CELERY 
to a special market. The smallest plants 
are sold locally and seldom pay to pack 
and ship. 
In bunching celery, a board about a 
foot long and eight to 10 inches wide is 
nailed along the upper edge of the pack- 
ing bench, with a semi-circular piece cut 
out along the upper side of it large 
enough to hold the bases of 12 good sized 
plants which, when placed in it can be 
quickly tied into a round bunch. Extra 
stout white string is used, making one 
tie around the base of the plants and one 
near the tops. 
Many of the more careful packers of 
summer shipments are now wrapping 
each bunch separately, with heavy brown 
paper, using open crates. This tends to 
prevent the heating of the celery in long 
shipments during hot weather and will 
undoubtedly be used more as its ad- 
vantages become appreciated. However, 
most of shipments are made in tight 
crates which are lined with heavy wrap- 
ping paper. The size of the several crates 
used varies considerably throughout the 
state but the following is a list of the 
common sizes used at Kalamazoo: 
Sizes of Kalamazoo Celery Crates 
Inches Inches 
6x 8x24 6v24x24 
6x10x24 6x26x24 
6x12x24 6x28x24 
6x16x24 10x16x24 
6x18x24. 10x18x24 
6x20x2-+ 10x20x24 
6x22x24 10x24x34 
10x2G6x24 
In the other celery districts of the state 
the crates are quite different in form and 
the celery frequently packed loose in the 
crates. The following are the sizes gen- 
rally used: 
Inches Inches 
6x1 2x20 10x10x18 
6x12x22 10x10x20 
6x18x22 10x10x22 
At Decatur much of the crop is shipped 
in the rough. When shipped in this man- 
ner some of the roots are left on the 
plants and only a few of the outside 
leaves removed. The celery is then 
packed in large open crates, being 
trimmed and bunched in the storage 
houses of the cities by the commission 
dealers before being delivered to the re- 
tailers. Shipping in this manner enables 
the growers to handle and ship their crop 
765 
while the weather is favorable and the 
crop is placed in a fresh, crisp condition 
upon the market 
Storing 
Although most of the celery in Michi- 
gan is sold before freezing weather, 
about Hudsonville, Vriesland and some 
other sections, large quantities of it are 
stored for early winter. Many market 
gardeners about the cities of the state 
dealing with a special or local market 
also store this crop. 
When the crop is to be sold in late fall 
it may be simply banked as high as pos- 
sible with soil and the tops covered with 
straw, to protect the plants from light 
freezes. Celery that is to be stored for 
early winter is usually trenched. This 
consists of digging a trench about a foot 
deep in the field between the celery rows, 
into which the plants are closely set, so 
that the tops are not more than two 
inches above the ground. The trench 
may be dug by hand or by plowing out 
a double furrow, and the plants should 
be lifted from the rows while the foliage 
is dry, with some soil clinging to the 
roots. A protection of some sort must 
then be provided. When blanching 
boards are at hand they may be nailed 
together in a V form and placed over 
the trenches. If the weather then turns 
warm after trenching, they may be slight- 
ly raised with blocks or stones, for venti- 
lation. As it gets colder a light furrow 
of soil may be turned against the base 
of the boards, and later, the boards cov- 
ered with manure to protect the plants. 
If boards are not available the plants 
may be covered with hay or straw, until 
danger of severe freezing, when they may 
be further protected with manure. 
The storing of celery in this state for 
late winter is generally unprofitable, and 
hence it will seldom pay to erect a celery 
storehouse for this purpose. Storage pits, 
vacant hot beds or cellars are often satis- 
factory for storing this crop. In fact, it 
may be stored in any place where the 
plants may be kept cool and moist, with- 
out danger of freezing and where 
thorough ventilation may be given, espe- 
cially during warm weather. 
