108 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Snowball will head well at an}- season of the year and under 

 almost any ciicumstances, if it has the proper culture. The Er- 

 furt is very similar to the Snowball ; or, in other words, the Snow- 

 ball is a variety of the Erfurt ; as is also the Sea Foam, whicli I 

 consider the best of all varieties. The Half Early Paris is but 

 very little grown at present, the Erfurt and its varieties being 

 so much better. The Algiers is best for late, being very large, 

 and is most grown on Long Island. 



Celery. — This vegetable has increased in use and popularity' 

 more than any other in the past ten years, being now one of the 

 leading vegetables in our market ; and no table would be consid- 

 ered complete without a large bunch of well bleached celerj'. Its 

 cultivation requires very moist land, or a sandy loam with plent}' 

 of water for irrigation. 



The kinds chiefly sold in our market are the Arlington for early 

 and the Boston Market for late. The Boston Market is the best 

 of the two for keeping, although the Arlington has kept very well 

 until February. The Arlington if planted about the fifth of April 

 will be ready for banking by the first of August, and will continue 

 all the season. The time required to ripen or blanch the celery at 

 that season of the 3'ear is about ten daj-s, but as the season ad- 

 vances and the weather grows cooler, a longer time is required. 

 If to be marketed at about Thanksgiving time the Arlington celery 

 should have its first banking at the beginning of October, and the 

 Boston Market a week earlier. It is quite a difficult matter to 

 arrange the banking of ten or twenty acres of celer}' so as to 

 have a well distributed supply all the time from the first of August 

 throughout the season. 



This crop is mostly' grown after some other, affording a second 

 use of the land the same year ; in this way it can be made quite 

 remunerative, but 1 do not consider it a ver}' profitable crop at the 

 prices which ruled during the last season. When the price will 

 average one dollar per dozen for the season through, there is 

 somctliing left for the producer. 



Clcumbkus. — Very few vegetables are so popular, and lew are 

 so difficult to grow, as the cucumber — especially in the winter sea- 

 son. From seeing them exhibited on our tables at almost all 

 seasons of the year, an^- one might suppose they are very easy to 

 produce ; but there are about as many failures as successes, in 

 growing them in the winter. Many think that when cucumbers 



