SOILS IN THE VICINITY OF BRUNSWICK, GA. 5 



upon the plants. To regulate shading under cloth the covering is 

 arranged so that it may be rolled up to the peak wire or let down to 

 the ground at will. Slat shades are sometimes covered with sacks in 

 the middle of the day to protect the tender plants more completely. 

 Moisture is applied by subirrigation. At one time much transplant- 

 ing to a second seed bed was done, but this is being practiced less 

 extensively at present and is done principally to give room for strong, 

 uniform plant development. This first transplanting is done when 

 the plants are four to six weeks old. 



Newly cleared land, with stumps and roots removed, is usually 

 cultivated to Irish potatoes or tomatoes one or two years before 

 planting celery, as the crop seems to give rather poor average results 

 on new ground. Success on new land, however, was reported as 

 following frequent preliminary cultivation, liberal liming, and the 

 application of hardwood ashes. 



A ton of lime, floats, or hardwood ashes to the acre is applied to 

 correct acidity, the land harrowed frequently during the summer 

 with acme and cutaway harrows, plowed 6 inches deep, and fertilized 

 broadcast from four to six weeks before setting. The fertilizer is 

 harrowed in and the land later turned 4 inches deep with a turning 

 plow, smoothed with a "planker," and the rows marked off from 26 

 to 36 inches apart. The plants are hand set from 3 to 4 inches apart 

 in the row, watered individually by hand, and the whole field satu- 

 rated from below. The rows are set alternately with large and small 

 plants as a means of economy in distributing blanching boards from 

 the rows of early to later maturing plants. The subirrigation sys- 

 tem is arranged so that water may be kept at any level above the 

 tiles (12 to 18 inches below the surface). Beginning a day or two 

 after setting the water is gradually drawn off to reduce bogginess 

 and to allow aeration of the soil. Cultivation is begun within a week 

 following setting by stirring the soil 3 or 4 inches from the plants with 

 a hand-pushed, shallow-running wheel plow. After an interval of 

 ten days furrows are run on both sides with a bull-tongue plow to a 

 depth of 6 inches. Weekly horse cultivation is then given until 

 about two weeks preceding banking, when shallow hand-plow culti- 

 vation is resumed. The fields are subirrigated at varying intervals, 

 depending upon the season. After the plants are well started not so 

 much water is needed. With the Golden self-blanching variety usu- 

 ally grown, blanching is done by standing boards (cypress boards 1 

 inch thick and 10 to 12 inches wide) perpendicularly on both sides 

 of the plants and about 10 inches apart, staking them in place. These 

 are moved up slightly at intervals of two or three days until within 

 6 inches of each other. Blanching requires from ten days to three 

 weeks, according to the weather. With a late crop and warm weather 



[Clr. 21] 



