312 SALAD PLANTS. 



nure into a hole made broad and deep, and covering it with 

 rich fine mould to the depth of three or four inches. If 

 this method is practised, sprinkle the seed thinly over the 

 surface of the loam, stir the soil to the depth of half an 

 inch, and press the earth flat and smooth with the back of 

 a spade. Sufficient plants for any family may be started in 

 a large flower-pot or two, placed in the sitting-room, giving 

 them plenty of light and moisture. 



Cultivation. As soon as the young plants are about three 

 inches high, prepare a small bed in the open air, and make 

 the ground rich and the earth fine. Here set out the plants 

 for a temporary growth, placing them four inches apart. 

 This should be done carefully ; and they should be gently 

 watered once, and protected for a day or two against the 

 sun. A bed ten feet long and four feet wide will contain 

 three* hundred and sixty plants. 



Corbett directs that the plants should remain in this 

 nursery-bed till the beginning or middle of July, when they 

 should be removed into trenches. Make the trenches a foot 

 or fifteen inches deep, a foot wide, and not less than five feet 

 apart, and lay the earth into the middle of the space between 

 the trenches, so that it may not be washed into them by heavy 

 rains ; for it will, in such case, materially injure the crop by 

 covering the hearts of the plants. At the bottom of the 

 trench put some good, rich, but well-digested compost ma- 

 nure ; for, if too fresh, the Celery will be rank and pipy, or 

 hollow, and will not keep nearly so long or so well. Dig 

 this manure in. and make the earth fine and light ; then 

 take up the plants from the temporary bed, and set them 

 out carefully in the bottom of the trenches, six or eight 

 inches apart. 



It is the practice of some cultivators, at the time of setting 

 in the trenches, to remove all the suckers, to shorten the long 

 roots, and to cut the leaves off, so that the whole plant shall 



