French Gardening or Intensive Cultivation 217 



Celery. For intensive culture such kinds as Chemin or Plein blanc 

 dore (or Golden Paris) are favoured for early crops, while for succession 

 White Plume (Plein blanc d'Ame'rique) or Pink Plume (Plein blanc a cotes 

 roses) are used. The seeds are sown for early crops in January, and for 

 later crops about the middle of March, in a temperature of 60 to 70 F., the 

 young plants being stimulated to make good sturdy growth by careful 

 syringeings, pricking out when large enough, and by proper ventilation. 

 The Celery plants are useful for planting in succession on the exhausted 

 hotbeds in April, May, and June, after such crops as Radishes, Carrots, 

 Lettuces, Cauliflowers, and Turnips have been cleared. The earliest crops 

 of Celery are blanched by placing dry leaves or litter between the plants, 

 and mats are often thrown over the plants (being kept up by a stout board 

 at each side) to hasten the process. 



Corn Salad or Lamb's Lettuce. Many English market gardeners 

 grow this crop, but not in the same way as their French brothers. The 

 latter look upon it as an important 

 adjunct to other crops, and fre- 

 quently sow it broadcast on beds 

 which are afterwards planted 

 with Cos Lettuces, Endives, Cauli- 

 flowers, or Cabbages. The " Round- 

 leaved " variety, and the "Large- 

 leaved Italian" or "Regence", are 

 the Corn Salads orMdches favoured 

 by the French growers. Early in 

 August, or the last week in July, 

 a sowing of Round -leaved Corn 

 Salad is made, and for succession 

 crops other sowings of Regence are 

 made in September and October, 

 as it stands the winter better. The soil should be prepared and well 

 trodden before sowing to yield the best results, and should be thoroughly 

 watered in hot or dry weather, otherwise the crop may fail. According 

 to circumstances, Radishes may sometimes be sown with Corn Salad. In 

 any case the latter is a good crop, coming into use from November 

 onwards at very little expense. 



Cucumbers. These are often a good crop in French gardens, such 

 varieties as Telegraph and others being easily cultivated in the frames. 

 The seeds are sown singly in small pots in February or March in the same 

 way as Melons (see p. 222), and the young plants are grown on in practi- 

 cally the same way as that crop during the season, with the exception, 

 however, that several fruits are borne one after another on each plant. The 

 plants also require more water and a more humid atmosphere, and are prac- 

 tically covered with glass throughout the summer months. Ventilation is 

 regulated according to the weather, and a great point is made of thinning out 

 the shoots and pinching them back when the young fruits begin to swell. 



Fig. 528. Italian Corn Salad (Valeria-nella eriocarpd) 



