CELERY 231 



present. "Get a box 4 or 5 ft. box of the size named will hold 



long, 12 in. wide, and 20 or 24 in. about from seventy-five to one 



deep. In the bottom place 2 or 3 in. hundred roots, according to size, 



of sand or soil it makes little differ- It is quite common for many fami- 



ence what, provided it is something lies to purchase their Celery from 



that will hold moisture. Into this the market-gardeners, place it away 



box at the time when Celery is dug in a box in this manner in their 



up (which in this district ranges from cellars during the winter, where it 



October 25th to November 25th), can be conveniently got at, and it 



have the Celery stalks packed per- costs also in this way less than half 



pendicularly with the roots resting what it does when purchased tied 



on the sand. All that is necessary up from the benches in the market 



is to see that it is packed moderately in the usual way. We have for many 



tight, for if not packed tight the air years followed this method for what 



would get around the stalks and we want for our own private use, 



prevent blanching. The box may finding it much more convenient to 



be then set in any cool cellar, and get it out of the boxes in the cellar 



will keep from the time it is put than to go to the trenches in the 



away until March if necessary. A open ground for it in all weathers." 



USES. The leaf-stalks of some kinds and the roots of others 

 are eaten either raw or boiled. In England the seeds (or an 

 extract from them) are used for flavouring soups. Popular as 

 Celery is in England as a cooked vegetable, we have still much 

 to learn about it. The Turnip-rooted, the best of all winter roots, 

 is hardly ever seen out of a few foreign houses. 



Cultivation, in developing the leaves and the root of the Celery, 

 has produced two very distinct varieties of the same plant, which 

 are differently employed and require a different mode of culture. 

 These are known as the Common, or Stalked, Celery, and the 

 Celeriac, or Turnip-rooted Celery. 



Common Celery* (CV/m' d Cotes). This is undoubtedly the 

 most anciently known and the most commonly cultivated kind. 

 It requires a good, rich, soft, well-manured soil, rather moist than 

 dry, and is not usually sown where the crop is to be grown. The 

 earliest sowings are made on a hot-bed in January, February, or 

 March, and the seedlings, while still small, are pricked out into 

 another hot-bed, and not planted out permanently until the end of 

 April or the beginning of May. Subsequent sowings, which may 

 be continued till June, are made in the open ground, so as to have 

 a successional supply of fresh, tender stalks all the year round. 

 The seedlings of these later sowings are not pricked out, but 

 simply thinned and allowed to remain where they were sown, 

 until they are finally planted out. When this takes place, the 

 plants are set in rows, with a distance of 10 or 12 in. from plant to 

 plant in all directions, and the only attention they require is that 

 of hoeing, and frequent and plentiful waterings, in which they 

 delight. 



* Celery Leaf Blight, see p. 776. Celery Maggot or Leaf Miner, see p. 776. 



