THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



137 



within a few inches of the ground, while 

 the same degree of cold, if it had occurred 

 a few weeks later, would not have in- 

 jured them in the least. — American 

 Garden. 



CELERY CULTURE AT KALAMAZOO. 



Celery culture is becoming a local 

 industry of no small importance at 

 Kalamazoo, the marsh land in the 

 vicinity having been found to be 

 admirably adapted to its growth. From 

 the Kalamazoo Gazette we extract the 

 following account of the mode of cul- 

 ture as there practiced : 



" Not alone from the increased area 

 will there be ajarger quantity of celery 

 in after years, but there is being more 

 raised from the same land each year, as 

 the gardeners become proficient in rais- 

 ing it, for it is comparatively a new in- 

 dustry for Kalamazoo. Instead of rows 

 being five and six feet apart, as the 

 books advise, they are raising it success- 

 fully three feet apart, and instead of 

 five and six inches apart in the rows, it 

 is raised half that distance, and as close 

 as one's fingers for the last or winter 

 crop, so double the crop is raised from 

 the same land. 



" Gardeners who have read books on 

 celery raising say Kalamazoo men can 

 teach the authors their A. B. C's in 

 that business. Peter Henderson, the 

 great New York gardener, advises to 

 store it for winter by packing in shallow 

 trenches, covering with lumber, mai-sh 

 hay, etc. J. W. Wilson estimates that 

 it would cost him $300 for lumber 

 to secure his crop in that manner. 

 The Kalamazoo way is to dig about two 

 feet below the surface; then board up 

 about two feet above ; then on a frame 

 six feet high, 12 foot boards meet and 

 slant down the sides, with windows, all 

 of which is banked and covered with 

 manure. They are usually built 24 feet 

 wide, and 40, 75 or 100 feet long. If 



the building is 50 feet long it will hold 

 50,000 celery; 100 feet long, 100,000 

 etc. It is built or^ upland, if possible, for 

 marsh is too damp and cold. When 

 first put in the houses it is green, but 

 bleaches in a few weeks. They pack 

 as close as it will stand, putting boards 

 every few feet to prevent heating and 

 rotting. People can keep their own 

 celery as well as apples or potatoes, by 

 putting some marsh soil in the bottom 

 of a barrel, packing the celery, root 

 down, not sideways, and keeping where 

 it will not freeze. It is desirable to keep 

 it growing. The sprouts may run over 

 the top of the barrel, but will be no 

 disadvantage. Put in green, and it 

 will bleach, and you can wash, trim, as 

 you wish for the table. One of the 

 most annoying jobs in the business is 

 the tying in half-dozen bunches. The 

 long-felt want is for some Yankee to 

 invent a self-binder." 



CURRANTS. 



If there is any living thing that pos- 

 sesses the Christian virtue of returning 

 good for evil in a higher degree than 

 the Currant-bush, we should like to 

 know its name. Neglected and des- 

 pised in an out-of-the-way corner, half- 

 smothered under a tumbled-down gar- 

 den-wall, or on a rubbish heap where 

 nothing else could grow, a few Curmnt- 

 bushes are frequently tolerated, and 

 never thought of until the scorching 

 July sun makes our system long for 

 cooling and refreshing fruit acids. It 

 is then that we call to mind our patient 

 Currant-bushes, and become eager to 

 gather — without blushing — their bright, 

 glossy clusters, as interest for the worth- 

 less spot we have suffered them to occu- 

 py. Perhaps the advent of the Cui*- 

 rant-worm is only a blessing in disguise, 

 sent to teach us more charity and wis- 

 dom, and to compel us to give better 

 treatment to our much misused bushes. 



