THE NEW CELERY CULTURE. 



727 



In order to have plenty of fruit it is not at all neces- 

 sary to keep up vineyards and large gardens that re- 

 quire a vast amount of labor and expense. I gather 

 from my barn and house bushels of fine Concords, 

 Gasrtners and Niagaras. Concords and some other 

 sorts will run and climb as freely as wild grapes on 

 trees, arbors, fences and rocks. Between myself and 

 a neighbor a wire fence is loaded yearly with Dela- 

 wares and Concords. Let me suggest a plan for an 

 easy combination garden. Lay off a quarter of an 

 acre, run across it trellises of grapes north and south, 

 or as near that as convenient, twelve feet apart. Be- 

 tween these run rows of gooseberries and currants. 

 Border them with rows of quinces. Then take another 

 yard and set to raspberries and border with plums and 

 cherries, and set pears in rows through the berries. 

 Set the trees in the rows so as not to hinder your 

 plow. Strawberries can be grown for a year or two 



under the grape vines. I pick bushels from young 

 vineyards. As for blackberries, give them a corner 

 of cool land, and cultivate till the second year; then 

 let them fill up the land. After that you only cut 

 off the tops and cut out old canes. 



But the e.xpense ! Not so very great, my friend. The 

 main point is to study vegetation, and study the nature 

 of all you undertake to cultivate. To succeed, you 

 must try to comprehend each sort of tree, bush and 

 plant, to enter into sympathy with it, and deal with it 

 according to its needs. A plant is exactly like an ani- 

 mal — it must eat ; and you might as well feed hay to 

 cats, as to try to get apples without knowing what ap- 

 ples eat. There are little secrets about every plant, 

 and these must be found out. Why should we study 

 how to grow corn or hops, and expect trees and bushes 

 to take care of themselves ? Why, indeed ! 



Oneida Co., N. Y. E. P. Powell. 



THE NEW CELERY CULTURE. 



WHITE PLUME PROLONGS THE SEASON. 



^^HE introduction of White 

 Plume celery marks a new 

 era in celery growing. 

 Heretofore the production 

 of fairly well blanched 

 stalks was supposed to be 

 dependent on great skill, 

 particular soil conditionp, 

 and so much hard work, 

 that comparatively few gardeners have undertakei 

 to grow their own home supply, and then only 

 limited to the fail and winter crop. At any rate, it 

 was thought to be quite an achievement for the 

 amateur to have good celery in October. 



The White Plume gives us a chance of beginning 

 with the harvesting of pretty good celery for the table — 

 and for sale, if we wish — by middle cf July; and to 

 grow this product with less than half the labor and 

 painstaking than we used to consider absolutely required 

 for the crop only a few years ago. What fine stalks it 

 is possible to grow with ordinary good management may 

 be inferred from the picture, here presented, of one of 

 many plants taken up on our grounds toward the end of 

 August and in September. Its natural size is indicated 

 by the foot-rule across ihe plant. That such celery — 

 almost as white as snow — would be in good demand at 

 any time during that season, nobody will dispute, and 

 we find there is just as much demand for it on the table 

 of the grower as in the market. 



Anybody can grow such celery. There is no secret 

 about its culture, no great skill needed, nor a great 

 amount of labor involved. The requirements of the 

 crop are simple, and consist, chiefly, of (i) good plants 

 set early in June, (2) lavishness in the application of 



good compost, (3) a continuous supply of moisture. 

 The northern grower, if he has a greenhouse or hot-bed 



available in early 

 February, can 

 raise his own 

 plants. Sow i n 

 flats, prick t h e 

 young plants out 

 in other flats, a few 

 inches, apart each 

 way, or set in open 

 ground(if you have 

 a rich, warm, well- 

 prepared piece of 

 land) ; keep t h e 

 plants well water- 

 ed, not too warm 

 if under glass, and 

 in early June you 

 will have plants 

 worth setting. 



But whoever 

 does not wish to go 

 to all this trouble, 

 'e' .ly I4 '3"iz' 'r I if trouble it IS, can 

 buy good plants by 

 June I for $3 or $4 

 per thousand. An- 

 other way is to 

 buy, in April, smalj 

 untransplanted seedling plants— the thinnings — from a 

 professional celery plant-grower further south of him, 

 and set them in open ground in rows a foot or less apart, 

 and plants two or three inches apart in the rows. If 

 the ground is rich and the season favorable, or if the bed 

 is supplied with moisture by artificial means, should the 



A Plant of White Plume. 



