CULTIVATION OF CELEKY. 323 



show where to place the plants. These are set out at distances of six 

 inches between the plants, and usually four feet between the rows, 

 when the Celery is to be "banked " up for early or fall use; but when 

 grown for winter use, from two to three feet between the rows is suffi- 

 cient. Great care must be taken, in putting out the Celery, to see 

 that the plant is set just to the depth of the roots; if much 

 deeper, the "heart" might be too much covered up, which 

 would impede the growth. . It is also important that the soil be 

 well packed to the roots in planting, and this we do by returning 

 on each row, after planting, and pressing the soil against each plant 

 firmly with the feet; and if the operation can be done in the evening, 

 and the plants copiously watered, no further attention will be required. 



Planting may be done any time from the 25th of June to the second 

 week in August. After planting, nothing is to be done but keep the 

 crop clear of weeds until September; by that time the handling 

 process is to be begun, which consists in drawing the earth to each 

 side of the Celery, and pressing it tightly to it, so as to give the leaves 

 an upward growth preparatory to blanching for use. Supposing this 

 handling process is done by the middle of September, by the first 

 week in October it is ready for " banking up," which is done by 

 digging the soil from between the rows, and laying or banking it up 

 with the spade on each side of the row of Celery. After being so 

 banked up in October, it will be ready for use in three or four weeks, 

 if wanted at that time. But if, as in most cases, it is needed for winter 

 use only, and is to be put away in trenches, or in the cellar, as will 

 hereafter be described, all that it requires is the operation of " han- 

 dling." If the celery is to be left in the open ground where it was 

 grown, then a heavy bank must be made on each side of the rows, and 

 as cold weather approaches say in this latitude by the middle of 

 November an additional covering of at least a foot of leaves or litter 

 must be closely packed against the bank, to protect it from frost; but it 

 is not safe to leave it in the banks where it grows, in any section of the 

 country where the temperature gets lower than ten degrees above zero. 



Perhaps the best way to keep Celery for family use is in a cool 

 cellar. This can be done by storing it in narrow boxes, of a depth a 

 little less than the height of the Celery. A few inches of sand or soil 

 are placed in the bottom of the box, and the Celery is packed upright, 

 the roots being placed on the sand at the bottom ; but no sand or any- 

 thing else must be put between the stalks of the Celery, all that is 

 needed being the damp sand on the bottom of the box, the meaning 

 of which is, that before Celery will blanch or whiten, it must first 

 start at the root; hence the necessity of placing the roots on an inch 

 or so of damp sand. Boxes thus packed and placed in a cool cellar 



