. 



PEI0E8 



As to the price of greenhouse celery 

 I can't say from actual sales but, as 

 it is of better quality, finer looking and 

 fresher than any shipped from the south 

 in May and June, I see no reason why it 

 should not bring fifteen to twenty cents 

 per square foot. In fact, I have heard 

 of one grower who got ten cents per 

 stalk, planted seven by nine inches. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES 



As to the diseases of celery,- Prof. 

 Selby tells me that it is subject to the 

 rosette but, I believe, not so much as 

 lettuce. With the exception of heart 

 rot I have seen no diseases. Celery 

 seems to be a favorite with red spider 

 but when quickly grown and blanched 

 spider does very little damage. 



Field Grown Celery BUnched with Paper, 



Illustration reproduced from 



od of close planting. The blanching 

 must begin when it is time for the first 

 merchantable stem to appear. 



The blanching is done with two sets 

 of papers, one about six inches high and 

 the last twelve or fourteen inches. The 

 papers are made up in the workroom 

 of a smooth, hard, dark colored paper 

 that dries quickly after being wet. The 

 papers are made so that the edges over- 

 lap about half way round and large 

 enough to put the hand and arm through 

 and tied with one and two strings. In 

 putting on the paper it is slipped over 

 the hand and arm, the plant grasped 

 with this hand and the paper pulled 

 down over the plant with the other hand. 

 The plant is blanched while it grows and 

 is ready for market as soon as large 

 enough. The papers, if cared for, can 

 be used several times. 



A greenhouse celery plant is certain- 

 ly good to look at and is pure white 

 from tip to base. The quality is as good 



Showing Method of Wrapping and Tying 



Market Gh'oxcers JournaL 



When to Plant Ginseng 



Should ginseng be planted in fall or 

 spring? — W.S., Goderich, Ont. 



Spring planting should not be attemp- 

 ted by the inexperienced beginner, but 

 it is not impossible. It could be done 

 probably during the week immediately 

 after the ground thaws out, but the 

 time is too short and the soil is then 

 full of water and in a very bad condi- 

 tion to work. When the ground is free 

 of frost and the hot sun warms the soil 

 it starts the root into action. It is one 

 of the first plants to break through the 

 ground in the spring. Ginseng should 

 be planted in fall. 



The solution of the market problem 

 in growing vegetables is largely a matter 

 of pluck and energy. 



Factory shavings make fairly good 

 insulating material for cold storage 

 buildings, but they should be dry. 



