378 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. [May. 
month, and even in the middle states, if the season is any way back- 
ward. For the proper soil and method of sowing them, &c. see 
pages 190 and 321. 
Cleaning and thinning Carrots and Parsneps. 
Carrots and parsneps will now be advancing fast in their growth, 
and should be properly encouraged: clear them from weeds, and 
thin the plants out to due distances. 
This work may be done either by hand or hoe; but, for extensive 
crops particularly, small hoeing is the preferable method, as being 
the most expeditious, and by loosening the surface of the ground 
with the hoe, it will greatly promote the free growth of the plants. 
Whatever method is pursued, it will be necessary to free the 
plants from weeds, and to thin them to proper distances, that they 
muy have full liberty to grow and enlarge their roots. The gene- 
ral crops of carrots should be thinned to about six or seven inches, 
plant from plant, and the parsneps to from eight to ten, in order 
that each kind should attain its utmost perfection. 
Such crops of carrots, however, as are intended to be drawn gra- 
dually for the table, while young, need not be thinned at first, to 
more than four or five inches distance, as the frequent pulling up of 
some, for table use, will in a little time afford the others sufficient 
room to grow large. But the main crops, should be thinned at once 
to the proper distances. 
Pricking out and Planting Celery. 
Some of the early celery plants, from the seed-beds, should now 
be pricked out, to obtain strength previous to a final planting in 
trenches; by this method those left in the beds will have room to 
grow strong and stout. They should be planted at the distance of 
three inches from one another, in beds of rich loose earth, watei^ed 
immediately, and afterwards occasionally, till growing freely: when 
they have acquired sufficient strength in these beds, they are to be 
planted in trenches for full growth as directed in June. 
Let those remaining in the seed-beds be watered, to settle the 
earth about their roots, which had been loosened in the act of pull- 
ing out the others. 
When of sufficient size and strength, plant out into trenches, some 
of your earliest sown plants, as directed in the Kitchen-Garden for 
June. 
For the best method of obtaining celery, in early perfection, with- 
out the assistance of a hot-bed, see page 322. 
Sowing Celery Seed. 
Sow more celery seed, for a principal later crop; let this be done 
as directed in page 321. In hot sunny weather, the shading of the 
bed with ma's, from ten to four o'clock, would greatly facilitat the 
growth of the seed; occasional waterings also, will be very service- 
able, and in a dry season indispensable. 
