THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



181 



239. What happens if care is not taKen to Keep the earth out of the heads when banking up. The inner leaves 



maKe a stunted crooKed growth 



straw, leaves, hay, or cuttings from the 

 grass — anything to conserve the moisture 

 in the soil while the young plants get started. 

 Water well after the mulch is on, and you 

 ought to have celery fine enough to take a 

 prize anywhere. 



There are two diseases of celery, rust and 

 blight. The former is shown by yellowish 

 spots on the leaves, the latter first by watery 

 spots, then by black dots. Good seed and 

 healthy plants will probably escape both, 

 but if forced to enter into combat with them 

 use Bordeaux mixture. 



There are several ways to blanch celery, 

 so as to get the fine white stalks for table. 

 One way is to make long rows, setting the 

 plants six inches or a foot apart and as they 

 grow drawing the earth up around them to 

 form a bank on either side. One great 

 precaution to be taken -in doing this is to be 

 very, very careful not to get any dirt at all 

 into the heart of the plant. Careful "hand- 

 ling," as it is called, is of vital importance. 

 Gather the leaves up tightly in one hand, 

 holding the outer ones well around the heart 

 or the young leaves in the centre, and draw 

 the earth up to the plant, firming it well. 

 It is wise to have two people at this work, 

 as it is difficult for one to manage alone, 

 and the photograph shows you what happens, 

 when the earth does get into the heart. 

 You can make double rows in this same way, 

 setting the plants cris-cross, six inches apart, 

 just as rails are laid for an old-fashioned 

 Virginia fence. 



The plants may be set in single rows 

 with enough earth drawn around them to hold 

 them upright, and, when they are nearly 

 grown, a board may be placed on either side, 

 as close to the stems as possible, and almost 

 to the top of the leaves. A strip or clamp 

 is placed across the boards to keep them in 

 position. A twelve-inch board would be 

 wide enough, and the length in proportion 



to the length of the row to be blanched. 

 To make sure that the leaves are well up, 

 slide the boards in edgewise, raising the 

 leaves as you make it perpendicular. 



If you wish to use drain tile, set the plants 

 a little further apart, according to the diam- 

 eter of the tile used, five inches, inside meas- 

 urement, being quite large enough. In 

 order to place a tile over a plant, it is neces- 

 sary to tie the leaves loosely together, with 

 raffia, soft twine, or, better still, with a strip 

 of soft paper twisted, for it will fall to pieces 

 when damp, and the plant will again be free. 



Tile and boards are best for early celery, and 

 they are both extremely useful for keeping 

 the plant clean, while the tile has the further 

 advantage of keeping it cool. Banking is 

 better for late celery, as it can withstand 

 frost better when protected by earth, and the 

 covering is more natural. 



Beds four feet wide, and as long as you 

 choose, may be made, and the celery plants 

 set into them ten inches apart, with boards 

 placed perpendicularly along the edges, to 

 hold the plants in an upright position. I 

 should not care for this method, since it would 

 render weeding very difficult, though it 

 would save land space. This celery would 

 either have to be dug up and blanched by 

 storing, or protected by earth or hay where 

 it stood. I really think, for the amateur 

 gardener, single rows are the best. 



Blanching is done in three weeks if the 

 plants are growing vigorously as in Sep- 

 tember; later as the weather gets colder it 

 will take fully four weeks. 



Keep some celery in the garden until after 

 Christmas. If you are too busy to make 

 a pit and the celery is already banked, throw 

 some hay over the top of the bank, a little 

 more when colder weather comes, and, 

 finally earth over that. If you can dig the 

 roots and make a pit, it will be much easier 

 to get at when you want it. Dig a small 

 trench about one foot deep, line the sides 

 with hay (salt hay preferably), place the 

 celery in the trench, roots down, and close 

 together, seeing that the hay surrounds 

 the plants entirely and then bank up the 

 earth, to make a miniature mound. Work 

 from north to the south, so that you can 

 enter this aboriginal dwelling from the 

 southern end. If frost gets through the 

 earth, it can't get through the hay. Thus 

 the celery is safe and happy. 



240. On the left. Cooper Cutting, the best celery for soups. In the centre, celeriac or Knob celery, the 

 fleshy root of which is cooKed and eaten. On the right. Winter Queen, the most popular winter variety of a 

 medium height. The taller a variety the more worK in banKing. A good height is a foot and a half 



