GEL 



[ 193 ] 



GEL 



half feet wide, allows room for six plants 

 across it, at six inches apart from plant 

 to plant, leaving three inches' space from 

 the outside of the trench. 



Frost. At the appearance of very 

 severe weather setting in at any time 

 during the winter months, three or four 

 dozen heads of the celery may be taken 

 up without cutting away any part of 

 them, and laid in dry earth, sand, or 

 sifted coal-ashes, so as to be handy for 

 immediate use. 



Manuring. In the seed-bed, when 

 pricked out, and in the bed for final 

 growth, too much of the richest manure 

 cannot be applied. Upon this, and upon 

 the roots being uninjured at each re- 

 moval, depend the fineness and excellence 

 of the celery ; any check to its growth is 

 never recovered, but renders it dwarf and 

 stringy. Liquid-manure should be given 

 to it frequently. 



To save Seed. Some plants must be 

 left where grown ; or, in February or 

 March, some may be carefully taken up, 

 and, after the outside leaves are cut off, 

 and all laterals removed, planted in a 

 moist soil a foot apart. Those which 

 are most solid, and of a middling size, 

 are to be selected. When they branch 

 for seed, they must be tied early to a 

 stake, to preserve them from the vio- 

 lence of winds. The flower appears 

 in June, and the seed is swelling in 

 July. If dry weather occurs, they 

 should be watered every other night. 

 In August the seed will be ripe, and, 

 when perfectly dry, may be rubbed 

 out and stored. 



Diseases. In heavy, wet soil it is 

 liable to have its stalks split and can- 

 ker. The soil for earthing up cannot 

 be too light and dry. We have seen 

 coal-ashes employed for the purpose 

 most successfully. 



CELERY FLY. (Tephrilis onopordinis.} 

 In the autumn it is very common to ob- 

 serve part of the leaves of Celery-plants 

 blistered and turned yellow ; and this oc- 

 curs occasionally to such an extent, that 

 their growth is checked and their size 

 diminished. If the withered parts are 

 examined, and the skin of the blisters is 

 raised, there will be found beneath it 

 some small green grubs, that have eaten 

 away all the green pulp (parenchyma} of 

 the parts so withered. These grubs are 

 ihe larvfe of the Celery Fly. The grubs 

 may be found in the leaves of the Celery 

 13 



in June, July, September, October, and 

 November; for there are two or more 

 broods of them in the course of the year. 

 The grubs, though less frequently, are 

 found doing similar damage to the leaves 

 of Alexanders and Parsnips. When full 

 grown, the grubs descend into the earth, 

 and remain in the chrysalis state until 

 the spring following, when they give 

 birth to the fly. The Celery Fly may 

 usually be found upon the leaves of the 

 laurel, hovering over flowers and resting 

 upon palings in the sunshine, from the 

 middle of May to the end of July. It is 

 one of the most beautiful of the English 

 two-winged flies, and has been thus de- 

 scribed by Mr. Westwood : The general 

 colour of the body, which is five-jointed, 

 varies from rusty-brown to shining black; 

 head buff, with black hairs ; legs yellow; 

 thorax sprinkled with long black hairs ; 

 wings black, with various pale spots ; 

 eyes green. The whole length of the 

 insect is riot more than one-sixth of an 

 inch, and its wings, when outspread, 

 barely half an inch across. The cross- 

 lines in our woodcut show these propor- 

 tions, as well as the insect magnified. 



The motions of this fly are very peculiar: 

 seated upon a leaf in the sunshine, the 

 wings are partially extended, yet partially 

 elevated, and it has a sideling kind of 

 motion. The withered leaves of the 

 celery should be picked off, and the grubs 

 within them crushed as soon as seen. 

 Mr. Westwood suggests that a string, 

 smeared with bird-lime, and stretched 

 over the celery-plants, might catch many 

 of the parents. The Cottage Gardener, 

 i. p. 73. 



CELO'SIA. Cockscomb. (From telos, 

 burnt ; in reference to the burnt-like ap- 

 pearance of the flowers of some of the 

 o 



