126 CULTURE OF VEGETABLES [CH. 



and planted in February or early in March, or seeds may 

 be sown in a patch of ground about the same time. After 

 some of the seedlings have been planted out in rows to 

 strengthen for the year, they may be raised and placed 

 thickly in large pots or boxes in November, and treated 

 as rhubarb for forcing any time during winter and spring. 

 The remainder should, at the same time, be permanently 

 settled in the north border, which has been previously 

 prepared by bastard-trenching, in which a large quantity 

 of sand has been mixed with the manure. Plant them 

 in triangular groups of three, six inches apart, and a couple 

 or three feet from group to group. When the first winter 

 frost has made the leaves drop off, the crowns should be 

 covered to the depth of fifteen inches with spent bark, 

 or hops, or coal ashes, through which they will grow 

 almost to the surface in their natural season ; or they may 

 have placed over them large pots, or boxes, or hampers 

 turned upside down, and these covered with heaps of old 

 leaves, or long, warm dung from the stable, when it is 

 desired to hasten the crop. The crowns when being cut 

 should be cut well below the young growth, so as to keep 

 the plants in the ground. They will last in this way many 

 years, as dwarf healthy plants. Care should be taken 

 to cut away all the crowns but two or three, and not to 

 allow them ever to flower. 



Celery. Early in the season, the end of February or 

 the beginning of March, sow Celery in a shallow box filled 

 with light compost ; cover lightly, and place in a hot-bed 

 or cucumber turf frame, sowing rather thin. The best 



