126 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
When sufficient blanching material has been deposited, the 
boards are carefully withdrawn and placed in the opposite 
row ; and it will be readily understood that the fine mould 
which had passed through the vacuum formed between the 
boards will be in immediate connexion with the leaves of the 
plants, the common earth placed in the centre of the row 
enabling it to maintain that position. These boards can, of 
course, be readily set at any required distance apart, that 
distance being determined by the quantity of blanching 
material at command. 
The third and final earthing of the early crops is accom- 
plished at intervals of ten or twelve days before the celery 
is required for use — placing the mould high and close about 
the leaves. A different system is adopted with celery intended 
for winter use. Some time towards the latter part of October, 
when the weather is dry and favourable, the plants are fully 
earthed up, but the soil is neither put so high nor is so closely 
packed to the leaves as is recommended for the earlier crops. 
After the winter has fairly set in, a sufficient quantity for 
a fortnight’s consumption is covered over with leaves which 
had previously been heated, and from which cause they 
will readily remain in flakes of some six inches in thickness, 
and resist alike the action of frost or moisture. The covering 
over a day’s consumption is merel} r removed with a fork so 
much farther on to the bed, and this takes place from day to 
day. When, however, severe frosts set in, the whole of' the 
ridges are covered over in the same manner, but the protection 
is removed on the recurrence of favourable weather, in order 
that the plants should not suffer from being too closely 
excluded from the atmosphere. 
It will be perceived from the system here recommended that 
an enormous mass of vegetable matter can readily be obtained 
from a very limited portion of ground — that from the mode of 
arrangement the operations necessary for the cultivation of 
one crop become subservient to that of another — that the soil, 
from being so very frequently turned and aerated in fine 
weather, becomes fully disintegrated, and, finally mixed with so 
large a proportion of rich material, it is in a very favourable 
condition for the succeeding crop — and that such a system 
carried through any part of a garden must inevitably change 
its condition, however obdurate or sterile the nature of the 
soil may be. Moreover, this concentrated mode of cultivation 
