178 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



grown for winter shipment because it is then best received in the 

 eastern markets. 



Soils. Aside from abundant moisture the chief requirement 

 of the plant is large amounts of decomposed vegetable matter in the 

 soil. This is provided in ordinary garden soils by the free use of 

 well-rotted manure, mixing it thoroughly with the soil by deep dig- 

 ging in or trenching, and for home supplies this should be under- 

 taken, but those who can, may avail themselves of the conclusions 

 of a grower at Castroville, near the coast in Monterey county, who, 

 after trying for a number of years, almost in vain, to raise good 

 celery on an ordinary dry garden soil, finally borrowed the use of 

 a little patch of reclaimed swamp land deep, black muck, well 

 drained but moist and grew on it very fine celery with but little 

 labor. In undertaking production on a commercial scale this ad- 

 vantage of specially suited soil is imperative. An instance of such 

 soil-fitness is found in the peat lands of the river deltas of southern 

 and central California, where celery growing has reached the im- 

 portance above noted. The soil largely consists of decomposed vege- 

 table matter and becomes, on cultivation, fine and homogeneous. It 

 is different from the partially-decomposed and coarse material of 

 the tule swamps. It occurs in Orange county in deposits of varying 

 thickness and sandwiched with layers of sediment or clay, the peat 

 layers being, however, connected through the dense layers by tubes 

 through which the water rises in springs and sub-irrigates the sur- 

 face layer. This surface is treacherous. Much of it will only sup- 

 port horses when shod with plank and some cannot be traversed 

 with animals and is worked by drawing tools back and forth with 

 cables from firm headlands on each side. Still it is so productive 

 of celery that such bottomless land has been rented as high as 

 twenty dollars per acre per year. 



In addition to the peat lands celery is also successfully grown 

 on light sandy loams and on river sediments. The lightness of the 

 soil is directly involved in the blanching, which will be noted later. 



Heavy fertilization is often very desirable for celery, especially 

 on the lands last mentioned. Instances are given in which nitrate 

 of soda was used at the rate of 675 Ibs. per acre after the crop was 

 growing on land which has received twenty tons of stable manure 

 and thirty bushels of slacked lime per acre. In this case it is also 

 claimed that the crop was ready five days earlier than that which 

 received no nitrate. 



GARDEN CULTURE OF CELERY. 



Celery plants are grown in a seed-bed for transplanting to per- 

 manent place. The seed is very small and very slow of germination, 

 and success depends upon maintaining even moisture at the surface. 

 For starting plants in winter a hot-bed may be used, but high heat 

 is neither necessary nor desirable. A cold frame with cloth cover 

 would be better. But it is quite feasible in coast valley situations to 



