50 MV HANDKERCHIEF GARDEN, 



The young plants should be set out between the 

 sixteenth of July and the first of August, and for the 

 first month the culture consists in keeping the ground 

 loose and free from weeds. If the soil is very dry 

 and there is little rain, copious waterings twice a 

 week will be found useful, as the celery is by nature 

 a swamp-haunting plant and a great lover of water. 

 In ordinary seasons and in a clay or peaty soil water- 

 ing does not seem to be necessary. I have raised on 

 a clay soil fair crops without it, though I cannot say 

 how much better the result would have been if a hose 

 had been brought to help the hoe. 



For about a month after setting the plants they 

 appear to stand still and to make no growth. They 

 are really extending their roots, and as soon as cool 

 weather comes in early October they grow rapidly. 

 As soon as this growth begins the first earthing-up 

 must be done. One way is to tie all the stems of a 

 plant together in a bunch, by tying a string just under 

 the leaves. Another plan is to simply bunch the 

 stems together with the hand while the soil on each 

 side is pulled up against the plants, to bury them 

 about half their length. Two weeks later more soil 

 is pressed up against the stems till only the tops are 

 visible, banking it up into place with the back of the 

 spade. The plan of tying together with a string is 

 best, as it can be done by a boy very quickly and 

 once tying saves all further handling of the plants, 

 and causes the center stems to blanch even before 

 covered with earth. 



Another plan is to tie all the plants in a row and 

 then to set boards on edge close to the plants, one on 

 each side, and thus to exclude the light v/ithout earth- 

 ing up. The boards are easily kept in place by stakes 

 driven in the ground, and the boards tend to make 

 the plants taller as they stretch up to find the light. 



