ON FARM GARDENING. 79 
Queen and Perfection Heartwell are the best. These varie- 
ties are beautiful as well as highly palatable. There are also 
red or pink sorts, of high table merit and good keeping 
qualities. 
Cultivation. — The proper culture of the celery has al- 
ready been suggested in the allusion to its need for water 
and its shallow feeding habits. The surface soil should be 
highly enriched, the stirring of the soil very shallow, and the 
water supply copious, either by capillary attraction from 
below (as at Kalamazoo) or by rainfall or artificial irriga- 
tion. 
Blanching.— The first step in the process of blanching 
or bleaching is what is known as handling. This operation 
consists in grasping all the leaves of a celery plant in one 
hand, while with the other the soil is drawn together and 
packed so as to hold the stalks in an upright, compact posi- 
tion. This single operation will fit some of the early-planted 
sorts for market in the course of two weeks; though a second 
operation, called hilling, is usually considered desirable, even 
with the self-blanching sorts. See photograph on first page. 
The Kalamazoo growers depend on muck for field blanch- 
ing, though they also use boards. Muck is merely a dark 
soil, containing or consisting mainly of vegetable matter. 
They first "handle," as just described, and about five days 
later draw 6 inches more of the muck about the celery stalks. 
Again, three days later, they draw an additional 2 inches 
about the stalks, and in two weeks from the start the celery 
is ready for market. 
These operations are frequently done by two men work- 
ing together, one holding the stalks and the other drawing 
the soil to them. The first operation puts the stalks in an 
upright, compact position, so that little or no soil can get 
into the heart of the plant. The second draws about the 
