1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



61 



a dibble, which should be as large as the handle of 

 a spade, as tlie roots will now be of considerable 

 size, begin at one end of the trench, with your 

 face toward the other, and set in a single row of 

 plants in the middle of the trench, and not less 

 than six inches asunder ; water them well. No 

 teetotaler loves water better than celery. It can- 

 not have too much. The roots of this plant re- 

 quire more room than is generally allowed them, 

 as any one may see when they are taken up for 

 the table. 



"Earthing up the plants should be delayed until 

 they have attained a good size ; and then it requires 

 care, especially the first time. I always get into 

 the trench myself, and, holding the plant with all 

 its stalks firmly in my left hand, with a short-lian- 

 dled small hoe, draw the earth up around the plant 

 without allowing it to come in between the stalks. 

 When this is done, and the plants thus protected, 

 you may, with a spade, strike off the edges of the 

 trench, and partially fill it. As the plant grows, 

 continue to earth up, and by the 1st of Nov. the 

 plants will be two feet above the level of the earth, 

 and of the size of a man's arm. 



"Sometimes, particularly if the season be dry, 

 ■celery is liable to l?e attacked by a fly. In that 

 case, you will see the tops of the celery turn brown 

 and wither. The moment that symptom appears, 

 no time is to be lost in calling the doctor, for the 

 whole crop is at stake. The cause of the disease 

 is the sting of a fly upon the leaves. The egg is 

 deposited between the integuments of the leaf, and 

 soon hatches into a small white worm — sometimes 

 visible on opening the leaf to the naked eye, al- 

 ways by the aid of the microscope. If not attend- 

 ed to, the disease descends to the root and the 

 whole plant falls a sacrifice. Amputate every dis- 

 eased leaf, and early in the morning while the dew 

 is on, sift on to the whole of the plants fi-esh 

 slaked lime. One such powdering is generally suf- 

 ficient, but if not, give them another dose, and the 

 first rain that falls will wash the plants clean, and 

 you will probably see them fresh, green, and 

 stretching away toward maturity." 



As we have never had any diseased celery to 

 doctor, we give this remedy for what it is worth. 

 The disease is probably induced by drought. As 

 our celery trenches stand close by a ditch where 

 salt water flows, we have tried the brine upon them 

 once a week, and found it gave the plants great 

 luxuriance. We have grown plants a yard long. 

 Wherever a garden is near the shore it will be 

 worth while to try the experiment of salt watering. 

 It is a marine plant, and must have salt in some 

 shape in order to attain perfection. Prof. Mapes 

 recommends salt in the compost prepared for it. 

 He advises to put at least three inches of either of 

 the following composts in the bottom of the trench- 

 es. 



1st. Well decomposed stable manure, with ten 

 gallons of strong brine made from salt to each hall 

 cord. 



2d, One cord of peat, turf, meadow-muck and 

 woods earth, which has been previously decom- 

 posed by the salt and lime mixture, (3 bushels of 

 lime slaked in water saturated with one bushel of 

 salt) with one hundred pounds of Peruvian guano 

 thoroughly mixed ten days before using." 



Celery is a delicious vegetable, and makes an 

 agreeable variety upon the table during winter. 

 Its use is chiefly 'confined to cities, because it re- 



quires some little skill to grow it, and gardeners 

 in the suburbs can make it a paying crop. It 

 might be introduced with advantage to every veg- 

 etable garden. 



As to the preservation of celery, if you live near 

 a market it is best to leave it to the market-man 

 who sells it, buying only as you wish to use it. 

 We have tried various methods of keeping it in a 

 cellar, but have never succeeded well. Prof. Mapes 

 recommended banking it in moist sand, and this 

 will succeed as well as any thing. If you grow the 

 article yourself you can keep it best in the trench- 

 es where it grows. The trench that you design to 

 use first, before the ground freezes solid for the 

 winter, will be sufficiently protected by a covering 

 of seaweed or refuse straw a foot thick. That 

 which you wish to preserve till January and later, 

 should have a little house made over it. If your 

 earthing up is not too high, two wide boards set 

 upon their edges on each side of the plants, and 

 then inclined till they meet at the top, like a letter 

 A, will answer very well. The boards should have 

 a thick covering of old straw or hay, and in mild 

 weather should lie left open at the ends for airing- 

 We have fine celery preserved in this way at this 

 date. Last winter we set a crotch at each end of 

 the trench, put a pole upon the crotches, for the 

 ridge pole of the house. Slabs two or three feet 

 long and about half as far apart, formed the rafters. 

 The covering was of seaweed a foot or more in 

 thickness. It kept admirably till spring ; you can 

 take enough from the trenches at one time to last 

 a week or two. It will keep fresh for that time in 

 the cellar. W. Clift. 



Stonington, Ct., Jan. 15ih, 1853. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COMPOSTING WITH MUCK. 

 Mr. Editor :— I would like to inquire of you 

 or some one of your numerous correspondents, the 

 best method of working muck. I use it in the 

 hog-yard and cow-yard in the summer season, and 

 in the winter in my cow stable, on the plan of 

 Professor jSIapes ; but this requires a great amount 

 of labor. If there is any better way, I should like 

 to know it, as I have a great quantity of muck 

 and wish to work it in the most profitable way. 



F. H. CCRRIER. 



M'Indoes Falls, Vt., Jan. 8, 1853. 



Remarks.— In the first place, we are obliged to 

 our correspondent for his kind expressions in the 

 part of his letter which we have omitted ; and in 

 the second place reply to his queries with plea- 

 sure. 



There are certainly two or three ways at least, 

 in which muck may be used in large quantities at 

 a very little cost above the labor of digging and 

 carting it. As the first mode, we refer friend 

 CcRRiER to Mr. IIolbrook's plan, given in full in 

 the 3d volume of the Monthly Farmer, page 381. 

 This plan is to fill the drop or sink behind the cat- 

 tle with muck, which was cleaned out and re- 

 plenished every morning. His sink or trench was 

 water-tight. Another mode is to cart quantities 

 of the muck into the barn-cellar in autumn, and 

 scatter it over the droppings each morning. This 



