Muy 17 , 1888. 5 
JOURN'AL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
399 
be used when at its best. Good ordinary Celery may be grown 
in quantities in one trench. Four, six, or eight rows may be planted; 
but if first-class produce is desired not more than two rows should 
be grown in each trench, as this admits of its being earthed up so 
much better than when crowded. We grow most of ours in single 
trenches. The trenches are 1 foot Mude, and a space of 18 inches is 
allowed from trench to trench. This is not such a waste of ground 
after all, as there is only 2 feet from row to row, and surely if good 
Celery can be raised as close as rows of Potatoes can be planted it 
is an advantage. In the case of winter Celery we have also found 
the single rows the best, as it is much more easy to protect single 
rows than wide beds. 
We have not lost ten plants during the last half dozen years 
through the plants “ bolting ” prematurely. This I attribute to the 
care taken in watering them from the time they are visible until 
established in the trenches. Nothing is more injurious to young 
Celery plants than allowing them to become too dry at the roots. 
One overdrying is sufficient to cause half of them to bolt. If the 
weather is dry watering does not cease at the time they are planted, 
but if necessaiy they are watered until first earthed up, then they 
are safe. We do not water them every day, but the whole trench 
is well soaked once a week. This is ample to keep them in good 
condition. 
Celery should be grown in firm soil, as this retains the moisture 
and causes the plants to grow robustly, which is always desirable. 
As soon as the plants are in, the soil is firmly trodden round them, 
and this is repeated if necessary before the first earthing up. Our 
earliest plants, which are now in the trenches, were raised from 
eeed sown in a good heat, the seedlings being pricked out into 
boxes and hardened gradually. A sudden change of temperature is 
apt to cause some of them to go wrong, but if hardened like 
bedding plants no evil results follow. Of all the manures I have 
ever tried for Celery growing none equals that from an earth 
closet. 
Every plant should be transplanted with a good ball of soil to 
ihe roots. When the soil is all shaken off them and only the bare 
roots remain, it takes them a time to recover, but if the soil is well 
retained about the roots they may be planted without the slightest 
check. Three or four years ago we thought to have some beautiful 
and clean Celery for exhibition. We sifted some very fine ashes 
and earthed up with these. The weather was very hot at the time, 
•the ashes became quite warm, and the plan was a failure. A light 
soil quite free from worms is the best for earthing-up with. If 
grubs are present they will make rims on the stems and disfigure 
them, but by using a sprinkling of soot in the soil they may be 
avoided. We have wrapped a piece of stout grey paper round each 
stem before earthing-up slightly, in imitation of the “ paper collars” 
for Celery once popular, and this is the best of all ways of keeping 
the sticks clean and preventing the soil getting amongst the leaves. 
The paper is left on, but as it is moistened and the plant expands 
it bursts and does not act as any impediment. 
Frequent earthing is preferable to one or two large additions. 
If once the soil falls into the centre of the plant there is an end of 
a first-rate stick of Celery. No fuss need be made in rearing the 
Hatest Celery plants. They do not require artificial heat. When a 
frame is cleared of bedding plants, early Potatoes, sow the Celery 
seed afterwards. If there is no soil in the frame place a quantity 
there, but if any remains from the Potatoes level this down and 
sow the seed. If the seed is sown thinly, so that the young plants 
will have a little space to develope, they may be kept in the seed 
bed until planting time. Those who have no frames and who would 
still like to possess some Celery in winter may sow the seed in the 
open on and after this date. If in a warm situation the seed 
will soon germinate, and the plants will gain a good size for placing 
out in July, which is a good time to plant winter Celery.— 
A Kitchen Gardener. 
GARDEN SPORTS. 
When the flowers of a plant raised from seed differ from the 
parent in form or colour it is customary to call it a “seedling,” 
but when a bud or branch or a plant differs in like manner it is 
called a “ sport.” Of course the plant raised from seed is a seed¬ 
ling, and so are all others raised from seed, whether varying in 
character or exact copies of the parent. Would it not, therefore, be 
better to speak of those seedlings which differ from the parent as 
“ seed sports,” and those which arise from bud or branch variations 
as “ branch sports ? ’’ The variation, whether from seed or bud. 
except in cases of fertilisation of flowers, artificial or otherwise, is 
presumably due to the same causes, but if this is not so I shall be 
glad if someone more learned than myself in these matters will 
point out the difference. We all know that the seeds of certain 
varieties of plants produce exact copies of the parent from which 
the seed is gathered, and others vary in a greater or less degree ; 
we also know that “ branch sports ” are much less frequent than 
“ seed sports,” and we cannot influence them, so far as I know, as 
we can in the case of “seed sports” by artificial fertilisation. 
