10 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



August, 1907 



Pot-grown plants may be set in the open at any 

 time without giving the plants a checK 



starts more rapidly in the fall, the cells are 

 partly matured and cannot respond to the 

 increased growth, and the outer walls of the 

 stalk pull apart and leave a dry, hollow 

 centre space. To avoid this, get a well 

 selected strain of seed when starting the 

 plants and keep them growing as rapidly 

 as possible from seed to finish. Not long 

 ago I had an opportunity to examine the 

 growth of wild celery along the banks of a 

 running stream and found that the stalks 

 of plants on the bank of the stream where 

 the soil was constantly moist, were uniformly 

 solid; whereas those growing higher up on 

 the bank, where the soil was drier, were 

 hollow. 



KEEPING THE CELERY FOR WINTER 



No attempt should be made to store the 

 early varieties of celery such as White Plume 

 and Golden Self-Blanching; use these 

 directly from the row where they are grown. 



Where a good supply of litter can be had, 

 it is an excellent plan to winter all the celery 

 in the rows where it is grown, making broad 

 banks of earth at the sides of the rows and 

 covering these deeply with straw or leaves 

 from the woods when the ground freezes; 

 and later covering the litter with corn-fodder 

 or evergreen branches. If this is not prac- 

 ticable, select a well-drained plot and dig 

 out a trench one foot deep and one foot wide. 

 Dig the plants carefully with the roots 

 attached and set them closely together in 

 the trench, packing fine soil about the roots; 

 then bank up the earth taken from the 

 trench until the tips of the leaves are exposed, 

 rounding the banks so as to shed the rains. 

 Cover the trench with wide boards, nailed 

 together to form a A-shaped roof, this in 

 turn is covered with straw or litter. 



When the weather becomes settled and 

 cold, add still further protection in the form 

 of straw, litter or corn-fodder, which will 

 prevent the celery from becoming frozen, 

 and the litter can be easily removed when 



you want to get at the celery. Where there 

 is a hotbed out of use in the garden, this 

 can be dug out and filled with closely packed 

 celery as in the trench method, to be covered 

 with the glass sash. This permits giving 

 the celery air when the weather is warm, 

 but there must be an ample supply of litter 

 to bank around and cover the box or bed 

 during very cold weather. Do not leave 

 the storing too late in the season, for if the 

 tops are badly frozen and lie down on the 

 banks of earth used for blanching, they will 

 not recover, and half the attractiveness in 

 appearance and all of the keeping qualities 

 are lost. 



Another point to be kept in mind is that 

 the blanching of the stalks should be nearly 

 completed before it is stored, as the stalks 

 only whiten while they are growing, and if 

 put away when of a deep green tint only the 

 young stalks in the centre of the plant will 

 be blanched when you come to take them out. 



Celery may also be planted or stored in 

 much the same manner in a cool cellar, 

 using wide boards to make a box-like en- 

 closure which will hold the stalks erect and 

 keep the light from them, but in cellar storage 

 never allow the roots to become dry and 

 the stalks wilted and tough. Water may be 

 supplied by putting a short piece of hose down 

 between the stalks, so that the water will 



In the late fall the young growth in the centre of 

 White Plume becomes snowy white 



reach the roots only and not wet the stalks. 

 A large funnel in the upper end of the hose 

 adds to the effectiveness of this simple 

 apparatus. 



GROWING CELERY FROM SEED 



The seed germinates rather slowly and in 

 the open ground must be sown early in the 

 spring (about April ist) while the soil is 

 still cool and moist; if the weather should 

 be warm and the soil dry, the seedbed must 

 be covered with a light mulch of straw or 

 with mats and papers until the young plants 

 appear. Straw makes the best mulch as it 

 lets the air through to the soil. Where mats 

 or papers are used, they should be taken off 

 in the evening and replaced in the morning. 



The light, rich soil of a hotbed or coldframe 

 which has been used for starting early garden 

 plants makes an excellent seedbed for start- 

 ing celery plants. Sow the seed thinly in 

 rows four to six inches apart, so that it may 

 be worked or stirred at frequent intervals, 

 and covered with one-quarter of an inch of 



fine, light soil. Where only a limited num- 

 ber of plants are required, it is best to 

 transplant them to another bed as soon as 

 they are large enough to handle, setting the 

 plants two inches apart each way. This 

 transplanting gives a dense mat of small 

 fibrous roots and a short stocky growth of 

 leaves which will make the most satisfactory 

 growth when planted in the garden or field. 

 Commercial plants are grown without trans- 

 planting, the seedlings being thinned out to 

 stand half an inch apart in the row, and occas- 

 ionally the tops sheared to induce a stocky 

 growth, but these plants have a large, straight 

 tap-root and very few of the small fibrous 

 roots, and will not give as good results when 

 set in the row as those which have an abun- 

 dance of fibrous roots which have developed 

 by transplanting the small seedlings. 



My own method is to sow the seed in 

 shallow boxes or flats in a cool greenhouse, 

 and as soon as the seedlings are large enough, 

 pot them singly in 2-inch pots. This permits 

 of frequent waterings and gives thorough 

 drainage, so that by July I have good plants 

 with balls of fine roots which can be heavily 

 watered and set in the row at any time, 

 irrespective of rains or other conditions. 

 Where only a few hundred plants are grown 

 for a home supply, I think a trial of this 

 plan of potting the young plants will be 

 found most satisfactory. 



EARLY VARIETIES OF CELERY 



The White Plume is the earliest and most 

 easily grown celery for the home garden. 

 With rich soil, ample moisture and good 

 cultivation, the plants may be grown to 

 reach a height (or length) of eighteen inches 

 or more with a diameter of four inches, 

 making a close bunch of broad, thick stalks. 

 During the season of growth, the stalks and 

 leaves are a dark green, but late in the fall 

 the young growth in the centre of the plant 

 becomes snowy white, both in stalk and leaf, 

 and where properly banked, the entire stalk 

 is quickly blanched to a pure paper white- 

 ness. The blanched stalks are crisp and 

 brittle and free from stringiness when 

 properly grown, but have a rather strong 

 walnut flavor early in the season. This 

 distinct flavor becomes less noticeable later 

 in the season. White Plume has very poor 

 keeping quality and does not make a satis- 

 factory shipper; consequently, it is only 

 grown for home use or local markets. Seeds- 

 men now offer a number of improved, or 



If the cellar be crowded place the celery in boxes 

 with the roots in sand or earth. The boxes may- 

 then be stored one above the other 



