THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
35 
CELERT CULTURE IN BEDS. 
BT GEOEGE GEAT, 
Head Gardener, Evrell Castle, Surrey. 
h W^ ^^lELERY culture is not attended with many diffi- 
ciilties, but in small gardens the results are not usually 
I so satisfactory as one could wish, and I have thought 
that a few words explanatory of the most desirable sys- 
vvould be of considerable service to ^many of the 
readers of the Eloeal Woeld. I shall be as brief as possible, and 
confine my attention to celery-growing in small gardens. 
The celery crop must not be exposed to rough treatment at any 
stage of its growth ; for if it suffers from neglect, it will be found, 
when lifted for table, to be of an inferior quality, if not compara- 
tively useless. One of the most essential points in celery-culture is 
to defer sowing the seed until such times as there will be no diffi- 
culty in growing the plants on vigorously from the first. It is one 
of the greatest mistakes that could possibly be made to sow the 
seed and raise the plants in heat long before it is possible to provide 
the necessary accommodation for the plants to keep them in a pro- 
gressive state, yet it is frequently done in the gardens of all classes. 
If celery is required for use in August, and there is an abundance of 
frame-room, a sowing may be made early in Eebruary; but for 
crops of an ordinary degree of earliness, the last week in February, 
or the first week in March will be quite early enough. But for the 
main crop, the third and fourth week in March will be sufficiently 
early. For small gardens, one sowing will be quite sufficient, as it 
will afibrd a succession as long as could well be maintained in a 
limited space ; successional sowings and successioual plantings of 
celery are of less importance than of the majority of vegetables, for 
the crop ready for table in the autumn will be available for use until 
the following spring, provided it is protected from severe frosts. 
We will therefore suppose that the latter end of March is fixed 
upon for sowing the seed, but it will be well to observe that the de- 
tails of sowing and after management of early and late sowings 
do not differ in any material manner, excepting that the plants 
from the earliest sowing must have the assistance of a slight hotbed, 
and be kept under glass much longer. Sow the seed in well-drained 
pans, or boxes, filled with a light and rich compost, and then place 
them in a cucumber or melon-pit, in which a temperature of 70 or 
80 degs. is maintained, as a generous warmth is of great assistance 
in enabling the seed to germinate quickly. The soil will require to 
be kept rather moist, and when the plants are well above the sur- 
face, increase the water supply, and place them near the glass to 
keep them dwarf and stocky. To prevent any misapprehension, I 
will observe, in passing, that celery seed may also be raised in any 
of the fruit-houses, or, in fact, in the greenhouse ; but, of course, 
owing to the lowness of the temperature, it will be longer in vege- 
tating in the last-mentioned structure. 
February. 
