A YEAR'S CYCLE IN THE GARDEN 205 



you must throw up your hands, but there are ways 

 and means of preventing this first frost from en- 

 tirely ruining the garden. Beans, lettuce, corn, 

 bush Limas, and all tender vegetables can be saved 

 from destruction by a covering of burlap; a pep- 

 per or eggplant by a barrel or an old box; and 

 thus made to last a long time. In some gardens 

 a smudge fire is used. The fire is always placed 

 to the windward of the garden. 



Keeping Celery Outdoors. Don't house your cel- 

 ery now; it is apt to get tough and stringy. If 

 you place it in trenches before very cool weather 

 is here, it is likely to rot. If you leave it out-of- 

 doors it gets nipped with the frost, and while 

 celery can stand considerable frost (in fact, frost 

 improves the flavor), it cannot stand heavy 

 freezing, especially if the sun hits it right after it 

 has been frozen. I have a scheme which I have 

 tried for two seasons, and it works to perfection. I 

 never store my celery before the middle of Novem- 

 ber, but during the early frosts of late October 

 and early November I cover it with salt hay. I 

 don't leave the hay on the plants. I always remove 

 it the next morning; in fact, there are few nights 

 when it is necessary to put it on, but those few 

 nights are just enough to ruin a nice batch of celery. 

 By this method I don't need to store my celery 

 before the ground gets cool. The crop is well hard- 

 ened up, and the cool nights have put flavor into 

 the stalks that can't be done any other way. 

 Celery thus hardened and handled will never de- 

 teriorate one particle; I take celery from the trenches 



