chap, vi.] THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 185 
are about two or three inches high., they are 
pricked out into another bed made of very 
rich soil, six or seven inches deep, on a hard 
bottom; and when they are about a foot 
high, they are transplanted into trenches for 
blanching. The trenches are made four feet 
apart, eighteen inches wide, and twelve deep; 
and they are filled nine inches high with a 
rich compost of strong fresh soil and rotten 
dung. The plants are taken up with as 
much earth as will adhere to the roots, and 
the side-shoots or offsets are removed from 
the central stems; they are then set by the 
hand, nine or ten inches apart, in the centre 
of each trench, and well watered. As the 
plants in the trenches grow, the earth is 
gradually drawn up to them, a little at a 
time, taking care never to let the earth rise 
above the heart of the plant; and this earth¬ 
ing up is repeated five or six times, at inter¬ 
vals of about ten days or a fortnight, till the 
plants are ready for use. Thus treated, a 
single plant of celery of the solid kind has 
been known to weigh nine pounds, and to 
measure four feet in length. 
Water cress is generally gathered wild, but 