There our knowledge seems to end. But I strongly suspect that 
in both cases any cause that tends to produce an abnormal condition 
of a plant favours the production alike of “ seed sports ” and 
“ branch sports.” I have come to this conclusion from a long 
course of observation and experiment, and will give a case of each 
in illustration of this view. 
First of “ seed sports.” If we sow the seeds of a variety that 
has had no special cultivation, the offspring will probably vary but 
little from the parent, or not take the development in size, form, or 
colour that it would from a plant highly cultivated. This is re¬ 
cognised by our writers on gardening when they recommend those 
who are working for the improvement of races to gather the seeds 
from the most advanced varieties only, and, while endorsing this 
view, I would add, gather only from such as have been highly cul¬ 
tivated. In the first extensive sowing of Rose seeds which I made 
the seeds were gathered from varieties subjected to ordinary culti¬ 
vation, and the result was but little variation or advancement. In 
successive sowings the seeds were gathered year by year from p'ants 
subjected to higher cultivation, and the variation and advancement 
continued to increase. This, be it remarked, was independent of 
artificial fertilisation ; the seed sports seemed to be more marked as 
the result of high cultivation in the parent. 
A curious case of sporting from seed came under my notice 
some years ago. In a border were grown side by side seedlings of 
Petunias and Malope grandiflora. One year a seedling Petunia 
produced flowers very similar to the Malope in form and marking, 
the leaves being those of the Petunia. So evidently was this the 
case that many practical gardeners casually remarked it must be a 
hybrid between the two. I submitted the flowers to the late Dr. 
Bindley, who rejected this explanation, but offered no other in its 
place. The spot had been occupied two or three years successively 
by Petunias and Malopes treated as annuals. This individual died 
after flowering without producing any seed, although every effort 
was made to preserve it. Some of your correspondents will, I 
hope, have something more to say on this matter. 
Then as to “ branch sports.” Camellias and Chrysanthemums 
have hitherto given us the greatest number of “ branch sports,” 
but they are becoming more frequent amongst Roses. During 
twenty-six years, from 1850 to 1876, I met with but one “ branch 
sport ” among my Roses, and that was a branch of Mrs. Bosanquet, 
which produced red flowers. Now see how many “ branch sports ” 
have been produced over the last ten years, and others are con¬ 
tinually coming into notice from different cultivators. It may be 
said this is due or partly due to the breaking of fre.sh ground by 
hybridising the so-called species. Well, admitting this to be a 
factor in the case, there still remains, it seems to me, a large 
residuum most reasonably accounted for by the highly nitrogenised 
manures on which Roses have been fed over the last few years 
principally with the view of getting large flowers for our flower 
shows. A case in point is the double scarlet Thorn. This was a 
“ branch sport ” from the double pink Thorn, and originated in a 
garden adjoining a garden to which I was a frequent visitor. Tl.e 
“ sport ” was a strong central branch of a young tree, forced, I 
have no doubt, into greater vigour and higher colour by the exces¬ 
sive richness of the sap, for the border in which it grew was loaded 
year by year with the richest manure. There is one fact worthy of 
notice as a point of difference between “ seed sports ” and “ branch 
sports.” The former seldom re-assume the likeness of the parent, 
the latter often do so ; hence, unless “ fixed ” by cultivation their 
commercial value is somewhat less.— William Paul, Paul's Nur¬ 
series, Waltham Cross, Herts. 
FLOWER FARMING. 
A few notes on the flower production at Mr. J. Walker’s Ham 
Farm were given last week, and the present chapter must be 
devoted to the Whitton Farm, which has for a much longer peiiod 
constituted the head-quarters of the Daffodil and hardy flower 
market trade in that part of Middlesex. It is a district of market 
gardens, fruit, flowers, and vegetables being extensively grown 
round Twickenham and Whitton, and when the fruit trees are 
bursting into flower is a most agreeable time for spending a few 
hours there. 
THE WHITTON FAUN. 
D.affodils. —The floavers gathered at Ham are transmitted to 
Whitton, where in spacious sheds numbers of women and girls are 
busily engaged in making up bunches and packing for market. The 
flowers are all carefully assorted and tied in neat bunches of a 
dozen each, so arranged that the flowers for convenience of picking 
all turn in one direction. Packing is delayed as late as possible, 
and the flowers are closely placed in shallow wooden boxes, no 
