September 15. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 459 
CELERY CULTURE. 
Oor Celery cultivators may be divided into two classes 
at least; the two most prominent being those wlio 
sacrifice everything to size, and who have taken their 
cue from the exhibition table; the other, those who, 
although they know full well that a certain degree of 
; size, or succulence, is necessary to constitute it a good 
I salad, know, also, that it ought to be tender; and that 
tenderness and crispness is not a necessary concomitant 
of size. 
Although I should be amongst the very last to attempt 
to throw a slur on our exhibitions, which, in the main, 
are capable of much good ; yet it becomes necessary tor 
some friendly hand, now and then, to point to extremes 
in culture, which manifestly sacrifice quality to quantity. 
It is quite natural for our commercial friends in towns, 
or about their suburbs, to prefer monstrous Celei'y; if 
they purchase it in the market, they are so accustomed 
to esteem things according to their bulk and weight, 
that they are but too apt to overlook quality; and if 
they possess a little suburban garden desire to astonish 
their visiting friends; and monstrous Celery may form 
a legitimate topic for after-dinner chat. 
Now, without despising such harmless amusement, 
I must claim for the old aristocracy of our land a some¬ 
what higher order of taste. I say not this invidiously ; 
for the least reflection will show that they are ever in a 
better position to appreciate quality for its own sake; 
fashion is less tyrannous with them than with the 
middle classes, i think it will be admitted that our 
higher order of gentry seldom make a fuss about prize 
Celery; at least, I have never found it thus; audit it 
be so, I have established a foundation for the recom¬ 
mendations I have to give, as to the best mode ot com¬ 
bining quality, heavy crops, and individual size. These 
characters I place in the order of that importance I 
would fain assign them. 
Of course, in taking this, the most convenient and 
profitable view of the matter, I shall not now entertain 
the question of exhibition Celery: this is another affair. 
Rotation of crops is a most important matter for con¬ 
sideration in all vegetable culture, aud so is what is 
termed mixed cropping. These two questions not un- 
frequently stand in antagonism to each other; for mixed 
cropping, however convenient, however profitable, and 
however proper to many people on certain occasions, 
has this fault,—that it meddles seriously with a sys¬ 
tematic rotation. I repudiate neither; for they are 
each at times expedient, according to circumstances: 
it merely remains for the cultivator well to determine 
the objects he ought to keep in view, and to shape bis 
course accordingly. I do think it necessary thus to 
separate matters, in order to arrive at distinct views of 
business. 
The kind of Celery-culture, then, that I now intend to 
advocate and to explain, has reference to that mode of 
working land which is termed a rotation system. Such 
is what has been termed the “bed system;” or, as I 
have heard it called, “ the Scotch mode; ” but, whether 
the plan originated with our northern friends, I am 
ignorant. The chief advantages of the bed mode, are, 
in my opinion—first, greater produce from a given 
space of probably some thirty per cent.; secondly, extra 
facilities afforded for protection during severe frosts; 
and, lastly, a furtherance of rotations. 
That there is a greater produce from a given space a 
moment’s consideration will prove. I really must, to 
save space, take this for granted. 1 think it will be 
found that forty per cent, more may be thus produced. 
As to the facilities afforded for covering late or winter 
Celery from frost, I may observe, that a single row will 
require nearly as much straw or litter as a live-feet bed, 
i and this is a consideration; for clean straw, which is | 
best, is often grudged for such purposes; and, whatever 
market-gardeners may do, those who supply the tables ; 
of the gentry must not talk of losing [their Celery by 
frost. 
The furtherance of a rotation system will also appear 
plain on the slightest consideration. I have frequently 
seen strange mixtures of crops combined with Celery- 
culture by the single-row system; strange miscalcula¬ 
tions as to time, &c.; and some years since, when I 
used to practice the single-row system, 1 also resorted to 
the practice of cropping between the lines, generally j 
growing there Endive or Lettuce, which, of course, was ! 
got out betimes, for fear of impeding the cultural opera- 
tions necessary for the Celery. I could, however, never 
thoroughly reconcile myself to the practice, and it is one 
which I have relinquished for eighteen years. Those 
gentlemen who recommend so strenuously “ higgledy 
piggledy cropping,” do not, I perceive, always take into 
consideration the difficulty of handling some of those 
mixtures, or the condition in which the soil will be left 
for future operations. Many a time have 1 seen crops 
alternately with rows of Potatoes, which were so inju¬ 
diciously disposed of as to compel the cultivator either 
to neglect their proper culture, or in pursuing it to 
1 trample his potato-haulm in the middle of June. Such 
practices look very specious in the face of them, but 
they are seldom so profitable as at first sight they 
appear. Whatever very small gardeners may be com¬ 
pelled to resort to, as to mixture, I, for one, cannot 
think of giving up the rotation-cropping; although we 
are all, at present, ill-informed of the principles on 
which such should be conducted in a scientific point of 
view. 
I cau, however, asl think, see thus far, that rotation, 
or system-cropping, must advance with the times, to the 
progressive restriction of the higgledy-piggledy mode. 
I am prepared to admit, that a first-rate gardener, one 
of great experience, can combine many crops with 
profit, aud without detracting from his general system. 
Thus much of mixed cropping I frequently pursue 
myself; but the combination must be based on the most 
perfect knowledge of the crops, the culture they will 
need, the period of doing so, and their clearance ulti¬ 
mately. These things, to a veteran gardener, are, as it 
were, of an intuitive character; but such cannot be ex¬ 
pected from every one who can dig a plot of ground, or 
plant Cabbages. 
As a rotation-plan, I do think this bed-system in 
Celery-culture ought to recommend itself to every market- 
gardener in the kingdom. I have before adverted to 
the fact, that a Celery-bed of this description proves an 
excellent preparative for Asparagus. 1 have planted by 
no other mode during the last ten years, and I do not 
think that any one can excel us, quantity and quality 
taken together. But this is not the only crop which the 
bed-system is a capital preparer for; take, for instance, 
Cauliflowers, Brocolis, Leeks, Rhubarb, &c., crops 
which cannot be rendered too succulent, aud it will 
be found that the bed-system is highly subservient to 
future crops of importance. We are at this period (the 
middle of August) planting our main crops on ground 
which has carried this summer some of the finest crops 
imaginable of Peas of the Woodford Green Marrow, 
Imperial, and Thurstons Reliance, and as our practice 
may prove interesting to some of our readers I will 
give a slight detail of it. 
The Peas clean picked, and the sticks all sorted and 
removed, the ground is marked-out into beds, varying 
from four to five feet; any precise width is not essential, 
but when circumstances permit, I prefer a five-leet bed, i 
which, at our distances, holds seven plants in a cross j 
row, the plants eight inches apart, and six inches for i 
the two outsides. The rows crosswise are planted at 
i two feet three inches apart, in the early part of July; i 
