138 



Salad Crops 



tion of little labor. This method is still good for the 

 skilful home gardener. 



Varieties. 



The varieties of celery may be ranged in the " self- 

 blanching " and " green " classes. There are no sharp 

 lines of demarcation between the two. The former are 

 simply easy-blanching types developed largely by selec- 

 tion. Most of the celery is now of this kind. It is well 

 adapted to blanching by means of boards. White Plume 

 is an old favorite, but Golden Self-Blanching is now more 

 popular. The green kinds, as Boston Market and Pascal, 

 are usually slow blanchers, requiring banking or blanch- 

 ing in storage, and are of the class of good keepers. 



The Celery Plant 



Apium. Umhellifcrrr. About 20 species, as the genus is 

 usually accepted, of annual, biennial and perennial herbs 

 widely distributed over the globe. 



A. graveolens, Linn., var. dulce, DC. Prodr. iv, 101. 1830. 

 (A. didce, Mill. Gard. Diet. No. 5. 1768. A. Celet% Gsertn. 

 Fruct. i, t. 22, 1788.) Celeky. Strong-smelling glabrous 

 biennial (perhaps sometimes perennial) : root leaves many 

 and well developed, the petioles and rachises usually expanded : 

 stems erect and branching, 2 to 3 ft. tall, many-grooved, with 

 conspicuous joints : radical leaves pinnate, ovate to oblong in 

 outline, the long petiole with an expanding base; leaflets 

 usually two or three pairs and a terminal one, each one 

 pinnately ternately compound and stalked, the lateral seg- 

 ments often again divided, the segments and divisions cuneate- 

 ovate and more or less cut and coarsely toothed : blossoms 

 very small, white, in small compound umbels among the 

 leaves ; first umbel sessile or nearly so and with subsequent 

 long-stemmed umbels from the same joint, the involucels mi- 



