CEL 



[214] 



CEL 



hotbed, and set an inch and a half apart. 

 The fineness of the plants is there attri- 

 buted to the abundance of water with 

 which they are supplied. 



When five or six inches high, they are 

 fit for final planting in rows two feet 

 asunder, and the plants eight inches 

 apart, on the level ground, or in drills 

 drawn with the hoe three inches deep, as 

 they only require earthing up a few 

 inches with the hoe. In dry weather 

 they should be watered plentifully, at 

 least every other evening. Keep them 

 free from weeds. They require a light 

 fertile soil. 



Sowing Seed. The directions given 

 for saving the seed of Celery, is in every 

 respect applicable to this vegetable. 



CELERY. (A'pium grave okns}. 



Varieties. There are the gigantic, 

 dwarf curled, common upright red stalked, 

 upright giant, hollow upright, and the 

 solid stalked (red and white}. The red 

 chiefly for soups, the white being much 

 more delicate in flavour ; violet, solid ; 

 very superior, blanches white; Turc, 

 solid, white, for autumn ; Cole's superb, 

 red and white ; and Nutfs champion ; 

 the last named being the best we have 

 cultivated. 



Sowing. The first sowing maybe made 

 about the middle or toward the end of Feb- 

 ruary, sowing a very little seed in a pan or 

 box placed in any heated structure, and 

 having a gentle hotbed made up ready to 

 receive the young plants as soon as they 

 are fit to prick out. The soil cannot be 

 too rich for them ; and if pricked out in 

 gentle hotbeds under glass, which is 

 best, the young crop should be kept "up 

 within two or three inches of the glass, 

 and attention paid to frequent watering, 

 earth stirring, and airing, in favourable 

 weather. 



The sowing for a main crop should be 

 made about the first week in March ; and 

 although it may be sown in a rich warm 

 border, yet it is better to make a gentle 

 hotbed for this sowing, even if it is only 

 of four boards nailed together, to keep up 

 the earth round the sides of the bed, and 

 no glass to cover it ; but if an old light 

 can be spared until the plants are up, all 

 the better. Several prickings- out may 

 be made from this sowing in any rich 

 earth, in open situations, having the beds 



made up neatly ready for pricking out, 

 either in warm showery weather, or dur- 

 ing evenings in dry weather. The plants 

 should be inserted six inches apart in the 

 nursery beds, well supplied with water, 

 until the plants are established, and the 

 earth among them frequently stirred. 



A third sowing may be made about 

 the second week or middle of April in the 

 open warm border, to be attended to as 

 before mentioned, as to pricking-out, 

 watering, &c., only that cool situations 

 will be found best, such as north borders 

 for summer pricking -out, for a supply to 

 plant out for winter and spring use. 



Finalplanting the single trench system. 

 The trenches, where the soil will allow 

 of it, may be eight or ten inches deep, to 

 receive the plants for the first summer 

 plantings ; but as the season advances, 

 not so deep by two inches, at each suc- 

 cessive planting, and, lastly, on the level 

 surface for late winter and spring use. 

 When planted in deep trenches for the 

 first crop, the rows may be much nearer 

 together. Another method of planting 

 out the principal and late crops is, to dig 

 out a trench, four and a half feet wide, 

 and one foot deep, placing the earth half 

 on one side, and half on the other side ; 

 this done, give a thorough good manur- 

 ing, as the soil cannot be made too good 

 for this vegetable : let it be neatly dug in, 

 and the surface made smooth as the work 

 goes on; then lift the plants with a 

 trowel from the nursery beds, to ensiire 

 their having good roots ; let them be 

 planted precisely one foot from row to 

 row, and six or seven inches from plant 

 to plant ; the row crossways of the trench, 

 thus : 



