CHAPTER XII. 
CELERY AND CELERAIC. 
“ There’s pippins and cheese to come.” 
Merry Wives, 1 , 3. 
S HERE should be some very peculiar and forceful reason 
for growing celery in any quantity in a small garden. 
It is one of the few good things that most people can 
do without if restricted in their gardening operations, or 
that, at least, they may trust the greengrocer for when it is 
wanted. Market celery is generally of the finest quality, and 
none the worse for having gone to market, for it carries well, 
keeps well, and if you take the tender centres out of a few 
heads, you may save enough of the less tender sticks for fla- 
vouring soups and gravies. 
But though the owner of a small garden cannot be recom- 
mended to grow many rows of celery, if he gives his mind to 
the thing at all, he may secure as fine a sample as ever was 
seen ; for he can do what is often impossible in a large garden 
— that is, give the plant plenty of water, for that is one great 
point in the cultivation of celery. 
The Seed Bed. — To raise a small quantity of first-rate 
celery, one of the most important matters at starting is not 
to be in a hurry about it. Do not begin until the season is 
so far advanced that the plant will not be likely to suffer a 
check, for if it starves in the seed pan, or is pricked out too 
soon, and is several times pinched by frost or shrivelled by 
the east wind, it will never acquire the fine quality you aim 
at, for you are bound to do your best for celery, or leave it 
alone altogether. For the main crop in a large garden, the 
seed is usually sown in February and March, and the plant is 
nicely nursed on half-exhausted hotbeds until the time comes 
for planting out. But when only a few rows are required, 
and the conveniences are not of the best, it is advisable to 
wait until the first or second week in April, and get the seed 
sown before the 15th. Prepare for the sowing a large pan or 
a few pots, by putting in a good body of potsherds and filling 
up with light rich compost, such as you would use for potting 
