118 Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



Preparing celery for market. 



Celery is not grown so generally in the subtropical parts 

 of North America that the local markets are supplied. 

 There are only a few places that produce it, and these do 

 so in quantity. It has been only a few years since garden- 

 ing for local sale has been profitable in many sections of 

 the southern United States, and in some it is not meeting 

 with success even now. The fault is as much that of the 

 producer as of the buyer. There are many reasons why 

 one should cultivate home markets. 



In the matter of preparation for market, there seems 

 to be little choice. The main requirements are to get the 

 celery on sale in a crisp form, and to have it sightly ; both 

 ends are often overlooked, however. In the northern 

 markets, there are two distinct ways of preparing this 

 vegetable for market. For the local markets, it is not 

 necessary to use any particular form of package ; yet, when 

 one intends to establish a business, some regular form of 

 package or crate should be adopted, as it makes a trade- 

 mark. The crate should be light and tasty. For long- 

 distance shipping, the celery plants are cut with a celery 

 cutter pushed by a man. The outer leaves are removed 

 and the celery sorted into grades of 21, 3, 4, or 6 dozen 

 to the crate. The celery is then packed flat into crates 

 10 by 27 by 27 inches, the root ends together, and shipped 

 in refrigerator cars. (See Plate IV.) 



Diseases. 



The worst disease of the celery in Florida is that known 

 as rust or blight. This has destroyed many acres, es- 



