82 VEGETABLE GROWING. 



it, while an inferior article will remain on the market, 

 and had usually better be left in the field. 



With the increased facilities for transportation, we 

 can put our article in the hands of home consumers in 

 two or three days less time than the New York or Kala- 

 mazoo growers can, and this means a preference, even 

 at an advanced price. Consumers want this vegetable 

 crisp, fresh, and free from *" strings." 



PREPARING FOR MARKET. 



Celery is not grown so generally in the South that 

 the local markets are supplied. There are only a few 

 places that produce it at all, and these do so in quan- 

 tity. It may seem like a small and slow business to 

 train people up to like any vegetable, but a taste for 

 this is easily cultivated. It has been only a few years 

 since gardening for local sales has been profitable in 

 many sections of the South, and in some it is not 

 meeting with success even now. The fault is as much 

 that ot the producer as of the buyers. There are a 

 great many reasons why home markets should be cul- 

 tivated rather than look to New York or other North- 

 ern markets, where our celery has to compete with the 

 product from fertile land and cheap fertilizer. The 

 seaboard cities are not good markets for us, as we have 

 to compete with the cheap ocean transportation. We 

 should rather look to some of our inland cities and 

 towns. It is not uncommon to see an inferior grade of 

 celery selling for 10 and 15 cents a bunch at the local 

 markets, and on inquiring, it has been found that this 

 has been shipped from a distance. 



In the matter of preparation for market, there seems 

 to be very little choice. The main point is to get it on 

 sale in a crisp form, and to have it sightly ; both points 

 are often overlooked, however. In the Northern mar- 

 kets, there are two distinct ways of preparing this 



