LA 1‘I.UME CHESTNUT CELERY. 
and healthful plant has been greatly sim¬ 
plified within the last few years. It is not 
long since it was supposed that to grow cel¬ 
ery in this country a trench some two feet 
in depth must be excavated, which of course 
removed all the good soil, which must be 
supplied and the plants then set in the bot¬ 
tom so they could be earthed up and the 
stalks blanched as they grew. But few 
growers practice this laborious method 
now. Celery is naturally a salt water plant, 
thriving best in a rich, moist situation. 
The seeds must be sown very early as they 
are usually full three weeks in germinating. 
A cool, moist situation should be chosen 
for a seed bed. As the plants make but 
slow growth during the hot and dry summer 
months they are usually not transplanted 
out until about the middle or last of July. 
Hence it is commonly made a second 
crop on land which kas already been 
cleared of an early crop, such as peas or 
potatoes. Land which has been heavily 
manured early in Spring will be in better 
condition for celery than that on which 
the manure is applied just previous to set¬ 
ting the celery plants. The plant is a gross 
feeder and requires rich as well as moist 
and cool soil. The plants should be set in 
slightly depressed rows fully five feet apart 
and the plants about ten inches apart in the 
row. After the first of September the soil 
must be drawn up against them frequently 
enough to keep the stalks or branches from 
spreading. The more and oftener they are 
banked, observing that the central shoot or 
bud is not entirely covered so as to smother 
it, the better. Toward the last of October 
a trench some eighteen inches deep and 
twelve inches wide is prepared in some dry 
place where drainage is perfect so that no 
water can stand in it, and the celery is dug 
and packed in upright as it grew, consider¬ 
able soil being left upon the roots that they 
may continue to grow and keep crisp. This 
row is now covered with boards and over 
them a layer of refuse straw or leaves to 
keep out the frost. In this way it may be 
left out over winter, if frost, water and 
mice are kept out. 
There are many different varieties m cul¬ 
tivation, yet they do not differ so greatly 
from each other as the varieties of most 
vegetables. We think the excellence of 
celery depends more upon the care which 
it receives in growing than upon the vari¬ 
ety, yet there are some kinds better than 
others. The accompanying engraving 
shows a new variety of solid white celery 
of medium height, which we are growing, 
and which we call the La Plume Chestnut. 
It is very robust, has large thick stalks, 
heavily ribbed, and is certainly one of the 
best. 
Mangel Wurzels. 
It is very remarkable that our American 
farmers, as a class, and particularly those 
who keep large stock farms, pay so little at¬ 
tention to root cultivation. All English 
farmers depend as largely upon their tur¬ 
nips and rutabagas for wintering their stock 
as upon their hay and grain crops. In our 
own country, although the turnip crop 
is found highly remunerative, Mangel 
Wurzels and Sugar Beets, as a rule, give 
better satisfaction, as the land is capable of 
