216 CELERT. 



The seed does not germinate very quickly, and therefore, as 

 soon as the rows can be seen it -will be necessary to run the hoe 

 between them and clean the bed of all weeds. This should not 

 be done, however, when the plants are wet with dew or rain, 

 as this has a tendency to cause them to rust ; and this sugges- 

 tion should be borne in mind throughout the entire season in all 

 the operations connected with this vegetable. After the plants 

 have become fairly distinguishable, they should be thinned out 

 sufficiently to give those that remain free access to light and air, 

 which will leave them about half an inch apart. 



When the plants have filled up the space now allowed them, 

 and seem to be crowding each other, we have found it to be of 

 decided benefit to select some cool but dry day, and prick them 

 out into another bed, which has been previously prepared in the 

 same way as the seed-bed. We first give the young Celery plants 

 a thorough watering with a watering-pot having a fine rose, soak- 

 ing the ground well, and then, as soon as the leaves have become 

 dry, carefully pull them out of the seed-bed and plant them in 

 the new bed, in rows eight inches apart, and four inches apart in 

 the row. If the transplanting is done just before sundown, and 

 the earth firmly pressed about the roots, and as soon as the work 

 is completed the bed nicely watered from a fine rose, the plants 

 will need no protection from the sun, unless the following day 

 should be unusually hot. The object of watering the seed-bed 

 before pulling up the plants is to enable the operator to draw 

 them easily from the soil and without breaking the root fibres, 

 and the bed into which they are planted is watered as soon as 

 the work is done in order the more completely to settle the earth 

 about the plants, and this transplanting is done just before sun- 

 down so as to avoid the heat of the sun, which might cause 

 the plants to wilt, and is apt to make the ground bake if allowed 

 to fall upon it just after it has been watered. This operation of 

 transplanting small plants is what is termed " pricking out." 



Some persons trim off a part of the foliage of young plants. 

 Celery and other plants, when they transplant them or " prick 



