CELERY 247 



For late use the plants may be taken directly from the 

 bed to the cellar without banking, but it will generally be 

 found a good plan late in the fall to pack the spaces between 

 the plants with hay or fill them with earth from the paths, 

 as they will then be protected from frosts. If the celery is 

 to be blanched in the bed, this, of course, would be neces- 

 sary. To grow plants so close together successfully requires 

 the utmost care in the preparation of the land. It should 

 be covered with fine, rich manure, preferably in the spring; 

 the plants also require to be frequently and heavily watered, 

 since the land will be free of roots. 



Digging Celery. Celery will stand many light frosts, 

 but hard freezing is liable to injure it, and it should never 

 be handled when frozen. It is seldom safe to allow it to 

 remain unprotected in the ground in the North after the 

 middle of October, but by covering the plants with straw 

 or other material they may often be safely left in the field 

 until the middle of November. The plants are generally 

 lifted with a spade or spading fork after a furrow has been 

 plowed away from the row on one side. Most of the soil 

 should be shaken off the roots and the old outside leaves 

 removed before storing. In this section, to keep well, 

 celery should be stored in a cold, moist cellar or frost-proof 

 shed. If it does not whiten quickly enough the plants 

 may be watered and kept warm and thus started into 

 growth, which results in forming the tender white shoots 

 very quickly. 



Storing Celery. For home use a good way to keep 

 celery is to pack the plants closely together, upright, in 

 boxes twelve to eighteen inches wide, with the bottom cov- 

 ered with several inches of moist sand or soil, a little of 

 which should be worked in among the roots. There is no 

 need of having sand between the plants. These boxes, 



