ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 503; 



plowing, harrow so as to make the soil 

 perfectly fine, and even this is essential 

 to the ready drilling and germinating of 

 the seed; now drill in the seed, putting 

 the drills two feet apart. The seed 

 should be fresh and of the previous year's 

 growth. It is best to commence the cul- 

 ture as soon as the rows can be distin- 

 guished. Have a cultivator of light 

 frame, with eight teeth, similar to the 

 coulter of a plow, only narrower, and 

 about ten inches long, and a shovel for 

 the front. With this and a horse go 

 through, cutting the soil deep close to 

 the rows without covering the plants; 

 this will save the greatest part of the 

 work usually done with the hoe, and do 

 it much better. When the carrots are 

 well growing and about the size of the 

 small end of a clay pipe stem, take a 

 narrow hoe and cut them into hills, 

 thinning them to four or five inches apart. 

 The after culture is performed with the 

 cultivator, going through once in about 

 two weeks. If any weeds come in the 

 rows, pull them out by hand — but it is 

 not probable that weeds will trouble if 

 the soil be selected as above, and well 

 prepared before planting, and the culture 

 as directed. To harvest, it is best to 

 take a sharp hoe with a short handle 

 and clip off the tops close to the crown, 

 gather them, and then plow around the 

 plat a deep furrow, as close to the roots 

 as you can go ; now take them by hand 

 and draw them out, and throw four or 

 more of the rows into one. Carrots 

 should be taken out when the ground is 

 dry, and lie a few hours to dry, and then 

 be hauled to the root cellar to be stored, 

 and if in tight bins and covered with 

 sand they will keep better. They should 

 be left in the ground to ripen as long 

 as safe without freezing, as they im- 

 prove till freezing weather, and keep 

 fresher than if gathered before fully ma- 

 tured; be careful not to let them re- 

 main too long to get frosted, for a light 

 freeze injures the carrot more than other 

 roots. 



CAULIFLOWER, Culture of. — See 

 Cabbage. 



CELERY, Culture of— The seed should 

 be sown in hot beds in March, or in 

 the open ground the last of April or 

 the first of May ; but when sown in the 

 open ground it vegetates very slowly, 



often remaining in the ground several 

 weeks before it comes up. A bushel or 

 two of stable manure put in a hole in 

 the ground, against a wall or any fence 

 facing south, and covered with a rich 

 fine mould three or four inches deep, 

 will bring the seed up much sooner. 

 Sufficient plants for any family may be 

 started in a large flower-pot or two, 

 placed in a sitting-room, giving them 

 plenty of air and moisture. As soon as" 

 the young plants are about three inches 

 high, prepare a small bed in the open 

 ground, and make it rich and the earth 

 fine. Here set out the plants for a tem- 

 porary growth, placing them four inches 

 apart. This should be done carefully; 

 and they should be gently watered once, 

 and protected for a day or two against 

 the sun. Make the trenches a foot or 

 fifteen inches deep and a foot wide r 

 and not less than five feet apart. At 

 the bottom of the trench put some good,, 

 rich, but well-digested, compost manure ; 

 for if too fresh the celery will be rank 

 and pipy, or hollow, and will not keep- 

 nearly as long or well. Dig this manure 

 in well, making the earth fine and light; 

 then take up the plants from the tempo- 

 rary bed, and set them out carefully in 

 the bottom of the trenches, six or eight 

 inches aoart. 



CELLARS, To Keep from Freezing. — 

 The following experiment was tried by 

 a gentleman with the cellar of an out- 

 house, in which on several occasions; 

 vegetables have frozen, though the cel- 

 lar was fortified against frost by a pro- 

 cess known to farmers as " banking." 

 The walls and the ceiling were pasted 

 over with four or five thicknesses of 

 newspapers, a curtain made of the same 

 material being also pasted over the win- 

 dow at the top of the cellar. The pa- 

 pers were pasted to the bare joist over 

 head, leaving an air space between thenx 

 and the floor. The result was that no 

 frost entered the cellar, though the cellar 

 was left unbanked. We do not counsel 

 the special use of old newspapers for this 

 purpose. It is just as well, or better, to 

 use coarse brown paper. Whatever paper 

 is employed, it will be necessary to sweep 

 down the walls thoroughly, and to use a 

 very strong size to hold the paper to the 

 stones. It is not necessary to press the 

 paper down into all the depressions of 



