VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 



315 



with the cultivator or hoe, and freeing the plants of weeds 



until the}' get strong enough to crowd them down. This 



will bring us to about the middle of August, by which 



time we usually have that moist and cool atmosphere 



essential to the growth of celery. Then we begin the 



" earthing up," necessary for blanchiug or Avhitening that 



which is wanted for use during the 



months of September, October, and 



November. The first operation is 



that of " handling," as Ave term it — 



that is, after the soil has been drawn 



up against the plant with the hoe, 



it is further drawn close around each 



plant by the hand, firm enough to 



keep the leaves in an upright posit 



and prevent them from 



This will leave them as 



Figure 116. 



Fig. 115— Tying Up Celery. 



E. C. Green, of the Ohio Station, proposes the use of 

 paper string to wind around the plants before banking 

 up with earth, and the string is left on the plants since 

 the moisture will soon so dampen it as to cause it to fall 

 off as the celery grows. The great advantage in the use 

 of string, as shown in Figure 115, consists in the fact that 

 the earth is not allowed to enter the center of the plants 

 while banking up, and thus injure the quality of the 



