14 The Colorado Experiment: Station. 
in moist sand, giving proper ventilation and maintaining a tempera¬ 
ture of from 33 to 35 degrees. 
Another way is to select a well-drained spot in the field and 
make an excavation about two' and a half feet deep, four or five feet 
wide and as long as necessary. A permanent hotbed can be cleaned 
out and used for the purpose. Have three or four inches of loose soil 
in the bottom, in which to place the roots of the plants. The celery 
is put close together in the pit and then well watered. When the 
leaves are dry, boards are put over the pit, leaving openings for ven¬ 
tilation. As freezing weather comes on, straw is thrown on the 
boards and later, a layer of earth over the straw. The holes left 
for ventilation should be closed tightly in very cold weather. The 
plants must not be allowed to wilt between the time of digging and 
removal to the place of storage. All diseased plants or parts of 
plants must be thrown out. Provide against the eating of celery 
by mice and rabbits, but do not poison mice, as celery absorbs odors 
very easily and the whole lot may be ruined. 
Celery can be kept in storage for two to three months. If it 
drys out during storage, apply water to the roots of the plants, 
keeping the tops as near dry as possible. 
SWEET CORN. 
Sweet corn is less adapted to Colorado conditions than many 
other vegetables, but is a profitable crop in some sections, especially 
at the lower altitudes of the southern part of the state. The nights 
at the higher altitudes are ordinarily too cool for its best growth. 
However, a small amount of the early maturing sort may be sat¬ 
isfactorily grown for home use. 
Soil and Fertilisers .—A warm, well drained loamy soil is best 
suited for corn growing. It is a rapid growing plant and therefore 
requires a liberal quantity of available plant food. It is impossible 
to make the soil too rich and large quantities of manure may be 
used to advantage. 
Planting .—The soil should be more thoroughly prepared than 
for field corn because the seed require better conditions for success¬ 
ful germination and the young plants, when they appear, are less 
vigorous than field corn. 
Rows are laid off from two to three feet apart and the seed 
planted so as to have the plants eight to ten inches apart in the row. 
Another method is to plant in hills three feet apart each way, leav¬ 
ing about three plants in a hill. The seed are planted one to one 
and one-half inches deep. Growers often take a chance with early 
corn and plant earlier than the normal season. Then, if the crop 
escapes frosts, it matures earlier and is correspondingly valuable. 
If it is killed or fails to come up on account of the seed rotting, it 
