GROWING AND PRESERVING OF CELERY. 167 



those engaged in growing it for market, has been the 

 labor entailed in the "banking" to whiten or blanch it; 

 and with the unskilled amateur growing a few hundred 

 for private use, the troublesome process of " banking*' 

 has usually been a detriment sufficient to prevent him 

 from trying. Now he can grow this new sort, as I 

 have before stated, just as easily as Cabbage or Lettuce. 

 In the first week of October of 1882, the Celery banks in 

 Hudson County, New Jersey, must have cost at least 

 $15,000 in labor to erect; but a rain storm of twenty- 

 four hours' duration washed the banks down and de- 

 stroyed the work of weeks. Had this new Celery been 

 under process of blanching, no high banks would have 

 been needed, and the storm would have been nearly 

 harmless, as the " wash " would have done but a trifling 

 injury. 



But absolute perfection is hardly to be expected in any- 

 thing, and the "White Plume " Celery has one drawback; 

 the very qualities that make its culture so simple in the 

 fall and early winter months, unfit it for a late Celery 

 that will keep until spring, as its tenderness and crisp- 

 ness of structure cause it to rot quicker than the old 

 green kinds; but for use during the months of October, 

 November, December, and the early part of January, I 

 advise it to be grown, if the saving of labor and quality 

 be considerations. It is equally as hardy against frost as 

 the other kinds. In size and weight it is very similar to 

 those popular kinds, the "Golden Dwarf " and "Half 

 Dwarf;" in fact, it originated in what is known as 

 a " sport " from the " Half Dwarf;" that is, a sin- 

 gle plant showed the whiteness of stem and peculiar 

 feathery leaves, which, fortunately, were permanently 

 reproduced from seed, and gave us this entirely 

 new type of Celery. Its culture is in all respects 



