CELERY 241 



winter celery is generally sown in April in the open ground, 

 although some of our best growers sow the seed in hotbeds 

 or cold frames early in April, before the land outdoors can 

 be worked at all. If the seed is sown outside, a piece of 

 fine rich land is generally selected. The seed is sown in 

 drills about nine inches apart and one-quarter inch deep, 

 and the soil is well firmed over it after covering. Some 

 growers do not cover celery seed at all, except by rolling 

 or patting it down with the back of a spade. If there is 

 danger of the seeds drying out, some growers shade the bed 

 with cotton cloth or with, a lath screen raised about one 

 foot from the ground and so made as to keep off about one- 

 half the sunlight. Another plan is to cover the bed with 

 burlap after sowing the seed, and water the seed through 

 it; in this latter case, however, it is very important to 

 watch carefully and remove the cloth covering as soon as 

 the plants appear. 



The seed germinates slowly. The seedlings are quite 

 weak and should receive almost constant cultivation. The 

 tops should be sheared off once or twice, as recommended 

 for early celery, to make the plants stocky; they should 

 also be thinned out so that there will not be over twenty 

 or thirty plants to the foot of row. When sufficiently 

 large, they should be moved to the field where they are to 

 grow. Treated in this way, the plants will be strong and 

 stocky; if left to crowd one another, they probably will be 

 weak and poor. Some successful growers prefer to trans- 

 plant once to narrow rows before setting in the field where 

 the crop is to mature. This makes the final transplant- 

 ing most certain by increasing the fibrous roots, but is not 

 generally necessary, although a good plan under unfavor- 

 able conditions. 



In the growing of celery plants, it will often be a good 



