66 CELERY CULTURE 



shallow and flowing wells. In localities where flow- 

 ing wells are possible, this is the cheapest source of 

 water for watering celery. We occasionally find a 

 location where the water can be brought from some 

 higher elevation and delivered in the celery fields by 

 gravitation, but, as a rule, some form of pumping 

 machinery to lift and deliver the water will be 

 required. Where the lift is not great — that is, not 

 over 20 feet in all — the pumping can very easily be 

 done by means of some form of rotary or centrifu- 

 gal pump which may be driven either by a steam or 

 gasoline engine. 



Quantity of Water Required. — The quantity of 

 water required for the production of a crop of celery 

 is in most cases not great, and rarely exceeds 5 

 inches over the entire surface during the period of 

 growth in the field. The application of five water- 

 ings of I inch each to an acre will require the han- 

 dling of 136,000 gallons of water, or a little over 

 27,000 gallons at a watering. This is not a large 

 amount of water for handling by a large pump and 

 the cost of applying will vary under dift'erent con- 

 ditions. As a rule the actual cost of watering an 

 acre of celery, if the work is done on a compara- 

 tively large scale, should not exceed $1 an acre for 

 each watering, or $5 for the entire season. Celery 

 requires the most water at the time when it is 

 making its greatest growth, which occurs late in 

 the summer. As the crop approaches maturity, the 

 water should be applied sparingly, as the soil 

 evaporation is not so great at that time of the year, 

 and when the soil becomes too moist it is difficult 



