KITCHEN-GARDEN VEGETABLES. 
Veitch’s Autumn Giant.—A valuable and distinct variety. 
Head large, firm, compact, white, well protected by the 
foliage. Sown in April or May, it forms a capital succes- 
sion to the Walcheren; plants from a sowing made the 
second week in April yield firm solid heads by the first 
week in September. May also be sown in the autumn 
and the plants protected in cold weather to afford hearts 
in the following August. 
Walcheren (Walcheren Broccoli).—An excellent sort, 
originally introduced from Haarlem under the name of 
Early Leyden. The stem is rathe: dwarf; leaves broad, 
less pointed, and more undulated than usual. It resists 
cold in winter and drought in summer better than any 
other Cauliflower. . 
Celery (Apium graveolens).—A hardy bi- 
ennial, a native of Europe, &ec., including 
Britain, where it is found wild by ditches 
and in marshy situations. It appears to have 
been cultivated by the ancients. Except the 
forms cultivated for their fleshy roots (Celeriac), 
which are eaten when cooked, the variations 
from the wild plant are only in the length and 
consistency of the leaf-stalk. The quality of 
any particular variety is much influenced by 
that of the soil in which it is grown. 
Soi.—A light rich and rather moist soil is 
best adapted for the growth of Celery.  Al- 
though the plant requires plenty of water, yet 
it is apt to rot in winter in cold wet soils. 
Provided manure is at command, 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 that which is heavy and compact. The 
latter is mechanically injurious; for though the 
expansive power of vegetation in its natural. 
state is very great, yet the blanched heart of 
a Celery plant, not being in its natural state, 
cannot force its way against such heavy ob- 
structions as it would do when in possession 
of its full vital energy; and when too much 
loaded or pressed by soil of a heavy nature, it 
must rot. Light sandy loam, well manured 
with cow-dung, produces good Celery, pro- 
vided plenty of moisture be afforded. Good 
peat soil, limed and manured, will also produce 
Celery of superior quality. 
Sowing. — For the early crops the seeds 
should be sown in heat, and for the latest crop 
on the open border. For a very early small 
crop a sowing should be made in the end 
of January or beginning of February, in a 
pan of rich soil in moderate heat. As soon 
as the young plants have made three leaves 
they should be pricked out in boxes filled | by chopping and turning. 
‘liberally supplied when required. 
429 
with decomposed dung and leaf-mould; after- 
wards they should be kept near the light, and 
not allowed to draw for want of air. Any 
vinery, Peach-house, or frame where the tem- 
perature is from 50° to 55° will be suitable for 
them. This temperature will be about that of 
the open air in May, so that when the plants 
are then finally planted out they will receive 
no check, the temperature to which they are 
exposed being not lower than that to which 
they had previously been accustomed. These 
remarks apply also to other sowings made in 
heat. 
The first sowing for autumn use should be 
made in gentle heat, under glass, in the first 
week of March. When the plants have formed 
three leaves they should be pricked out 2 inches 
apart in a compost of leaf-mould, very rotten 
dung, and a little rich friable loam, the whole 
well mixed, and laid to the depth of 4 inches 
on very slightly heating materials, and covered 
with a frame and lights, or with hand-glasses, 
if the former are not at command. When the 
leaves begin to meet, the plants should be again 
transplanted into the same kind of soil as 
before. The roots must be kept quite moist 
from the instant they are taken up until they 
are again placed in the earth. The tap-root 
ought to be a little shortened, especially if it 
be long in proportion to the lateral fibres. 
The plants should be inserted in rows 6 inches 
apart, and about 4 inches from each other in 
the rows. Water should be given as the plant- 
ing proceeds, and afterwards it ought to be 
In fine 
weather the sashes should be drawn off during 
the day; indeed, they will only be required for 
protection from the cold at night, and from 
frost, snow, and hail. 
A second sowing should be made in the end 
of March, either in a frame or under hand- 
glasses. Bottom-heat may be dispensed with; 
but the frame or glasses should be kept close 
and warm until the plants appear, when air 
should be freely admitted. The plants ought 
to be pricked out in the same kind of soil 
as that recommended for the previous sowing, 
and in the same manner, only not on bottom- 
heat. 
Before these seedlings are in danger of being 
overcrowded, a piece of ground with a hard 
surface should be selected for a nursery-bed, 
and a compost be formed, consisting of rotten 
dung, leaf-mould, and. about a fourth part of 
rich friable loam, the whole to be well reduced 
This compost must 
