ACETARIACEOUS PLANTS. — CELERY. 



147 



plant, to protect the leaves above where 

 they are covered with the soil, putting in 

 only as much soil between the tiles as will 

 keep them steady in an upright position. 

 We then bank up the sides of the trench, 

 as shown in the annexed cut, fig. 52, along 

 the sides of which we drive in upright posts, 

 3 inches square, and of such a height as 

 will carry a roofing of boards laid in an 



Fig. 52. 



MODE OF WINTERING CELERY. 



imbricated manner, a few inches over the 

 top of the plants. These posts are set 10 

 feet asunder, and exactly opposite each 

 other ; and their tops are connected with 

 coupling of lighter scantling. The roof 

 boarding is then laid on, and nailed to 

 the couples, which ties the whole roofing 

 together. By this means the rain is 

 thrown off, and falls into the deep trenches 

 between the beds. Should the weather 

 set in severe, we introduce a little light 

 dry littering matter amongst the tiles, 

 and nail a couple or three courses of 

 boards along the sides ; but this is seldom 

 found necessary with us, although in 

 many colder localities it will be of ad- 

 vantage. This side-boarding should only 

 be used in very severe weather, as its 

 absence permits a free circulation of air 

 to blow through. The boarding which 

 covers the roof is the portable wooden 

 copings we use for our wall -trees, and 

 which, during winter, would otherwise 

 be laid past in the store -sheds. The 

 posts and coupling are used for a variety 

 of purposes during summer, such as 

 supporting netting over single rows of 

 gooseberries and currants, to preserve 

 them from birds, temporary roofing over 

 out-of-door summer mushroom-beds, &c. 

 Neither the posts, couples, nor board- 

 ing are ever cut, as we construct such 



temporary erections always of the same 

 size. 



The other mode of preserving celery to 

 which we have alluded is even much 

 simpler, and within the reach of every 

 one. We first form a triangular embank- 

 ment of soil, the sides sloping to some- 

 thing like an angle of 45°. These sides 

 are made smooth, and are each in length 

 somewhat more than 

 the depth the celery 

 plants have been al- 

 ready earthed up to. 

 In November, when the 

 growth has ceased, the 

 plants are carefully 

 taken up with balls 

 about their roots, a few 

 of the lower and coarser 

 leaves are removed — 

 they are now of no fur- 

 ther use — and the plants 

 are laid side by side 

 along each of these slop- 

 ing banks, their roots 

 being placed at top, and their leaves 

 pointing downwards, with the view of pre- 

 venting rain or snow getting into their 

 centres. When one course is laid along- 

 each side, soil is laid over and be- 

 tween them, to the extent of preventing 

 any part of the one plant touching the 

 other. The surface is again reiidered 

 even, and a second row laid on in like 

 manner, taking care, however, to place 

 the roots of this second course 6 or 7 

 inches higher than the last, or to select 

 shorter plants; the intention being, in 

 either case, to prevent the leaves of the 

 top course resting on those of the lower. 

 Indeed, it is a good plan to introduce a 

 few branches between the two courses of 

 leaves, should they appear too crowded, 

 to admit a circulation of air to pass 

 through amongst them. These are co- 

 vered the same as the first, only to a 

 greater depth, and the whole finished off 

 much in the form of a potato pit. Should 

 severe frost or much wet set in, we thatch 

 the whole over with coarse littering straw, 

 as far down only as where the leaves of 

 the top course protrude through the 

 soil. To thatch the leaves over would 

 only tend to cause them to rot, for we 

 have found in mild winters that they 

 have continued to grow as well as if they 

 had been allowed to remain in their ori- 



