1070 



Gardening for Amateurs 



sow a few seeds in a box of fine soil and 

 place in a warm frame or glasshouse. Place 

 a piece of glass over the box until the young 

 plants appear. These need a light position 

 near the glass and a temperature of about 

 60. As soon as they can be handled, trans- 

 fer them, 4 inches apart, to shallow boxes 

 filled with fine loamy soil. Give less heat 

 and rather more air than previously to make 

 the plants sturdy, but they must still receive 

 protection from cold weather. When about 

 4 inches high, in the first week in May, they 

 are ready to plant out of doors. This early 

 crop is best grown in single rows in trenches 

 of rich soil, 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide, 

 in an open part of the garden. It is well to 

 open these trenches some time before they are 

 wanted for the Celery, as the ridges formed 

 by the excavated soil are available for some 

 quick-growing crop, such as French Beans, 

 Lettuce, or even early Potatoes. These will 

 have matured before the ridges of soil are re- 

 quired for earthing up the Celery. Let the 

 bottom of the trench be broken up with the 

 fork, 1 foot deep. As this crop will mature 

 early, the plants may be planted closer to- 

 gether than is advisable for the main crop, 

 say inches apart ; press the soil firmly to 

 the roots, and give a soaking of water ; shade 

 and protect with Spruce branches or some 

 other material for a few days. Give abund- 

 ance of water in dry, hot weather, or it will 

 be found when they are earthed up that many 

 are " bolting to seed " and useless ; there- 

 fore beware of letting the plants get dry at 

 the roots. Keep the ground free of weeds by 

 frequent hoeing. 



Earthing up may be commenced in August. 

 The first thing is to remove all lateral growths, 

 shoots, and leaves at the base of the plants, 

 and water well. On a dry day, as soon after- 

 wards as possible, tie the leaves together 

 loosely, to prevent the soil entering the centre 

 of the plants. Then place some soil from the 

 ridges (first breaking it small) between the 

 plants to the depth of 4 inches. A fortnight 

 later add a few inches more soil in the same 

 way, but be sure that at no time in the earth- 

 ing-up process is the soil placed higher than 

 the heart or growing centre of the plant. 

 Add more soil as the plant grows until the 

 final earthing-up takes place ; this should 

 be in about five or six weeks after the first. 



Cover the outer leaves to prevent light pene- 

 trating, but not the heart of the plant, or it 

 will decay. The Celery will soon be ready 

 for use, but the longer this is delayed the 

 better the quality will be. 



The Main Crop. This should be sown 

 thinly in shallow boxes in the middle of April, 

 the seedlings being grown close to the glass 

 on a shelf in a warm greenhouse. For their 

 subsequent reception place a cold frame on 

 a surface of ashes or gravel, putting a 6-inch 

 layer of decayed manure in the bottom. 

 Make this firm, and on top place 4 inches of 

 fine loamy soil. Put the seedlings in this 

 firmly at 5 inches apart, keep the frame 

 shaded in bright weather, give little air for 

 a week or two, and syringe the plants morn- 

 ing and afternoon. When they make fresh 

 growth cease shading, and give more air 

 day and night in favourable weather, taking 

 the lights off in warm, showery weather for 

 a few hours a day, the object being to keep 

 the plants dwarf and sturdy. 



The plants, having been previously hard- 

 ened off, will be ready for planting out to- 

 wards the end of June. It is more econo- 

 mical to plant them in rows across a long 

 bed, the rows being 16 inches and the plants 

 10 inches apart. These beds ought to be 

 5 feet wide and 1 foot deep, allowing for 

 six plants in a row. The ridges formed be- 

 tween the beds should be 6 feet wide and 

 planted with some catch crop as soon as 

 formed. The beds are prepared in the same 

 way as described for the single-row system. 

 The earthing-up process is the same, except- 

 ing when Celery is grown for exhibition ; 

 most growers then prefer to use stout brown 

 paper cut into strips 5 inches wide, wrap- 

 ping it round the leaves closely, but not too 

 tightly, and tying round with raffia. The 

 papers, if skilfully applied, exclude all light 

 and blanch the plants perfectly. For pro- 

 tection in winter there is nothing better than 

 bracken or clean straw strewn over the beds 

 a few inches deep. No decaying matter should 

 be allowed near the plants, or it will taint 

 the Celery. 



Among red varieties for the main crop, 

 Standard-bearer and Major Clarke are un- 

 surpassed. Giant and Invincible White are 

 excellent. Of pink varieties, Aldenham Pink 

 is amongst the best 



