704 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



the plant is strong enough to allow the earth to be laid up to it by the 

 plough. The process of blanching is then completed by the spade, but for 

 private winter use celery may be grown yet more simply. Instead of 

 planting three feet by six inches, it is planted, also on the level surface, 

 one foot each way. All that is required by this method is simply to keep 

 the space between the plants clear of weeds until the celery is strong 

 enough to crowd them down. Being planted so close together, they have 

 no room to extend laterally, and in the struggle for light, or, as Darwin 

 might say, " the struggle for life," they assume the necessary perpendicu- 

 lar form which is necessary preparatory to tht^ blancliing process, which 

 can best be done by amateurs by lifting the plants about the middle of 

 November, and placing them perpendicularly between layers of sand in a 

 coal cellar. By this simple method, ^ plot of ground twenty by twenty 

 feet will give 400 roots, which will be an abundance for any family from 

 November till May. The variety best suited for this method is. known as 

 the " French Dwarf." 



Another feature peculiar to the Jersey market gardncrs, is the forcing 

 and forwarding of early vegetables by hutbeds and cold frames, immense 

 numbers of which aroused, some growers having upwards of two thousand 

 sashes, principally for the forwarding of lettuce and cucumbers in "cold 

 frames." The process is so very simple that I will give a brief description 

 of the " cold frame process," which is that in most general use, and that 

 which is done with the least trouble and expense. The sash used is the 

 common three by six sash, while the " frame " is simply two boards of nine 

 or ten inches in width, running parallel to each other six feet apart, on 

 which is placed the sash. The lettuce plants are planted in March, about 

 eight inches apart, giving about fifty plants to a sash. By the middle of 

 May the lettuce is fit for use. As soon as a few heads are cut, seeds of 

 cucumbers are sowed in their place, which come up quickly, taking the 

 place of the lettuce as it is cut for use. By this method, any occupant of 

 a city lot could find a corner for a sash or two, and with little trouble'could 

 provide fresh lettuce and cucumbers at times when stale ones that had 

 passed through at least half a dozen hands, could not be purchased at less 

 than $1.50 per dozen. 



Of the fruit market gardens of New Jersey, in this district, I am com- 

 pelled to say there is nothing to boast. Of strawberries, raspberries, 

 blackberries or grapes, there is not, to my knowledge, a single acre pro- 

 perly cultivated in Hudson county. The few attempts at strawberry and 

 raspberry culture are defeated by the growers pertinaciously retaining the 

 mis&i'able small varieties that were in use twenty years ago; and in regard 

 to grapes, I have j'Ct to see the first earnest attempt with any variety. It 

 is notorious that New York is most inadequately supplied with the finer 

 varieties of small fruits. Even the lettuce that is seen is sent frtmi immense 

 distances; some of the best, perhaps, from Knox, of Pittsburgh, distant 

 from New York over 400 miles. I had the satisfaction of seeing the open- 

 ing of some cases of strawberries from Mr. Ivnox, at one of the commission 

 stands in Washington market last summer. The whole lot, some thousands 

 of b®xes, was disposed of at extraordinary rates as quickly as the men 

 could count them out, and dozens of eager purchasers had to go away dis- 



