230 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



succession is formed, uniformity in 

 the size of the heads is secured, and 

 thus a whole row of plants becomes 

 marketable at one time. They need 

 no sorting, and the ground, being 

 cleared, is made available for other 

 crops. 



The ground on which it is in- 

 tended to plant Celery is, if possible, 

 prepared in autumn by being heavily 

 manured and trenched, the surface 

 being either thrown up in ridges or 

 left in as rough a state as possible 

 until spring, when it is levelled 

 down to be sown with Radishes. In 

 that case the land is marked out into 

 a series of beds from 5 to 6 ft. wide, 

 leaving good wide alleys between 

 them. In these alleys is placed 

 an extra supply of manure, and in 

 them are planted the earliest Celery- 

 plants. By the time these require 

 earthing up the Radishes will have 

 been marketed and the ground 

 cleared of weeds, etc Sometimes, 

 however, whole fields are marked 

 off in beds and the trenches dug out 

 in winter in readiness to receive 

 the Celery, the beds being planted 

 with Lettuces or early Cauliflowers. 

 Market gardeners never plant Celery 

 in deep trenches; on the contrary, 

 they contrive to allow the roots, 

 after the crop is fully earthed up, to 

 be considerably above the bottom 

 of the ridges. Especially is this the 

 case as regards late crops, which in 

 damp, badly drained soils are very 

 precarious. During the growing 

 season Celery is abundantly sup- 

 plied with water, as are also the 

 crops of salad plants, or French 

 Beans, which are invariably grown 

 between the lines. 



Earthing up is performed for the 

 first time when the plants have 

 become fairly established and are 

 6 in. high ; the sides of the trenches 

 are chopped down on the morning 

 of some fine day, well broken up, 



and allowed to dry for an hour or 

 two, when two men, one on each 

 side of the row, push the soil with 

 the back of a wooden rake to within 

 a few inches of the plants, so as to 

 leave a ridge for the reception of 

 water. At the next earthing the 

 soil is pressed tightly round the 

 bases of the plants, and more of it 

 is chopped down from the ridges ; 

 and at the third, which is the final 

 earthing, the ridges are made firm 

 and smooth in such a way as to 

 effectually throw off the rain. The 

 Red and White varieties of Celery 

 are the principal kinds grown, and 

 under the treatment just recorded 

 they become very crisp and solid. 

 Sometimes a crop of Celery is grown 

 for culinary purposes early in spring, 

 and in that case the seeds are sown 

 in June, and the young plants are 

 pricked out rather closely together ; 

 they are never earthed up more 

 than once, the object being to 

 secure plants with flavour rather 

 than crispness and good quality. 



KEEPING CELERY. In severer 

 climates than ours it is often neces- 

 sary to resort to other and better 

 methods of preserving Celery than 

 are generally practised in this 

 country. In America, where the 

 winters are much harder than they 

 are here, various methods are in 

 use, but the following, described by 

 Mr. Peter Henderson, of New York, 

 we consider the neatest and best, 

 and it would be as well, in cases of 

 a severer season than usual, that it 

 should be known in this country. 

 Indeed, it would be better to adopt 

 it always, as by so doing this vege- 

 table, which all enjoy, may be kept 

 better- Much disagreeable labour 

 may also be avoided in digging in 

 all sorts of weathers, apart from the 

 injury to the plant from exposure 

 to greatly varying temperatures and 

 conditions of weather, as it is at 



