36G GARDENING FOR PttOFIT. 



SEPTEMBER, The cool nights and moist atmosphere 

 of this month begin to tell strikingly on the crops 

 planted for fall use. Celery, Cabbage and Cauliflower 

 now grow rapidly, and require repeated stirring of the 

 soil with the plow, cultivator, or hoe. Celery that is 

 wanted for use towards the latter part of the month may 

 now be " handled " or straightened up, and the earth 

 drawn to it by the hoe ; in a week or so after it may be 

 ' ' banked up " by the spade to half its height, allowed to 

 grow for another week or more, until it lengthens out a 

 little further, when the banking should be continued as 

 high as its top. In ten days (at this season), when thus 

 finished, it is blanched sufficiently to use, and should 

 then be used, or it will soon spoil. Care must be taken 

 that no more is banked up than can be sold or used, as 

 it is not only labor lost, but is decidedly hurtful to the 

 Celery by making it hollow. The practice recommended 

 by most authorities, and still followed by private gar- 

 deners, is to keep earthing it up every two weeks from 

 the time it begins to grow ; this is utter nonsense, re- 

 sulting in making tough, stringy, and rusty Celery 

 utterly unfit to eat, while the expenditure m labor 

 would be twice more than the price it would usually 

 bring if sold ; for further information on this important 

 subject, see Chapter on Celery. The seeds of Cauliflower, 

 Cabbage and Lettuce should be sown this month, from 

 the 15th to the 25th, for the purpose of being pricked 

 out in cold frames to be wintered over. It is very im- 

 portant that the sowing should be done as near these 

 dates as possible, for if sown much before the 15th the 

 plants may run up to seed when planted out in spring ; 

 if much later than the 25th, they would be too weak 

 to be wintered over. Shallots and Onions should also 

 be planted this month, and Spinach and German Greens, 

 or " Sprouts," sown to be wintered over, all now for 

 spring use. 



