THE 
GARDEN YARD 152 
Even when you have taken so much pains to 
start your celery crop, the work is by no means 
done. To secure good, strong, stocky plants, 
they should be transplanted once or twice in 
the seed-bed before the final transplanting to 
the garden. It is essential in North Carolina, 
says Prof. Massey, to transplant celery once 
before setting in field or garden. This entails 
so much labor, that many growers are now 
using the thinning process in place of these 
various transplantings, and even in the seed- 
bed the young plants are thinned to stand two 
to three inches apart and the tops are sheared 
if they grow tall too soon. The plants may be 
safely cut back a third or even a half of their 
growth. In small garden plots, shears or a 
sickle may be used, but, in the large fields, 
growers generally use a scythe. 
There is usually a good deal of loss in celery 
seed, so it is well to sow it very thickly, and then 
you may reasonably expect from 20,000 to 
30,000 plants to the acre. An ounce of seed 
will plant about 200 feet of row, and if good, 
should give from 5000 to 10,000 plants, al- 
though where losses are very heavy the yield 
is frequently only 2000 to the ounce of seed. 
One pound of seed should give plants enough 
to set out four or five acres. 
