680 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
jutte 22, 1896- 
HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 
Notes on Celery. 
Such is the importance of a crop of Celery that it 
does not need an apology to write about it at this 
time of the year, or, indeed, at any time. It is one 
of the two crops which cannot be absent from any 
vegetable garden, the other being, of course, Potatos. 
Celery must not be absent from the lordliest garden, 
and it ought not to be wanting in the lowliest. Nor 
indeed is it, for we need only to peep into the 
smallest plot of ground or even a backyard of a 
garden in the late summer and early autumn, and 
we may see it growing, and conspicuously so, “ in 
its stockings," as is the familiar description given of 
it by even the boys and girls who see it with its 
wrappings of either brown paper or newspaper, 
or even commoner things than these. The lowly 
grower may have only his dozen or two of plants, 
whilst the large gardener may count his by hundreds, 
and not a few hundreds either, and each grower is 
as much interested in his crop as the other; nay, it 
more frequently than not is the case that the lowly 
grower is more deeply, more personally interested 
than is the gardener who grows it in quantity, and 
for the very good reason that every plant is to him an 
object of special importance, to figure on the one 
hand on the exhibition table and get him the first 
prize, or else as a toothsome and healthy help to his 
daily meals. Both of these objects are good, and if 
the grower is very-successful, the two may be com¬ 
bined, the prize may be won, and the prize-winner 
sticks may be afterwards enjoyed to their proud 
owner’s bread and cheese or other meal, and make 
that bread and cheese all the sweeter in conse¬ 
quence. 
The first great question which must be settled by 
the grower is, What am I growing my Celery for ? 
Is exhibiting the great thing ? or do I want it for 
early table use? or, is it for use as a cooked vege¬ 
table, or a salad ingredient through the long winter 
months ? The two first mentioned considerations 
may be worked together, but the last scarcely can 
be. The large gardener, or professional gardener 
we mean, who grows for consumption by his 
employer’s household Celery to be used as another 
cooked vegetable with Potatos, as so many do use 
Celery now-a-days all through the autumn and 
winter months, he will be later in sowing, later in 
planting, and later in earthing up, but as he prac¬ 
tically knows all about Celery growing we need not 
waste our time on him. Every private gardener, of 
course, manages his garden and his crops according 
to the requirements of the establishment he caters 
for. We will therefore turn our attention to the 
amateur and cottage garden grower of Celery, 
and see wbat we can say to assist him in getting 
his crop of this vegetable favourite as good as we 
can. 
First of all then, now that we are seriously got down 
to our work, is the question of variety, and here 
locality comes in, for, as every grower knows, every 
neighbourhood, and particularly every neighbour¬ 
hood that has its local show, has its own special 
variety, which suits the soil and climate of that 
neighbourhood better than any other. Let each 
small grower, then, rely upon this, and as, generally, 
some one grower in each locality who has the neces¬ 
sary time and conveniences raises plants in large 
quantities to supply his less fortunate brethren, and 
as these plants were sown under glass in either 
February or March, and are pricked out now and 
almost ready for putting into the trenches, the amateur 
grower will secure his plants from him as early as 
suits his arrangements. Incidentally, we may here 
say that the above time is the time for sowing, and 
they are pricked out as soon as they have got two 
or three leaves on a bed prepared in some such 
fashion as this : A few bricks or boards are set up 
on end on a piece of hard ground, making a bed 
sufficiently large to hold the number of plants at 
four inches apart which the grower requires. On 
this hard ground is placed two or three inches of 
good rotten manure, and made firm; then two or 
three inches of nice fine soil riddled through a half 
inch mesh sieve, and the plants are put out in lines 
four inches apart all over it. 
