44 THE CULTURE OF VEGETABLES 



planting the same order should be followed. The result will be a 

 prolonged supply from one sowing, and the first lot will come in 

 early, though sown late, if the plants are kept growing without a 

 check, and receive thoroughly generous culture. 



The planting- out is an important matter, and each lot will 

 require separate treatment, subordinate to one general and very 

 simple plan. Celery must have rich soil, abundant moisture, and 

 must be blanched to make it fit for table. There are various ways of 

 accomplishing these ends, although they differ but slightly, and the 

 commonest of common sense will guide us in the matter. For the 

 earliest crops the ground must be laid out in trenches, and these 

 must have just as much rich stable manure dug in as can be afforded. 

 To overdo it in this respect seems impossible, for Celery, like the 

 Cauliflower, will make a fine growth in rotten manure alone, with- 

 out any admixture of loam at all. The trenches should be eighteen 

 inches wide at bottom, ten inches deep, and four feet from centre to 

 centre, and should run north and south. The plants are to be care- 

 fully lifted with a trowel, 'and planted along the centre of the trench 

 six to nine inches apart, and should have water as planted that there 

 may be no check. In a cold soil and a cold season the trenches 

 may be less in depth by two or three inches with advantage. If dry 

 weather ensues, water must be given freely, but there should be no 

 earthing up until the plant has made a full and profitable growth, for 

 the earthing pretty well stops the growth and is but a finishing 

 process, requiring from five to seven weeks to bring the crop to 

 perfection. 



The second lot may be put out in the same way, and other plant- 

 ings may follow at discretion, but this rule must be followed, that as 

 the season advances the trenches must be less deep until the last lot 

 is put out upon the level. This brings us to what may be termed the 

 main crop to be grown on the bed system, which is well adapted for 

 producing a large supply with the least amount of labour, but is 

 quite unsuitable for the early crops. 



Celery beds are made four and a half feet wide and ten inches 

 deep, the soil which is taken out being laid up in a slope round the 

 outside of the bed, and the bank thus formed may be planted with 

 any quick crop, such as Kidney Beans. The excavation must be 

 liberally manured, and then the plants are put in across the bed in 

 rows a foot apart, and the plants six inches apart in the rows. 

 Water must be given to each row as planted, and the surface must 

 be several times chopped over with the hoe or a small fork, and 



