CELE11Y. 81 



when the weather is suitable, the plants should be set out 

 six inches apart in the rows with a dibble, pressing the 

 earth firmly to the roots, and carefully avoid burying the 

 hearts. For an acre, about twenty-nine thousand plants 

 are required at three feet, and about twenty-two thousand 

 at four feet, between the rows. The plants must be care- 

 fully pulled from the bed, held evenly in one hand until 

 it is full, when the points of the roots and the tops of the 

 leaves should be cut off. 



The object of this is to stiffen the root, making the 

 work of transplanting the more rapid, and causing the 

 young rootlets to form quicker, and by trimming the 

 leaves they do not wilt and fall over so easily as when 

 whole. The outer leaves eventually die away, as new 

 ones are formed from the heart. To facilitate operations, 

 one man or a stout boy should be in advance of the 

 planters with a basket of plants, handing them out as 

 they are wanted, and another should pull and prepare 

 the plants. When transplanted in partially moist ground, 

 as after a light shower, it is advisable to "puddle" the 

 roots as directed iu the chapter on transplanting. In a 

 few days the plants will have taken root, when the earth 

 may be stirred by a fine rake, drawing it diagonally from 

 the rows, thus not only loosening the soil, but destroying 

 one crop of weeds, the seeds of which will have already 

 started. A week or so later, the push-hoe may be run on 

 each side of the rows, and the earth between stirred by 

 the harrow-toothed cultivator. When the plants get 

 fairly started, the broad-toothed cultivator may be used, 

 and the ground around the plants worked with a hoe, re- 

 moving all weeds. 



The growing of celery is at a season when the weed 

 known as " purslane " grows rapidly, and if this once 

 gets a start, it Avill be almost impossible to check it ; 

 hence, keeping the ground constantly stirred is of great 

 importance. As the plants advance in growth, the earth 



