CELERY. 85 



roof, and covering the whole with manure. It is advisable 

 to store celery for seed in very dry soil. The chances, 

 even at the best, are that many which may appear sound 

 in the spring, will decay when transplanted; hence it is 

 advisable to bed them quite thickly in a cold-frame as soon 

 as one can be spared. They must here be partially shaded 

 for a few days, gradually hardened off, though not al- 

 lowed to freeze, and about the first of May such as prove 

 sound should be planted out. 



Use good land for growing celery seed. Plow and har- 

 row well, giving a liberal dressing of well-rotted stable- 

 manure, unless the soil is already very rich. Mark out 

 light furrows four feet apart ; with a trowel set the roots 

 eighteen inches apart in the rows, pressing the earth about 

 the root, but leaving the heart exposed ; keep free from 

 weeds by the use of the cultivator and hoe, and at the 

 last working slightly ridge about the plants. Celery pro- 

 duces seed quite profusely, in small clusters, at the ends 

 of the very numerous small twigs which grow out from 

 the stalk and branches. It ripens very irregularly, an 

 individual stalk often containing blossoms and green and 

 ripe seed at the same time; hence, some judgment is re- 

 quired in cutting it. 



When the bulk of seed on a plant is ripe, which may 

 be known by the brown color, the stalk should be cut at 

 the root, and all such removed on qloths and lightly 

 thrashed at once, which will remove all dead-ripe seed ; the 

 stalks must then be laid on shutters and exposed to the 

 sun for two days, and again thrashed, when all seed that 

 is sufficiently ripe to germinate will readily fall from the 

 stalks. The seed must be spread thin, on cloths, in a loft, 

 for ten days or more, when it can be run twice through 

 the fan-mill and finally cleaned by the No. 24 sieve. 



Celery seed retains its vitality five years. 



Varieties. The distinct varieties of celery in common 

 cultivation are very few ; many gardeners claim to have a 



