1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



45 



be trod, that they may grow more below than 

 above. In November take up your roots and put 

 them in dry sand, and you may use them as occa- 

 sion requires. About the middle of February plant 

 out one of the most nourishing for seed, vvhicli 

 when ripe, dry in the sun and rub out. 



Celery, ^pium, (quod apes en gaudeant, or 

 from j/pex, because the ancients made crowns of 

 it,) is one of tiie species ol" parsley. At first I was 

 surprised to find this, but upon examining the two 

 plants there is in many particulars a characteristi- 

 cal likeness. Celery is the jJpium dulce, Celeri 

 Italorum, the seed of which should be sown in a 

 successive manner to have it fine for any lime, lor 

 alter it is blanched it will not remain good longer 

 than three weeks, or a month, but will rot or grow 

 pipy. Let the first sowing then be in March, 

 the second about a fortnight after, i. e. the last of 

 March, the third in the beginning of April, and 

 the fourth about the beginning of May. In about 

 three weeks or a month, the seed will come up, 

 and if your plants grow stout, as probably they 

 will in good land, you must transplant them into 

 beds, and in June those of the first sowing will be 

 fit to put out for blanching, and the rest should 

 be also put out as they appear strong enough to 

 sustain a removal. VVhen they are transplanted 

 for fruit, dig a trench by a line about ten inches 

 wide and eight or nine deep, loosening the earth 

 at the bottom and levelling it; and the earth taken 

 out of the trenches should be laid on the sides for 

 the convenience of earthing. These trenches 

 should be about three feet asunder, and the plants 

 should stand six inches distant from one another, 

 in a straight row, cutting off the tops of the plants, 

 when planted out. As the plants grow up, they 

 should be carefully earthed up in a dry season, else 

 they will rot, not above the crown or heart of the 

 plant, and in a light rich soil, they will grow to 

 twenty inches in height, but in poor land will not 

 exceed ten. Your first plantation should be in a 

 moist soil, but not the latter, because the aildition- 

 al wet of the winter will rot your plants. The sun 

 is a great enemy to celery, when it is very hot, 

 wherefore I would recommend the covering of 

 your plants with brush at all seasons of their 

 growth whilst the weather is hot, from nine in the 

 morning till six o'clock in the evening. When 

 you desire to raise seed, draw one or more of your 

 flourishing plants, and plant it out in the spring, let 

 it be supported against the winds, and in August 

 the seed will be ripe, which should be then cut up, 

 dried, beat out and preserved in bags. 



Celeriac, Apium dulce degener, radice rapacea. 

 (Turnip-rooted,) is to be treated nmch in the 

 same manner as celery, except that the drills ol 

 these should be shallower, as this plant does not 

 exceed ten inches in height, and requires but one 

 earthing. The excellence of this consists in the 

 size of its root, which is often as large as turnips. 

 In summer, water your plants, if the season is dry; 

 and in vvinler cover them with haulm, or any open 

 covering, to protect them from frosts. 



Parsley, jlpium hortense, seu pel roselinum, 

 vulgo, if intended for the table, should be sown in 

 drills pretty thick, in light rich land, but if Jor me- 

 dicinal use, (the roots being prescribed on many 

 occasions,) the seed should be sown thin, and the 



plants drawn and treated as is directed in the cul- 

 ture of carrots. Where you breed rabbits, it maybe 

 sown in the fields; hares and rabbits being remarka- 

 bly fond of it, will resort to it from great distances. 

 It is a sovereign remedy to preserve sheep from the 

 roi by feeding twice a week on this herb, about two 

 hours each time. If intended for the table, the 

 seed should be sown early in the spring; if for me- 

 dicinal purpose and rabbits, about the latter end 

 ol Februaiy in England, but about the middle of 

 March in Virginia. The gardeners have an ad- 

 age as to this plant, that the "seed goes nine times 

 to the devil before it comes up," alluding to the 

 length of lime it lies in the ground before it germi- 

 nates, which is generally six weeks. In this it re- 

 sembles celery, as also in its foliage, and the head 

 where the seed is produced. There are several 

 kinds of parsley, but these I have mentioned seem 

 the most useful and particular. 



Cucumber, Cucumis, from Curvatura, aboiind- 

 ing, because tiiis plant is very pliable and crooked, 

 is esteemed in its season the most relreshing and 

 delicate of all vegetables, there are three sorts; 

 1st. Cucumis sativus vulgaris, mabno fructu suble- 

 tco. 2d. Cucumis fructu albo, the white cucum- 

 ber, 3d. Cucumis oblongus. The first is the com- 

 mon sort most in use, amongst which there are dif- 

 ferences in the size, length, &c. The second is 

 cultivated in Holland chiefly, and the last sort is 

 cultivated only in curious gardens, and are remark- 

 able for their length and fewness of seed. As there 

 are three sorts, so there are three seasons for cu- 

 cumbers; the first is early, in hot-beds, the second 

 is the middle crop, under glasses, and the third is 

 lor pickling. Although many are ambitious of hav- 

 ing early Iruit, yet it is certain that cucumbers are 

 not wholesome till the hot weather comes on, for 

 being peni up in hot beds, they inspire a confined 

 watery air, which must necessarily make the plant 

 crude and unhealthlul. Towards the latter end of 

 January, if you require cucumbers in April, you 

 are to get about two loads of long dung, which 

 will be sufficient for a moderate family, and mix- 

 ing it with some sea-coal ashes, you are to lay it 

 in a heap about three leet thick. In about four or 

 five days the dung will begin to heat, and then you 

 must take off part of the top, laying it flat on the 

 sides of your heap, and put on about two inches of 

 good earth, which must be covered with your 

 glasses. In a day or two after when you find the 

 earth pretty warm, put your seeds in the earth 

 about a quarter of an inch deep, and keep it close 

 covered with the glass all night and in bad wea- 

 ther, and the glass should be also covered with 

 mat. In three or four days, the plants will appear, 

 upon which you are to make a bed fijr a sinple 

 light on the adjoining heap of dung, covering the 

 top about three inches thick with mould,^into 

 which you are to put your plants, at about two 

 inches distance each way, observing to put them 

 into the earth almost up to their seed leaves. In 

 24 hours your plant will take root, and you are to 

 give it what air you can without injury, turning 

 the glass upside down in the heat of the day, or 

 wiping off the water that it condensed in the up- 

 per part, and is very pernicious when it drops on 

 your plants. You are to water your plants, though 

 moderately, and your water should be as near the 

 temperature of the air in which plant exists, as 

 possible and as the plants advance, support their 



