150 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



what more dusky. The wings are entirely 

 hyaline and colourless, with the veins very pale 

 buff." 



General rema/rks. — The European names of 

 celery are — Appio in Italian ; Sellerie in Ger- 

 man ; Apio hortensis in Spanish ; Sellery in 

 Dutch ; and Celeri in French. The seed will 

 keep for ten or twelve years. In saving seed, it 

 is better to select some of the plants from the 

 seed-bed, and to grow them without blanching, 

 transplanting them again in spring, and placing 

 them in a warm well-exposed part of the gar- 

 den, growing if possible only one sort in a sea- 

 son. The side suckers should be removed, and 

 seed saved only from the best umbels. The 

 seed ripens in September, and, when thoroughly 

 dried in the heads, should be thrashed or rubbed 

 out, and bagged for use. A considerable preju- 

 dice exists with some people as to the colour of 

 the heads — some preferring the red variety, 

 while others will only have the white. The 

 preponderance is, we think, in favour of the 

 latter. 



The management of Mr Cole, who raised the 

 variety that heads our list, is to the following 

 effect, and will be better understood in a sepa- 

 rate paragraph, than had we divided his in- 

 structions into our different heads. His princi- 

 pal crop is thus produced : The trenches are 

 dug out in the usual manner, 4 feet apart, and 

 manured with the spent dung of an exhausted 

 mushroom-bed. The seed is sown the second 

 week of February upon a slight hot-bed. When 

 the plants are strong enough, they are pricked 

 out in rich soil under hand-glasses, and are 

 removed, with balls of earth, into the trenches, 

 in the first week of June, and set 9 inches 

 apart in the row. At planting, as is usual, 

 they received a copious watering, to prevent the 

 possibility of a check. In earthing up, a medium 

 course is adopted, neither too frequently nor 

 too much at one time. About a month after 

 planting, a slight earthing up is given them, 

 they having been previously well watered with 

 liquid manure or soot- water the day before this 

 earthing takes place. Soot-water is given as a 

 manure, and dry soot is sprinkled along the 

 rows, to prevent the operations of worms. In 

 regard to Mr Cole's success in growing celery, it 

 should be stated that the garden is of a boggy 

 subsoil, and below the level of an adjacent 

 river, which accounts for the absence of water- 

 ing, upon which most cultivators depend so 

 much — he watering only once or twice after 

 planting. He admits, however, that in dry or 

 elevated situations it is almost impossible to give 

 too much water, and would prefer giving a good 

 soaking once every fortnight to watering more 

 frequently and in smaller quantities. Very rich 

 dung, he remarks, is not good for celery, and 

 strong manure-water should be avoided. It has 

 been imagined, pretty generally, that bad man- 

 agement made bad celery, and especially plant- 

 ing it in too rich soil, to induce extra luxuriance. 

 This opinion Mr Cole dissents from so far ; and 

 we believe that he is right when he says — " The 

 bad quality of celery is attributable to the bad 

 kinds grown," and asserts that no person could 

 grow this kind of celery, which has been named 



" Cole's superb red," so as to make it either pipy 

 or stringy, or inferior in flavour. In regard to the 

 effect of culture, he says that " late earthing has 

 more to do with making celery stringy than 

 anything else, as it is quite certain that, if the 

 leaves of celery are exposed to full light and 

 dry air for a length of time, the tissue will be- 

 come harder than if the leaves were grown in 

 comparative darkness. We need no stronger 

 proof of this than the acrid flavour of the outer 

 as compared with the inner leaves of the same 

 celery — a fact demonstrating that, if the leaves 

 are exposed for a long time, they acquire an 

 acrid flavour, which no blanching can wholly 

 remove. For an early crop he sows in heat 

 early in January, and pricks the plants out upon 

 a slight hot-bed ; for a second crop, in February, 

 in heat, as before directed ; and for a late crop, 

 in March, in the open ground." — Jour. Hort. 

 iioc. 



Mr Cole believes that this celery could be 

 grown to the weight of say twelve pounds, were 

 it desirable to have it so ; and for this purpose he 

 would plant in trenches 1 8 inches deep, and the 

 same in breadth, and use a compost of tvirfy 

 loam, peat, and leaf mould, or thoroughly rotted 

 cow-dung, in about equal quantities. He would 

 also place the plants 18 inches apart in the row, 

 and keep the soil well stirred between them 

 during their early growth. 



§2.. 



CELERY. 



Natural History. — Celeriac, a sub-variety of 

 the last, is used for most purposes like the com- 

 mon celery, but is much hardier, and differs 

 from it in having a considerable-sized swelling 

 on the stem close to the surface of the ground, 

 which is the part chiefly used, although the 

 leaves, which are much smaller than those of 

 celery, are also used in soups, &o. It is much 

 cultivated in the north of Europe, on account 

 of its root, which may be kept in good condi- 

 tion for use throughout the winter : this the 

 common celery cannot be with them, on account 

 of the inclemency of the clijnate. 



Use. — The bulbous-looking form which the 

 root presents above ground is cut into shoes, 

 and used in German salads. This, as well as the 

 leaves, is cooked like other celery, only they are 

 less delicate to eat. It is not in vei-y high esti- 

 mation in Britain, although a few years ago the 

 London markets were supplied with it to a con- 

 siderable extent from the Continent. 



Mode of propagation and season of sowing. 

 — The same as for celery. 



Planting. — The transplanted seedlings 

 are removed from the nursery-beds, and 

 planted on the surface (not in trenches) 

 in moderately enriched soil. They should 

 be set in rows 18 inches apart, and a foot 

 from each other in the line. At planting, 

 all the embryo suckers or side shoots 

 should be rubbed off — a precaution to be 



