130 Salad Crops 



the ease of lowland fields, however, the celery crop is com- 

 monly the only one grown, since the land is usually too 

 wet in the spring to allow of any early planting. In some 

 celery-growing regions, two or three crops of celery are 

 raised on the land at the same time, the later or main 

 crop being planted between the rows of the early crop. 

 The main or late crop, which is used for winter consump- 

 tion, may be planted in the field as late as the middle or 

 last of July in the Northern States. The early crop may 

 be set in the field as soon as the weather is settled in 

 spring, but there is relatively small demand for very early 

 celery. The young plants should not be subjected to hard 

 frosts. 



Commercial fertilizers are used to supplement liberal 

 supplies of stable manure. When the manure cannot be 

 obtained, such fertilizers may be used to supplement the 

 humus supplied by good rotation or change of land. Com- 

 pounds rich in nitrogen are usually advised. In fact, 

 nitrate of soda alone is used, in several applications, as 

 much as 150 or 200 pounds each time. The rich bottom 

 lands, however, may not require such supplements. 



" Celery luxuriates in a soil rich in vegetable matter," 

 writes Voorhees (Fertilizers, r,ev. ed. 295). "A heavy 

 application of the basic mixture (page 383) — a ton to the 

 acre, used at time of setting the plants — may be followed 

 with advantage by frequent and reasonably heavy top- 

 dressings of nitrate of soda, 100 pounds to the acre or 

 more, and well worked into the soil." 



Ordinarily, frequent level tillage is practiced until the 

 plants are ready for the billing or other blanching process. 

 Some growers, however, prefer to mulch the land heavily 



