VOL.  LI.  No  2199. 
NEW  YORK,  MARCH  19,  1892. 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS 
$3.00  PER  YEAR. 
Chemicals  and  Celery.— III. 
HOW  I  GREW  $2,000  WORTH  ON  ONE  ACRE. 
A  photograph  of  my  field  of  celery  is  shown  at  Fig. 
100.  The  plants  are  seven  inches  apart  each  way. 
The  crop  from  which  I  sold  at  the  rate  of  $10,000, 
worth  per  acre  was  grown  in  the  way  I  have  described. 
It  was  planted  out  seven  inches  apart  each  way.  It 
was  very  nicely  bleached  celery  and  much  cleaner  and 
brighter  than  any  celery  banked  with  earth.  It  was 
pronounced  the  best  celery  ever  seen  at  that  season  of 
the  year.  One  plant  made  a  satisfactory  bunch  which 
readily  sold  for  $1.25  per  dozen  or  over  10  cents  per 
plant.  With  over  100,000  plants  to  the  acre,  at  the  rate 
of  over  $10,000  per  acre  was  received.  Last  season 
the  yield  on  one-twelfth  of  an  acre  was  at  the  rate  of 
$4,000  per  acre.  It  was  sold  to  commission  merchants 
in  Providence,  R.  I.,  for  $1  per  dozen  ;  a  few  dozens 
were  sold  in  the  market  for 
$1.25  per  dozen.  Many  plants 
were  large  enough  to  pass 
for  a  bunch  ;  hut  my  state¬ 
ment  is  based  upon  an  al¬ 
lowance  of  two  plants  to  the 
bunch,  and  $1  per  dozen  as 
the  lowest  price,  or  4  cents 
per  plant,  and  the  liberal 
deduction  of  26,736  plants  to 
the  acre,  leaving  100,000 
plants  at  4  cents  per  plant 
equal  to  $4,000.  To  grow 
that  amount  of  celery  in  the 
the  old  way,  from  10  to  20 
times  as  much  labor  would 
be  needed. 
In  my  former  article  this 
new  method  of  growing  cel¬ 
ery  was  described  until  the 
celery  was  half  grown  or 
more.  About  1,200  pounds 
of  celery  manure  had  been 
scattered.  The  plants  were 
so  large  that  great  care  was 
required  to  walk  through 
them.  Three  or  four  weeks 
after  the  1,200  pounds  of 
special  celery  manure  had 
been  applied,  about  1,300 
pounds  more  were  used. 
The  celery  at  this  time  is 
growing  and  bleaching 
rapidly.  There  is  no  back-breaking  labor  in  banking 
it  up.  The  working  roots  are  not  cut  off  to  secure 
earth  to  hank  it  up,  thereby  checking  the  growth. 
No  rheumatic  pains  are  caused  by  getting  down  on 
one’s  knees  to  press  the  earth  about  the  plants.  No 
worms  eat  the  glossy  surface  of  the  stalks,  making 
them  rusty  aud  unsalable.  The  growth  is  very  rapid, 
consequently  the.  crop  is  tender,  solid  and  brittle. 
There  are  but  very  few  spongy  plants.  Watering  or 
irrigating  is  the  all-important  work,  and  about  all 
that  is  necessary  at  this  stage  of  growth.  The 
natural  rainfall  cannot  be  depended  on  to  give  suf¬ 
ficient  moisture  to  grow  such  a  large  crop. 
In  my  next  a  novel  method  of  marketing  early 
celery  will  be  described.  r.  niven. 
(To  be  continued.) 
*  *  * 
A  Tree  Wash. — I  have  used  with  satisfaction  the 
following  wash  for  apple  and  peach  borer :  one  barrel 
of  lime  water — four  pounds  of  lime  to  40  gallons  of 
water — two  quarts  of  coal  tar,  four  pounds  of  whale- 
oil  soap,  with  sufficient  fresh  cow  manure  to  make  a 
paste.  Apply  with  a  brush  or  broom  from  the  branches 
down  to  the  crown  of  the  trees,  early  in  May  and 
again  early  in  August.  geo.  t,  foweei.. 
From  a  Massachusetts  Garden. 
The  Eastern  garden  against  the  Western  farm  ;  exorcising 
“  Witch  Q-rass  ;  ”  What  ailed  the  sweet  corn?  Arc  the 
new  varieties  improvements?  A  stamp  on  the  seeds¬ 
men's  corns;  dewberries  on  stone  walls  ;  Shaffers  are 
home  berries. 
The  old-time,  conservative  farmer  foresaw  utter  ruin 
as  the  inevitable  consequence  of  easy  communication 
with  the  West.  Time  has  shown  us,  however,  that  it 
is  the  Western  farmer  of  to-day  who  has  most  cause  to 
quarrel  with  the  railroads.  Eastern  manufacture,  the 
direct  outcome  of  the  steam  car,  has  established  a  mar¬ 
ket  right  at  hand  for  those  who  will  tiirn  their  atten¬ 
tion  to  what  the  West  cannot  furnish  and  what  the 
East  most  wants,  viz  :  choice  fruits  and  vegetables  in 
a  strictly  fresh  condition,  and  such  dairy  products  as 
are  perishable.  Eastern  farming  is  becoming  inten¬ 
sive  ;  and,  with  changed  conditions,  it  would  be 
strange  if  much  territory  were  not  “abandoned,” 
owing  to  distance  from  market,  although  the  propriety 
of  this  term  may  be  questioned.  New  England  life  is 
merging  towards  centers ;  from  colonial  homespun 
living,  the  “social”  element  enters  more  and  more 
into  the  conditions  of  our  modern  life.  And  if  former 
homesteads,  inaccessible  to  market,  revert  to  grazing 
and  wood  growing,  it  does  not  reflect  upon  the  agricul¬ 
tural  thrift  of  the  country.  The  greatest  need  of  East¬ 
ern  farming  is  more  gardening  as  distinguished  from 
staple  cropping ;  more  young  men  who  will  be  per¬ 
suaded  that  rural  pursuits  are  not  less  ennobling  than 
factory  life  ;  and  rapid  tra'nsit  from  farm  to  consumer, 
without  the  intervention  of  middlemen. 
