CELERY. 



87 



bend and break down a couple of the large outer leaves, which will 

 be protection against both sun and wet while the head is arriving 

 at maturity. 



139. CELERY. — There are three sorts of celery, ihe white, the 

 red, and the solid. The bottoms of the leaves of the two former 

 become hollow ; that is to say, of the outside leaves ; and it is de- 

 sirable that the part which is eaten should not be very hollow ; 

 but the solid celery is, by no means, of so fine a flavour as the 

 other. The red is hardier than either of the other two ; and, like 

 most other hardy things, it is not so good as the more tender. It 

 is too strong ; and has a smell and taste somewhat approaching 

 to the hemlock. Celery is a winter plant ; but, as its seed lies 

 very long in the ground, it ought to be sowed early. It is difficult 

 to make come up ; and, though it might do very well to sow it in 

 a warm place in the month of March, the easiest way is to sow it 

 upon a little bit of a hot-bed, though not on a greater extent of 

 ground than might be covered with a hand-glass ; and that space 

 will contain a sufficiency of plants for any garden however large. 

 The plants come up very much like parsley, and, when small, are 

 hardly distinguished from young parsley plants. As soon as they 

 have two rough leaves, the glass may be taken off, and they may 

 be exposed to the air. About six trenches of celery, running across 

 one of the plants, from north to south, would give about 6OO roots ; 

 and as it is not in use for much more than about a hundred days 

 of the year, here would be six roots for every day, which is much 

 more than any family could want. When the plants get to have 

 about four or five rough leaves, they ought to be pricked out upon 

 a little bed of very fine earth, by the means of a little pointed stick ; 

 and they ought to stand in that bed at about four inches apart, 

 having their roots nicely and closely pressed into the ground. This 

 operation would take place by the middle of May, perhaps, and 

 here the plants would attain a considerable size by the month of 

 July, which, a little earlier or a little later, is the time for putting 

 them out into trenches. Knowing the number of plants that you 

 would want, you need prick out no more than that number ; but 

 if you were to put out a thousand instead of six hundred, you 

 might have some to give to a neighbour whose sowing might hap- 

 pen to have failed ; and this, observe, is a thing by no means to be 

 overlooked ; for you will be a lucky gardener, indeed, if you never 

 stand in need of like assistance from others ; and this is one of 



