224 



Garden and Forest. 



[July 4, iS 



Cultural Department. 



Celery. 



'"PHIS is probably the most important of all our garden crops. 

 -'■ It can be used every day in the year; from Septemlier till 

 April as blanched Celery, and from May till August as green 

 Celery for flavoring soups. An aljundance of blanched Celerv 

 can be found in tlie New York and other city markets in July 

 and August, but it is Kalamazoo and not Long Island Celery. 

 We have tried hard enough to have good blanched Celerv in 

 summer, but have always failed, the crop being destroyed by 

 rust. Why not grow it in moist land, as they do in Kala- 

 mazoo ? We have tried that, and on the naturally moist or 

 wettish land it has rusted far worse than in good, common 

 garden soil. 



The White Plume is a most excellent Celery for use from Sep- 

 tember till New Year's, and as it is self-blanching, and the 

 Iilades, as well as the stalks of the inner leaves, become white, 

 it has an uncommonly handsome appearance. Although it is 

 said that this variety needs no earthing up, we find that bank- 

 ing lengthens the stalks and renders tliem much more tender. 

 Golden Heart is a most excellent all-round x-arietv, dwarf, and 

 suitable for early or late crops. New Rose is much like London 

 Red. The pink tinged Celeries are seldom esteemed cs highly 

 as the white ones, but they are the finest flavored and capital 

 keepers. Boston Market, regarded so favorably around Bos- 

 ton, and there grown with all its sprouts, is not so great a 

 favorite here. Its best characteristic is that it keeps well. In 

 growing it but one head should be allowed and all the sprouts 

 rubbed off at planting time and then again before the banking- 

 is begun. Henderson's Half Dwarf is an excellent sort for use 

 before March, but does not keep later. The Golden Self- 

 Blanching is after the style of White Plume, only yellow, and 

 in no way to be preferred. The giant Celeries require too 

 much room, are unwieldy to handle, are poor keepers, and 

 their leaf stalks are often hollow. 



Seed of Golden Heart sown in a flat in the green-house 

 about the end of January, and the seedlings afterward pricked 

 off into other flats and then into a cold-frame, are now planted 

 out in rows three feet apart in the garden. These now furnish 

 a good supply of leaves for flavoring. But they will be of no 

 use for white Celery; if kept for this purpose 'most of them 

 would run to flower and all would rust. A March sowing gives 

 the earliest white Celery here. The main crop was sown April 

 26th in a well prepared out-door bed, and the seedlings are 

 now up in their second leaf and fit for pricking off into beds. 

 We never transplant directly from the seed bed, but first prick 

 off the seedlings four to six inches apart into well prepared 

 beds, there to remain till planting time. By this means well- 

 rooted, stocky plants are secured. The main crops are planted 

 out in July and as the ground is ready; sometimes it is August 

 before the planting is over. Celery succeeds Marrow Peas, 

 early Snap Beans, Potatoes, Cauliflower, Cabbage or Straw- 

 berries. For the crops we shall use before New Year's, we 

 line ott~ the ground in rows four and one-half feet apart and 

 throw out the ground in the rows to a depth of six inches and 

 to a width often inches. This gives us ample room fcjr earthing 

 up the crop, and the trenches are handy for holding manure 

 and water. We manure l:)roadcast for the sprmg crop and in 

 the row for the Celery. Planting on the level has been tried 

 here, but with indifl'erent success. For Celery to be used after 

 New Year's we plant in the same way, but in rows onlv three 

 feet apart; this is because the late crop should not be earthed 

 up, except to "handle" it, l.>efore it is packed into trenches lo 

 keep through the winter. 



One of the chief points to observe in growing Celery is that 

 from the time it germinates till it is packed away for winter it 

 should never suffer by drought. 



In banking up Celery in fall some discretion should be used. 

 Celery banked up in August whitens in three to four weeks, 

 that banked up in September in four to six weeks, but that 

 banked up in October will not whiten before New Year's, if 

 then. Do not bank up Celery all at one time, but a little at a 

 time, and never "handle," bank or store Celery when it is wet 

 or damp, else rust or rot may overtake it. Celery to be used 

 lietore Christmas should be banked in September, but avoid 

 Ijanking or handling late winter Celery before the beginning 

 of October. September and October are the best growing 

 months for Celery. 



Our Celery is wintered in trenches on a warm, sunny slope. 

