[43] 



V. Upon the Culture of Celery. By Thomas Andrew 

 Knight, Esq. F. R. S. $c. President. 



Read December 5, 1826. 



Th a t which can be very easily done, without the exertion 

 of much skill, or ingenuity, is very rarely found to be well 

 done, the excitement to excellence being in such cases ne- 

 cessarily very feeble. The practice of a very large number of 

 British gardeners, in the management and culture of exotic 

 plants and fruits, and in every difficult department of their 

 profession, probably approximates to, if it have not in many in- 

 stances attained, perfection ; whilst the culture of many of the 

 common esculent plants is still capable of much improvement. 

 I shall at present confine my observations to one of these, the 

 Apium graveolens, or Celery. This plant, under the name 

 of Smallage, a worthless and almost poisonous weed, is found 

 in its wild state growing most luxuriantly in rank soils by the 

 sides of wet ditches, where it can obtain at the same time 

 abundant food and moisture. Without being very well sup- 

 plied with food, it will not thrive at all in our gardens ; and 

 therefore it rarely fails to obtain a proper quantity of manure ; 

 but as with this, it is in most seasons found to grow moderately 

 well, the gardener has not paid due attention to the circum- 

 stance of its being naturally almost an aquatic plant. I have 

 during several seasons supplied my Celery plants much more 

 copiously with water than is usually done, and always with 

 the best effects ; but in the last excessively dry season, I gave 



