THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 247 



mellow, and fine. Coarse manures, cold, poor, 

 lumpy soil, leave scarcely a ghost of a chance for 

 success. The plants should be thinned to two 

 inches from one another, and when five inches 

 high, shear them back to three inches. When 

 they have made another good growth, shear them 

 back again. The plants are thus made stocky. 

 In our latitude I try to set out celery, whether 

 raised or bought, between the twenty-fifth of June 

 and the fifteenth of July. This latitude enables us 

 to avoid a spell of hot, dry weather. 



There are two distinct classes of celery, the 

 tall-growing sorts, and the dwarf varieties. A few 

 years ago the former class was grown generally ; 

 trenches were dug, and their bottoms well enriched 

 to receive the plants. Now the dwarf kinds are 

 proving their superiority, by yielding a larger 

 amount of crisp, tender heart than is found between 

 long coarse stalks of the tall sorts. Dwarf celery 

 requires less labor also, for it can be set on the 

 surface and much closer together, the rows three 

 feet apart, and the plants six inches in the row. 

 Dig all the ground thoroughly, then, beginning 

 on one side of the plot, stretch a line along it, 

 and fork under a foot-wide strip of three or four 

 inches of compost, not raw manure. By this course 

 the soil where the row is to be is made very rich 

 and mellow. Set out the plants at once while the 



