CHAP TE 1X, 
CELERY.—(Apium graveolens). 
The celery plant belongs to the natural Order 
Umbelliferee, growing wild in many of the southern parts of 
Europe, and is not uncommon in the Isle of Thanet and 
other marshy spots of England near the sea. 
It has been greatly changed and improved by cultivation, 
and now presents numerous varieties, some of which are 
used for salad, while others, including what is called the 
turnip-rooted sort, are much used for stewing or similar 
purposes: In soups the seeds may be used equally with the 
stems or leaves. 
A light rich and rather moist soil is best adapted for its 
growth, whilst one that is heavy, wet, and adhesive, is 
unfavourable to it. Although the plant requires plenty of 
water during its growing period, yet it is apt to rot in winter, 
especially upon cold, heavy soils. Provided abundance of 
manure can be supplied, a poor light soil is better than one 
that is stiff and rich; for the growth can be made to depend 
chiefly on the manure supplied, and the plant grows better 
when its leaf-stalks are surrounded with light porous soil than 
when it is pressed against by hard and heavy soil when 
earthing-up has commenced. 
The largest celery is usually grown in single or double 
rows in trenches, six or eight feet apart, as at Sale, near 
Manchester; but the system of bed-cvlture, as practised at 
Tamworth, produces more heads from the same space of 
ground. In the latter system the beds are marked off four, 
six, eight, or ten feet wide, and as many yards long as the 