At planting time the plants are cut out do wn through 
the soil and manure to the hard ground with an old 
knife or trowel, and carried straight to the trenches 
and planted. A little water given at planting to 
plants prepared in this way makes it that they 
scarcely show that they have been removed, but go 
on growing without check. We have given the 
methods of raising plants, because any grower who 
may think it worth while to remember what we 
have written, or who may preserve the article for 
future use, will have the first step in cultivation by 
him to refer to. Before planting the trenches have 
to be prepared. It is no use saying much as to 
choice of land, because every grower has to make 
the land he happens to have at his disposal grow 
his crops, whether it is ideal soil for the purpose or 
not. Certainly, a moist, fat, loamy soil is the best, 
as anyone may know who considers the Celery's own 
choice of position when growing wild ; because it is 
always found at the edges of ditches or drains, or in 
damp valleys. When a grower has settled where 
bis trench or trenches are to be, he digs it out a 
a good spade’s depth and width. We are no advo¬ 
cates for very deep trenches, and the width settles 
itself, as a full spade’s width is wide enough for a 
single row of plants, and exhibitors never grow it 
in any way but in single rows. Those who do not 
intend to exhibit can plant more than one row in 
each trench. Into this trench the operator puts a 
little of his manure, and with his fork mixes it with 
the crumby soil in the trench ; afterwards the 
remainder of the manure, and mixes it with some 
of the top soil, and then everything is ready for 
planting. 
As it has been the custom for many amateur 
gardeners to dig the trench and shovel out the loose 
soil, and then put in 6 in. or 8 in., or more, of pure 
rotten manure, finally returning 3 in. or 4 in. of soil 
to receive the plants, they may possibly want to 
know why we recommend this plan of ours. The 
reason is that the amateur's plan will grow large 
sticks it is true, but those sticks will be composed of 
stems hollow and pipy, and the whole plant will be 
deficient in weight and solidity, whilst our plan, if the 
necessary after attentions be properly given, will result 
in sticks solid and sound all the way through. These 
are points which the judges at the show look at and 
look at very carefully, and perhaps it will explain to 
some disappointed exhibitor why his fine and large 
Celery has been passed over, and his neighbour's 
solid and sound, if not quite so large, sticks have 
taken the prize. We have now made the trenches 
and planted them, and there remains the after atten¬ 
tions. These are cleanliness, occasional earth 
stirrings, a strip of matting put round the stems to 
keep them together, a pinch or two of some patent 
manure, as With’s or Beeson’s, now and then along 
the soil of the trench, but not close up, watering at 
times with water from a brook or that has stood in 
the sun ; a dusting of soot all over the leaves to keep 
off the fly as the plants advance, and proper earth¬ 
ing up. 
This brings us to the fact that there is proper and 
improper earthing up of Celery. The "stocking’’ 
or "wrapper” method of blanching is purely an 
amateur or cottage gardener’s dodge, professional 
gardeners not having much to do with it, though 
some years ago one of the best professional gar¬ 
deners of Yorkshire, Mr. Simpson, of Wortley Hall 
Gardens, invented and sent out paper collars with a 
fastening, to put on each stick to keep the stems 
together and slide up as the soil covering was added. 
This method is only a summer or before-frost-comes 
way of blanching, and is very useful for applying to 
Celery which has to appear at the late summer and 
early autumn shows, and the only word we desire to 
to say on the subject is a warning not to put the 
wrapping too high at first, or by so doing the sticks 
may be disposed to “ run ” or " bolt,” as gardeners 
term the starting off into flowering. This " bolting " 
is fatal to all prize winning, and it is to find out this 
that judges put their knives into each stick if they 
have the least suspicion that this defect in the 
Celery has set in. 
