CELERY. 311 



tubercles, placed along the longitudinal ridges, which in this 

 species are recurved, or bent at the tips. The seeds are 

 larger than those of the foregoing species. 



CELERY. 



Smallage. Apium graveolens. 



Celery, or Smallage, is a hardy, umbelliferous, biennial 

 plant, growing naturally " by the sides of ditches and near 

 the sea, where it rises with wedge-shaped leaves and a fur- 

 rowed stalk, producing greenish flowers in August." Under 

 cultivation, the leaves are pinnatifid, with triangular leaflets ; 

 the leaf-stems are large, rounded, grooved, succulent, and 

 solid or hollow according to the variety. The plant flowers 

 during the second year, and then measures from two to three 

 feet in height ; the flowers are small, yellowish-white, and are 

 produced in umbels, or flat, spreading groups, at the extrem- 

 ities of the branches ; the seeds are small, somewhat trian- 

 gular, of a yellowish-brown color, aromatic when bruised, 

 and of a warm, pleasant flavor. They are said to retain 

 their germinative powers ten years, but by seedsmen are 

 not considered reliable when more than five years old. An 

 ounce contains nearly seventy thousand seeds. 



Soil. Any good garden soil, in a fair state of cultiva- 

 tion, is adapted to the growth of Celery. 



Propagation. It is always propagated by seed, a 

 fourth of an ounce of which is sufficient for a seed-bed five 

 feet wide and ten feet long. The first sowing is usually 

 made in a hot-bed in March ; and it may be sown in the open 

 ground in April or May, but when so treated vegetates 

 slowly, often remaining in the earth several weeks before it 

 comes up. 



Some recommend putting a bushel or two of stable ma- 



