An abundance of water readily available is the foun- Transplanting is done most efficiently by division of labor; one man drops the plants, another following 

 dation of the celery industry at Sandford actually plants them 



across these frames to make the shade 

 more dense. These beds are watered 

 at least once a day with a fine spray until 

 the seeds have germinated, which takes 

 from ten to twenty days. When the 

 plants are about one inch high the sacks 

 are removed from the "half-covers"; 

 when two inches high, the "half-covers" 

 are taken off; and when about three 

 inches high, the plants are ready to "prick 

 out." The "prick beds" are made in 

 the same way as the seed beds. The plants 

 are pricked or transplanted into these 

 beds with an awl or a one-tine fork (which 

 may seem paradoxical) by pushing the 

 roots down into the ground, in five-inch 

 rows across the bed, and one inch apart 

 in the row. Sometimes the largest plants 

 are set directly from the seed bed into the 

 field, but the transplanted plants can be 

 sorted and give a more even stand in the 

 row which is an important consideration, 

 when blanching time comes. 



Seedbed plants usually sell for fifty 

 cents a thousand, pricked plants from one 

 to three dollars a thousand. 



About September ioth, after the celery 

 beds are well under way, the lettuce is 

 planted (Big Boston). The beds are 

 prepared in the same way as above de- 

 scribed, but shading is seldom resorted to. 

 The seed germinates in about three days, 

 if well watered, and in three weeks the 

 plants are ready to set in the field. 



Meanwhile the field has been plowed, 

 harrowed, fertilized (i to 2 tons of ashes 

 and ten days later 2 to 3 tons of high 

 grade fertilizer) then harrowed again 

 and levelled and smoothed until it is like 

 the surface of a ballroom. 



The lettuce is set in the field in 15-inch 

 checks and each plant watered. It takes 

 about thirty-two thousand to set an acre. 

 Plants are set out about October 1st, and 

 should be ready by November ioth. Aver- 

 age yield 400 hampers. 



After the lettuce is harvested the celery 

 plants are set in the field in 30-inch rows 

 and three to four inches in the row. This 

 usually requires two hands to take the 

 plants out of the beds and sort them, two 

 to drop them on the row (which has been 

 marked with a roller having cleats at the 

 required distance) and one waterer. A 

 good setter can set 20,000 plants a day. 

 It takes 70,000 plants to set an acre. The 

 celery is cultivated frequently and several 

 applications of fertilizer are made along 

 the rows until time to blanch the celery. 



Celery is blanched with cypress boards 

 — 12-inch boards 12 to 16 feet long. This 

 is the most costly outlay. It takes 30,000 

 feet of boards to blanch an acre or about 

 $400 worth. To economize boards we 

 set large and small plants in alternate 

 rows. By the time the large row is 



blanched (average time about fifteen days) 

 the small row is large enough. 



The celery is cut, sorted, and packed in 

 crates in the rough (*. e. not washed) state. 

 Average yield about eight hundred crates. 



As the celery and lettuce crop on the 

 same land come so close together that it 

 is hard to correctly separate the fertilizer 

 and labor accounts, I give a combined 

 statement for the two crops: 



Seed 



Fertilizer 

 Crates . 

 Labor 



i> 10 per acre 

 200 



15° 

 140 



$500 for the two crops 

 Average yield and returns in 1909-10: 



Lettuce, 400 hampers at $1.75 

 Celery, 800 hampers at $1.25 



Total 



Less cost of production 



Net profit per acre 



Lettuce is grown as a "catch crop" before celery 

 and usually pays its way 



$ 700 

 1,000 



$1,700 

 $ 500 

 $1,200 



After the celery is harvested, some 

 spring crop follows, as tomatoes, cucum- 

 bers, eggplants or peppers. These some- 

 times prove quite profitable and they have 

 the advantage of being cheaper to raise. 



[Editors' Note. — In this connection, we publish 

 elsewhere in this month's magazine a letter con- 

 cerning the Sanford situation. The writer of this 

 letter does not wish to have his name made public, 

 which may, to some extent, lessen its weight as 

 evidence. We publish it, however, just for what it 

 is worth. We do not desire to be considered as in 

 any way booming a special industry or any partic- 

 ular locality. Our desire is merely to lay before 

 the readers of The Garden Magazine what we 

 believe to be the facts as they come before us. One 

 man will succeed where another will fail. The 

 capacity of the individual and his quickness to 

 perceive and take advantage of peculiar conditions 

 give the greatest opportunities for success.] 