For winter blanching, and to protect the plants 
from frost, earthing must be resorted to, and this 
is done generally at two, sometimes indeed with 
dwarf growing Celery it is done at one operation, the 
stems having been kept together up to the time of 
earthing by a strip of matting being put round each 
plant. Before this earthing each plant is gone over, 
and all the young suckers around the base are rubbed 
off ; with the spade a bank is raised all along the line, 
and then each plant is held with one hand and with 
the other the crumbly soil is put loosely |but closely 
all round the stems and so on up to the top. Earth¬ 
ing is best done afcer the plants have had a good 
soaking with rain. There is one difficulty in 
earthing up Celery when the ground happens to be 
one of those heavy clays, which are like bricks when 
dry and like glue when wet, and that is to get the 
requisite small soil or crumbs to put round the 
plants. Once this was our experience, but, haviDg 
plenty of clean river sand about us, we built up our 
trench sides of the heavy clay and then surrounded 
the plants with the sand, and we never had better 
blanched or sweeter Celery. As to the earthing of 
the winter crop we would say leave it as late as 
possible, and do it either all at once or at twice, and 
see that the ground is well wet at the roots. Celery 
will always be a favourite vegetable. It is a native 
of our land, and has all the sturdy British virtues : 
strong of constitution, accommodating in its require¬ 
ments, and health-giving to those who use it.— P., in 
Alfreton Journal. 
V 
-- I - 
AN AMATEUR’S GARDEN. 
How often one hears of bulbous plants, flowering 
trees, and sbrubs not thriving in the smoky at¬ 
mosphere of London. Taking a walk to Wands¬ 
worth Road (Clapham Pavement), not many minutes’ 
walk from the densely populated locality of Vaux- 
hall, I was surprised to find plants of almost all 
kinds growing and luxuriating as one might look for 
in the freshness of the open country only. Here, 
through the patient indulgence of Madame Koeber, 
who has in the course of years made the soil so 
fertile, she flatters herself to grow plants where 
many fail, by her skill with her garden favourites. 
The area is from half an acre to an acre. At the 
time of writing there are Apples, Pears, Cherries, 
Currants, and Gooseberries all flourishing, and 
promising well for a bountiful supply of fruit later. 
Lilies of the Valley have been flowering by the 
thousand, and here and there flowers may yet be 
picked. These are growing under a Sumach tree, 
and look well. Thorns are blooming in variety, 
also Laburnums, Lilacs in variety, and the Guelder 
Rose. Along the left side of the garden is a very 
old Wistaria Sinensis, covering a wall space of about 
60 ft. to 80 ft., and one side is trained so as to cover 
a summer-house, which makes a most noble effect. 
The Wistaria for covering is perhaps one of the 
most decorative, ornamental, and hardiest of 
climbers we possess ; the lovely panicles of their 
gracefully pale purple flowers are without a rival. 
Adjoining the house is a small Fernery, with 
several British and foreign species. At one end of 
the garden a fountain plays, in which is planted 
Aponogeton (the Cape Pond-weed), and other aqua¬ 
tics ; surrounding the basin is the broad-leaved Ivy 
(Hedera Helix canariensis), with a handle-like arch 
of Ampelopsis quinquefolia, giving it an appearance 
of a huge basket. There are also Lilies in variety, 
Hemerocallis, Lupinus, Oenotheras, Carnations, 
Wallflowers, Centaureas, German Irises, and other 
equally showy hardy plants, all strong and healthy. 
The lawn, although small, has a beautifully fresh 
green sward. As will be seen the photograph will 
give a little insight as to what can be done under 
such trying conditions of London smoke, and, at 
the same time, teach amateurs to try again if at first 
they should fail, as an amateur’s failures are many. 
The universal cry in London is for a garden of trees, 
flowers, shrubs, a green sward, and a summer sky 
under which one can enjoy the fruits of one's labour, 
for therein lies the pleasure that amateurs derive 
from their labours.— IF. L. 
THE HERB BED. 
This is just one of the small things connected with 
the garden and which are of great importance, for 
no garden, whatever its size, is completely furnished 
without proper provision for a supply of these very 
necessary materials for flavouring purposes. A 
failure in the supply will often prove a cause of 
irritation and annoyance to the presiding spirit of 
the household, more especially in country districts, 
where any deficiency in the supplies cannot be so 
readily supplemented by purchase as in towns. 
Parsley holds the foremost position, and is in more 
general request; for besides the large use made of it 
for flavouring soups and stuffing, the large use made 
of it for garnishing table dishes, renders a most 
ample supply of it a prime necessity in many places, 
and the more beautifully curled the selection grown 
