140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



hooks are very easy to handle, and very convenient when taking out 

 celery. They are safe, doing away with sharp nails for horses or men 

 to step on. The time needed for celery to bleach in the boards is from 

 one to three weeks, according to the weather and the growth of the 

 celery. It is not safe to set up boards to celery after the 1 st of October. 

 The celery is apt to bleach slowly after that, and a frost is liable to 

 occur after October 22 that will injure the celery in the boards. 



Giant Pascal celery may be bleached very early in September by 

 earthing up. Great care is needed that the plants be dry, well pressed 

 together, and not buried when putting the dirt up to them by means 

 of the plow, the hoe and the shovel. The soft earth is plowed up to 

 the row, the hoe is used to press the dirt in firmly, and the shovel is 

 used to carry and pack the dirt still higher up on the stalks. A 10- 

 inch bank will do excellently for September banking. After the bank 

 is up for a week the celery should be examined every day, as it is very 

 liable to rust in the bank at this time of year. Not much should be 

 banked at a time thus early in the season, and every few days a little 

 more may be banked, thus having a continuous and increasing supply 

 coming on for market. It is best to drive a stake at the first row of 

 each new lot banked, and write on the stake the date of banking. 

 You will find the celery ready to use in about ten days if banked early 

 in September. 



Where Giant Pascal celery is planted by itself to be sold from the 

 field, the rows should be 3^ feet apart. Every other row can be earthed 

 up early and sold, and then a broader, thicker bank put up to the 

 row which is left, to be taken out as late as November 25. Almost all 

 the celery around Boston is housed by November 20. These later- 

 banked rows may be the very best celery to try to keep late in storage, 

 if the celery gets bleached only a very little. Usually, the later the 

 celery is put in storage the later it will keep. 



Storing. 

 Celery is prepared for storing away in pits or cellars by banking 

 it in the field about a week before it is to be put in. Near Boston 

 we begin to put the celery into the i^its by October 18, and continue 

 to store it away every day when the weather is favorable until the 

 crop is all in. Choose days that are not too windy or wet, and get 

 the celery to the pit and set up before the roots dry out. In plowing 

 out the celery, a good plowman with one good horse will soon be able 

 to turn out the rows so flat as to look like machine work, and not a 

 plant will be bruised or hurt. Then we give the root a little kick with 

 the foot and a little shake with the hand, trim off the loose or crooked 

 outside leaves, and lay the roots in piles of convenient size to load. 

 Some farmers trim the celery at the [lit; but it saves much time in 

 handling and teaming to trim it in the field, and this is the method 

 usually followed. 



