17 



row, and the banking up is finished when the stalks have reached a 

 length of 12 to 18 inches, depending upon the variety raised. Other 

 blanching methods are employed, usually at much greater expense, 

 which is frequently justified by the improvement in the quality of 

 the product. Boards are set at the sides of the rows and tied by 

 wire cross-ties or " spanners." In some cases terra -cotta tiles are 

 used to blanch the individual plants. 



Although celery is usually planted upon land which must be par- 

 tially or wholly drained, the most profitable celery fields in southern 

 latitudes are irrigated during the growing season. The same tile 

 system used for drainage may also be made to serve for subirriga- 

 tion. There are certain advantages in cheapness due to this double 

 use of the tile, but the water is applied below the usual feeding zone 

 of the roots and is likely to drain away with low irrigation effi- 

 ciency. A considerable part of the warming and aerating effect is 

 also lost. Moreover, in mucky or sandy lands there is great danger 

 that after a few years the outpouring of irrigation water from the 

 joints of the tile and the inpouring of drainage water at other 

 seasons of the year may have caused very unequal settling of tile 

 lines, with serious disalignment of the drainage-irrigation system 

 and large loss to the grower. 



Surface irrigation by the furrow system is the simplest and cheap- 

 est when a low but perceptible grade can be given to the rows, so 

 as to secure a gentle flow of the water without danger of eroding 

 the soft, mucky soils. 



Various costly sprinkler systems have been devised and some of 

 them profitably used, but in regions of considerable rainfall the fur- 

 row system is usually adequate for the two or three irrigations re- 

 quired while the celery is making its greatest growth, preceding the 

 blanching. 



Celery requires fertilization, even upon fertile mucky lands. 

 Stable manure, well rotted, should be worked into the trenches some 

 time before the celery is transplanted, and chemical fertilizers high 

 in potash salts have been found very effective. During the growing 

 season nitrate of soda can profitably be applied to the crop to force 

 growth and thereby give crispness to the stalk. Though the ma- 

 jority of first-class celery soils contain considerable nitrogen in the 

 organic matter of the soil, the nitrate of soda is used to advantage 

 for forcing purposes. 



A good crop of celery should bunch out 20,000 or more " single " 

 plants to be washed, sorted, and tied in bundles of a dozen plants 

 each. This would give 1,650 bunches or more, selling at 15 to 25 

 cents per bunch. Much larger yields and higher prices are obtained 

 by the best growers. A gross return of $250 per acre is not high, 



[Cir. 19] 



