142 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



placed on a moderate hot-bed. The seed 

 will often be three weeks before it ger- 

 minates. When the young plants of this 

 sowing are about 2 inches high, they 

 should be transplanted singly into small 

 60-sized pots (in decomposed manure 

 only), and plunged in a very slight heat, 

 say 45° to 50°. By the beginning of April 

 they will require to be shifted into large 

 48-sized pots, and kept growing slowly 

 till the end of that month or beginning of 

 May, and then planted out in shallow 

 trenches in the warmest part of the gar- 

 den. Indeed, for those who wish the crop 

 very early, it is well to dig the trenches 

 2 feet deep, and fill them to within 6 

 inches of the top with warm dung to sti- 

 mulate the plants, and cover with hartd- 

 glasses, or, better, with longitudinal tri- 

 angular frames, a foot in breadth at the 

 base, which is open, and a foot in height, 

 having one of the sides glazed. Others 

 grow the plants in pits, shifting them from 

 time to time into larger pots, and plant 

 them out in trenches about the beginning 

 of June, when from a foot to 18 inches in 

 height, earthing them up at the same time, 

 to prevent their leaves being broken. It 

 is only in some families that this routine 

 is necessary. The ordinary earliest sow- 

 ing is made about the end of February, 

 upon a slight hotbed, either covered with 

 a regular frame and glass hghts, or with 

 hand-glasses. Plants from this sowing 

 are once or twice transplanted on a slight 

 heat, in very rotten dung, placed over the 

 heating material about 4 or 5 inches thick, 

 made into a state resembling thick mor- 

 tar, and beaten firmly down, the plants 

 being at their last removal set 4 or 5 inches 

 apart. These will be fit for final trans- 

 planting into shallow trenches by the be- 

 ginning of June, and will be fit for use in 

 August. A second sowing should be 

 made about the end of March, and if 

 treated as above will be fit for transplant- 

 ing into trenches by July, and come in for 

 a general autumn crop. And a third 

 sowing should be made about the middle 

 of April, in the open border, or on an 

 exhausted dung-bed, which, when twice 

 transplanted, will be fit to plant out for 

 good about the 10th of August ; and as 

 this may be considered the principal win- 

 ter and spring crop, a much larger sow- 

 ing should be made. We generally sow a 

 fourth crop in May, to obtain plants for 



planting towards the end of September 

 for our latest spring supply. Transplant- 

 ing is of much importance for securing 

 celery from shooting up to seed, and pre- 

 venting it growing hollow in the stalks, 

 or pipy, as it is technically termed. The 

 check which the tap root sustains at each 

 removal has a tendency to cause the pro- 

 duction of lateral roots, and, as a conse- 

 quence, the production of greater vigom- 

 and rapidity of growth in the plant, and 

 hence a less disposition to run to flower. 

 The object of transplanting on solid masses 

 of rotten dung is to invigorate the plants, 

 and render their future removal safe, as 

 by cutting the dung into squares and lift- 

 ing each piece entire, the roots are thereby 

 secured from injury, and the plants from 

 any sudden check to their growth. As to 

 the quantity of seed, an ounce will be 

 sufficient for most gardens; but as it is 

 found to be expedient to grow several 

 sorts, the quantities of each must be regu- 

 lated by circumstances. The London 

 market-gardeners sow for their first crop 

 early in February, again in March, and 

 last of all in April, for their latest crop ; 

 the first only of these is sown on slight 

 heat, and hooped over with mats. 



Celery-seed should always be sown 

 thin, to secure stocky plants, which never 

 can be the case if they are crowded in 

 their earliest stages. Their first trans- 

 planting is effected by using a small dib- 

 ber or pricker, about half an inch in dia- 

 meter. Their second removal should be 

 with a dibber at least 1^ inch in diameter, 

 and cut square across at the point, because 

 at that time the roots will have ramified 

 considerably, and if carefully removed 

 will have small balls of earth or dung 

 attached to them. Their final transplant- 

 ing should be performed either with the 

 transplanting trowels, figs. 27, 28, or the 

 media they are growing in should be cut 

 into square pieces with a sharp instrument, 

 and, beginning at one end, a flat trowel or 

 small spade should be introduced under 

 the mass in such a way as to keep the ball 

 perfectly entire about the roots. Water 

 must be abundantly supplied during their 

 whole preparatory growth. 



Celery is grown in trenches, for the 

 obvious purpose of enabling the cultiva- 

 tor to earth up the plants more conve- 

 niently, and hence insuring its more 

 complete blanching. These trenches are 



