General Notices. 181. 



will throw greater strength and maturity into that which is permitted to re- 

 main. 



If very large fruit is wanted, the berries must be thinned out, and liquid 

 manure applied, but a separate paper would be necessary to detail all the 

 arts and crafty ways of gooseberry fanciers. In picking fruit for use, let 

 direction guide your hand, as a thinning equally all over will do more good 

 to the remaining berries, than the common practice of stripping whole 

 branches at once. — {Gard. Chron., 1849, p. 52.) 



Cultivation of Celery. — In our last number, we copied an article on the 

 cultivation of this fine vegetable, and now present our readers with the fol- 

 lowing. Mr. Cole presented some of his celery for exhibition, and with 

 it he communicated his mode of cultivation as follows : — 



Herewith I take the liberty of handing you six sticks of Celery, of a 

 kind which I have grown for the last three years, and which, I think, both 

 in point of size, solidity, and flavor, will be found superior to any which 

 has hitherto been cultivated. The specimens sent are not selected, but are 

 merely examples of a general crop, planted without any object in view, 

 beyond that of the supply of my employer's table, and entirely without 

 ever thinking of sending any of it for public exhibition. My stock consists 

 of six hundred plants, planted in rows, four feet apart, and the plants nine 

 inches apart in the row ; and I have not a doubt that the whole crop would 

 average six pounds per stick. Not the least remarkable excellence in this 

 Celery is, that it will stand twelve months without running, or starting for 

 seed, and such a thing as a pipy or stringy leaf, I have never noticed, so 

 long as I have grown it. For a more substantial detail of my method of 

 cultivation, I may remark, the seed was sown the first week in February, 

 and so soon as the plants were large enough, they were pricked out in gar- 

 den soil, rich in vegetable matter, under hand-glasses. The trenches were 

 prepared in the usual manner, in the first week in June, by excavating 

 them nine inches deep, and digging in a good dressing of the spent dung 

 of an old Mushroom bed. The plants were, of course, strong when they 

 were planted out, and each was removed to the trench with a good ball of 

 earth adhering to the roots, so that (afterwards receiving a copious watering) 

 they sustained little or no check. In earthing Celery, I generally endeavor 

 to steer between the two extremes of frequently earthing, and earthing 

 only when the plants are full grown, believing that a little earth, after the 

 plants are fully established in the trenches, say a month after planting, 

 promotes the rapid growth of the plants, more especially if they receive a 

 good soaking of weak liquid manure, or soot-water, a day or two before 

 they are earthed. Soot-water is an excellent manure for Celery ; and 

 where worms and other insects are troublesome, a little dry soot dashed 

 along the rows will be found a preventive of their ravages. The kitchen 

 garden here being upon a boggy subsoil, and the level of the river Dart, 

 which passes through the grounds, I do not find it necessary to water the 

 plants more than once or twice after they are planted out ; but, in more ele- 

 vated situations, it is almost impossible to give too much water, always, 

 however, preferring to give a thorough soaking once every fortnight, rather 