 The Celery is in single rows, and the trenches are as deep as the 

 Celery is long, the plants being packed up close against each 

 other. Four of these rows, each nine inches distant from the 

 other, are formed into a ridge in order to lead off the surface the 



rains of winter. And to further keep them dry in winter, we 

 cover them with boards. We also use salt hay and forest tree 

 leaves to exclude hard frost from the ground. The Celery 

 keeps in this way in these trenches till the spring thaws set in; 

 then it is lifted out, all decaying matter cut off, and it is buried 

 again, but this time above ground, with earth between the 

 plants and shutters over them. Celery in plenty was kept in 

 this way up till the 7th of May. But towards the end of April 

 Celery weakens perceptibly. 



Now, while these dates are an very well for Long Island, in 

 less favorable localities Celerv seed should be sown propor- 

 tionately earlier. 



It is a fact that Celery is often spoiled in preparing it for use, 

 liy washing it. In order to have Celery in its finest condition, as 

 regards crispness and flavor, it should not lie washed or 

 robbed of all its roots till immediately before it is prepared 

 for table. Washing and dressing Celery before sending it to 

 the kitchen or some two or three days before using it, as hap- 

 pens when it is sent to town, may make it look well, but it 

 surely injures the flavor of the plant. 

 GlfiiCu%e, L. I. //'. F. 



Spathoglottis Kimballiana. — This is a handsome and very 

 remarkable Orchid, very rare, and the finest of the genus. It 

 is now in bloom with W. S. Kimball, Esq., of Rochester, N. Y., 

 in whose honor the plant is named. It flowered for the first 

 time in England some six weeks ago in the collection of Sir 

 Trevor Lawrence, and has been awarded a first-class certifi- 

 cate by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. Its flowers 

 are as large as PhaliEitopsis grandiflora, and of a very pleasing 

 yellow color, being borne many together on a fine erect spike. 

 It was discovered in 1886 by I. Forstermann in the Malayan 

 Archipelago, who first (from a distance) thought it a yellow 

 PhaliTiiopsis, so great was the resemblance of the flowers to 

 that species. It is sparingly found growmg on rocks in a very 

 moist situation. 



Oncidium pulvinatum. — This fine Oncidium, introduced many 

 years ago, is now rarelv met with in collections, having been 

 discarded of late years by cultivators, owing to its cultural re- 

 quirements not being successfully carried out. A grand speci- 

 men in fine health is now flowering in the well kept collection 

 of H. Graves, Esc[., Orange, N. J. It has four stout, many- 

 branched spikes densely laden with upwards of 1,200 flowers, 

 lip being of a fine bright yellow, the sepals and petals beautifully 

 marked with dull chocolate. Pot culture and intermediate 

 house temperature suit this species admirably, with a good 

 supply of water during active growth. 



June Notes from the Flower Garden. 



TROUBLE-FLOWERED herljaceous Pieonies find a place, 

 -'-^ antl generally a pi'ominent one, in all old country gar- 

 dens, where they spring up and flower and die downyearafter 

 year. Single-flowered Pieonies, although much more beaufi- 

 ful, are less often seen, and gardeners in this country are only 

 just beginning to appreciate them and to realize that among 

 them are some of the very finest of all hardy herbaceous 

 pilants. Neaily two dozen species or sub-species of Pajony are 

 known, natives of southern Europe, northern and western 

 Asia and western North America ; of these all but one are 

 herbaceous. Many of the species have long been cultivated, 

 especially P. albijiora, a Siberian plant, and P. officinalis, from 

 southern Europe, and they have given rise to numberless 

 varieties, both single and doulile flowered, and with petals 

 varying from pure white or ])ale pird^ to deep scarlet. Many 

 of the species have probably never been cultivated in this 

 countrv, and no one has yet made here anything like a com- 

 plete or even a representative collection of the best garden 

 varieties. .Such a collection, could it be properly studied and 

 correctly named, would be of great service to gardeners, and 

 would well repay systematic study. Certainly there is no class 

 of hardy plants of so much beauty which are so inadequately 

 known in this country. The most beautiful single-flowered 

 Pteony here, in a very small and badly-selected collection, is 

 P. alhiflora. with deliciously fragrant, pure white satiny flow- 

 ers, four or five inches across, two or three being produced 

 sometimes from the same stem. Vesta, a seedling, raised 

 evidently from the last, has immense pale pinkflowers, shaded 

 delicately with rose, and when fully expanded ten or twelve 

 inches across. Abyla has smooth, rosy pink flowers, three 

 inches across, and is a less desirable plant than Galopen, with 

 much larger pink flowers, but not otherwise distinguishable 

 from it. Algeria has dark purple-red, satiny flowers, and Gor- 

 dens, very handsome, large, spreading, dark purple-red 



