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The Celery. 



The Celery (Apium graveolens, L.) is an umbelliferous biennial, a 

 native of Britain, by the sides of wet ditches, and in marshy places, 

 especially near the sea ; and though poisonous in a wild state (when it 

 is called smallage), yet by long cultivation it has become one of our 

 most agreeable salads. The part used is the blanched leafstalks, and 

 in the case of one variety the roots. Both stalks and roots are used 

 raw in salads from August till March, and also in soups and stewed. 

 In Italy, the points of the unblanched leaves are used to flavour 

 soups ; and in Britain, when neither stalks, leaves, nor roots can be 

 had, the bruised seeds form a good substitute. 



Varieties. Those at present considered the best are, the Red Solid, 

 syn. Manchester Hardy, which grows to a large size, single plants 

 having measured four feet six inches in height, and weighed nine 

 pounds ; Seymour's Solid, very solid, and fine-flavoured ; Seymour's 

 Superb White ; Cole's White Perfection ; Hooly's Giant ; Laing's 

 Mammoth Red ; Matchless White ; and Turner's Incomparable White. 

 The turnip -rooted, syn. celeriac, has rough irregular-shaped roots, 

 about the size of the fist ; it is generally cultivated in Germany, but 

 in England is considered coarser than the kinds of which the blanched 

 stalks are used. Upright or stalked celery, when well grown, has the 

 stalks solid, and not hollow or piped, as is frequently the case 

 thoroughly blanched, crisp, tender, and of a delicate flavour. The 

 roots of the celeriac should be solid, tender, and delicate. To attain 

 these qualities both sorts require to be grown with rapidity, in very 

 rich soil, kept very moist at the root, but dry about the leaves. 



Propagation and Culture. The celery, like other culinary biennials, 

 is only propagated by seed, and half an ounce of the stalked or upright 

 sorts is sufficient for a seed-bed four and a half feet by ten feet ; 

 but for celeriac, as it is a spreading plant, half the quantity of seed 

 will suffice for the same space. The seed is long in coming up, often 

 a month ; and this is one reason why the first sowing is generally 

 made on heat. As the celery grows naturally in marshy soil, and as 

 such soils are always rich in vegetable matter, and when near the sea 

 must be slightly saline, these circumstances afford a guide for its cul- 

 ture in the garden ; in which it can never be brought to a large size, 

 without constant and abundant supplies of water during the whole 

 period of its growth. The flavour, however, is better when it is 

 grown of smaller size, and with less water. In general, three crops 

 are enough, even for a large family ; the first should be sown in the 

 end of February, to transplant in June, and to come into use in 

 August ; the second is sown in the end of March, to be transplanted 

 in July, and to come into use in September ; and the third is sown 

 about the middle of April, to be transplanted in the first week of 

 August, and to come into use in October or November, and last till 

 March. The plants raised by every sowing, when about one inch 

 high, should be pricked out into rich soil two inches or three inches 

 apart every way, and again transplanted into a nursery plantation, 



