2o8 Celery. 



The great question with celery-growers has been, " How can we best 

 keep it through the winter ? " Celery is one of the most delicious vege- 

 tables at all seasons of the year, but especially in the winter, when, in 

 addition to its high flavor, the green leaves and white and pink stems give 

 a delightful look to the table, and cheat the season of half its gloom. We 

 have succeeded very well in keeping it in the cellar by digging a trench, 

 and stowing the bunches compactly together in it, and covering them with 

 dry sand, or, better still, with fine charcoal. If the cellar is dry and cool, 

 this is perhaps the most convenient mode for a small family, as the trench 

 is always accessible without exposure to out door air. If large quantities 

 are to be stowed away, some dry locality must be selected, where the 

 natural drainage is good, and water will in no case accumulate in the trench. 

 This must be dug about a foot wide, and of the same dejDth as is the length 

 of the celery. The bunches can be stowed perpendicularly in this trench 

 as thickly as they can stand, and the whole covered slightly with leaves or 

 straw. As the cold increases, increase the amount of covering, and extend 

 it a foot or two each side of the trench. A covering of leaves a foot in 

 depth, with a board or some brush over them to keejD them from blowing 

 away, will prove an effectual barrier against the inroads of frost ; and the 

 celery can be taken out when wanted, and will be found crisp and blanched 

 as perfectly as could be desired, the green leaves even assuming a delicate 

 straw-color. 



If we have said a word to encourage the cultivation of this most deli- 

 cious and healthful vegetable, and to simplify the process of its culture, we 

 shall feel abundantly rewarded for our labor. We desire eepecially to see 

 its cultivation extended among the farming community, with whom the im- 

 pression seems to prevail, that the more delicate vegetables are expensive 

 in their culture, and only within the reach of those who can indulge in 

 luxuries. We lately sat down with a large number of guests to a sumptu- 

 ous dinner on a farm of nearly four hundred acres. Fish, flesh, and fowl 

 graced the table ; but no vegetable was to be seen except potatoes : this, 

 too, in August, in the height of the vegetable season, when the system does 

 not require the heating effect of meat, and instinct and reason both point 

 to a vegetable diet. Farmers will find both health and economy in less 

 farm, and more garden ; less pork, and more celery. 



Lee, Aug. 6, 1869. 