I  doubt  whether  the  author  of  the  saying  about 
producing  “  two  blades  of  grass  where  one  grew  be¬ 
fore,”  had  ever  seen  Witch  Grass.  There  would  seem 
to  be  a  good  opening  for  another  benefactor  of  his  race 
to  show  us  how  to  eradicate  this  pest.  Certainly  it 
doubles  the  labor  of  tending  a  hoed  crop,  making  hoe¬ 
ing  necessary  where  horse  work  would  suffice.  Its 
persistence  hereabouts  has  inspired  a  facetious  neigh¬ 
bor  with  the  nutmeg  idea  of  growing  this  grass  and 
potatoes  together,  and  then  saving  labor  by  harvest* 
ing  the  potatoes  already  traced  up.  I  have  been 
puzzled  about  the  way  sweet  corn  acted  with  me 
the  past  season.  Old  land  was  plowed  twice  and 
harrowed  repeatedly  to  remove  Witch  Grass,  and 
a  high-grade  potato  phosphate  was  broadcasted  at  the 
rate  of  a  ton  to  the  acre;  and  the  corn  planted  without 
additional  fertilizers.  As  a  result,  Cory,  Crosby  and 
other  early  varieties  made  an  average  growth  of 
stalk,  but  yielded  for  the  most  part  unsalable  ears. 
The  later  kinds,  however,  gave  both  plants  and  ears 
as  thrifty  as  could  be  wished.  I  wish  to  know  whether 
extra  phosphate  in  the  hill  would  have  made  the 
early  kinds  more  satisfactory  ;  or  if  a  less  percentage 
of  potash  would  have  mended  matters ;  or  must  I  use 
stable  manure  to  retard  early  development,  and  thus 
gain  a  more  sturdy  growth  ? 
The  list  of  sweet  corns  is  getting  to  be  of  wearisome 
length,  but  I  do  not  see  that 
any  real  improvement  is 
being  made,  if  we  except  the 
Cory,  whose  inferiority  is 
counterbalanced  by  its  ex¬ 
treme  earliness.  New  kinds 
are  multiplied  each  season 
through  seedsmen’s  greed, 
with  the  sole  aim  of  getting 
a  big  price  for  seed  while  the 
novelty  is  on.  As  a  rule,  the 
new  kinds  do  not  approach 
the  older  ones  in  quality. 
We  may  take  the  Crosby’s 
Early  as  the  standard  for 
quality  among  early  kinds. 
All  the  so-called  improve¬ 
ments  upon  this  fail  to  ad¬ 
vance  in  earliness,  thrift  of 
plant  or  size  of  ear,  without 
deteriorating  in  sweetness 
and  tenderness.  At  one  time 
during  the  season  I  thought 
that  Low’s  Perfection  would 
hit  the  mark,  as  it  was  show¬ 
ing  a  better  growth  than  the 
Crosby.  But  it  proved  to 
be  a  week  later,  instead  of 
earlier  as  claimed,  and  al¬ 
though  a  grand  corn  for  mar¬ 
ket,  by  no  means  the  equal 
of  the  Crosby  in  taste.  The 
Honey  was  inferior  to  the 
Perfection  and  a  week  later,  coming  at  a  time  when 
good-sized  ears  of  much  better  quality  may  be  had. 
Coming  at  the  same  season  was  the  Early  Dawn, 
which  I  regard  as  a  selection  for  earliness,  from 
Sto well’s  Evergreen.  The  Squantum  (or  Potter’s  Ex¬ 
celsior)  Corn  comes  10  days  in  advance  of  Stowell’s,  is 
more  tender  and  better  flavored,  and  bears  from  three 
to  five  12-rowed  ears  of  good  length.  The  extreme 
thrift  of  the  plant  carries  along  the  later  ears  to  mar¬ 
ketable  size,  instead  of  “  petering  out,”  as  with  most 
other  kinds.  It  is  unsurpassed  for  fodder,  and  has  the 
quality  of  withstanding  a  light  freeze,  continuing  to 
fill  out  ears  after  its  leaves  have  been  seared  by  frost. 
It  will  stand  close  planting  better  than  most  kinds. 
As  to  the  various  strains  of  the  Cory  Corn,  Jerrard’s 
has  a  larger  and  more  regular  ear  than  the  original 
stock,  and  Dreer’s  First  of  All  seems  to  be  of  slightly 
better  quality.  Their  resemblance,  however,  is  very 
close.  I  would  recommend  for  a  succession  for  home 
use  or  market,  Cory,  Crosby,  Low’s  Perfection  and 
Squantum. 
I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  a  new  tomato  thaq. 
was  distinct  as  a  variety  and  valuable.  The  Early 
Ruby  had  the  narrow  leaf  depicted  in  Henderson’s 
catalogue,  and  the  claim  of  earlier  ripening  was  fulfilled 
