Vegetable Growing for Market 



99 



London for early autumn work, but the culture as it was twenty years ago 

 is now practically extinct. The cause is the development of the cultivation 

 in the Fens of Lincoln, where the black sandy land and the abundance 

 of water make ideal conditions with which artificial arrangements cannot 

 compete. The moulding is done with the plough, and all the expensive 

 spade labour has been done away with. 



The Celery, thus grown, is sent all over the country in truck loads, done 

 up in bundles of twelve and sold in its dirty state untrimmed and un- 

 washed, and the price is 9d. to Is. a bundle. The seedsman has evolved 

 a type of Celery to suit the culture, which grows rank and strong, but the 

 coarse-flavoured stringy leaf stems produced will not bear comparison with 

 the stringless, nutty, mild-flavoured vegetable which was the Celery of the 

 oldfashioned market gardener. 



The " dirty " Celery, as it is called, has given rise to a new industry. 

 Bundles off the railway trucks are taken to cellars near the London markets, 

 and there the heads are trimmed, washed, and bound into bundles as used 

 to be done by the market gardener, and then sold again on the markets. 

 Perhaps the public taste may some day come back to the old type of 

 Celery; then the culture must proceed on the lines indicated above, but 

 it had better not be attempted except where plenty of water exists. 



For those who make up their minds to grow it, the seed of Celery must 

 be sown on heat in January or February, the seedling plants being pricked 

 out in beds and finally planted in the beds or rows in May. 



Plenty of manure must be provided. The first two mouldings can be 

 managed with the plough, but the mould must be pushed in to the Celery 

 before each operation with flat 

 pushers or backs of wooden rakes, 

 so as to keep the stems together 

 and the leaves up. 



A white Celery is often pushed 

 on so as to be on the market in 

 August and September. Bibby's 

 Defiance White is good for this pur- 

 pose. Clayworth Prize Pink and 

 Leicester Red are two varieties also 

 largely grown. [w. G. L.] 



Celeriae or Turnip - Rooted 

 Celery (Apium graveolens ra- 

 pacea). This differs from the or- 

 dinary Celery in having the stems 

 swollen into a somewhat irregular 

 turnip-like mass as shown (fig. 471), 

 The "roots" attain a weight of 3 or 

 4 lb., and are cut up into slices 

 and used in salads, for flavouring soups, &c. They are grown in smail 

 quantities in some market gardens. The seed is sown in gentle heat in 



Fig. 471. Turnip-rooted or Knob Celery 



