184 



The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



CELERY. 



Apium graveolens. 



/CELERY may be classed amongst the more important and 

 V>< profit-making crops of the garden, and should never be 

 omitted by the grower who undertakes to supply direct. 

 When well grown and properly blanched it is a favourite with 

 almost everyone, and if offered in this condition the supply is 

 seldom, if ever, in excess of the demand. It has the further 

 advantages of being one of the very few products which are free 

 from foreign competition ; of the main-crop selling in the winter 

 and thus producing a welcome addition to the income when most 

 other things are over ; and of leaving the ground in first-rate 

 condition for any crop which follows. 



The best main-crop Celery is 

 grown on soil which is deep and 

 rich, rather heavy and moist, but 

 well drained, for although Celery 

 is a moisture-loving plant being 

 in fact a semi-aquatic it will not 

 thrive in a water-logged soil. By 

 the methods followed in the French 

 garden, as will be described later, 

 excellent and very profitable early 

 crops are taken from beds consist- 

 ing almost entirely of thoroughly 

 decayed manure, and in this case 

 the character of the soil is not 

 taken into consideration, the only 

 other thing needful for the pro- 

 duction of a good sample in 

 addition to proper care in culti- 

 vation being copious supplies of 

 water. 



For the earliest crop, to be lifted in August, sow late in Feb- 

 ruary, very thinly, on a mild hot-bed, an early variety of dwarf 

 Celery. Cover the seed lightly with compost, press down with 

 the firming board, and water well. Shut up close and cover at 



Copyright. V.A.& Co. 



Golden Yellow 

 Large Solid Celery. 



