518 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
•June 13, 1903. 
Readers' Competition—continued. 
The Cultivation of the Celery. 
The wild Celery plant is found all over Europe. The best 
is found growing on -a strong clay soil ; in this way they 
grow hardier. Where grown on loose soil, it grows too fast, 
in consequence is loose in texture, grows tall and delicate, 
has a want of crispness and flavour. The celery likes a 
compost soil to thrive in, has a strong root, likes warmth, 
cannot take up food in a cold soil ; unless it takes up food it 
will be hollow in the centre. The Celery requires a good deal 
of heat to grow it to perfection. If grown too fast it is apt to 
go with disease and rot, which is a very common occurrence. 
The Celery can take up impurities through the stick ; when 
grown on a sewage farm it should be protected with brown paper 
round the stick, to keep it from the impurities in the soil. 
Celery is best grown in trenches, with a fair lot of farmyard 
manure, half rotten preferable; tread down firmly, as it regu¬ 
lates the heat, so that it does hot all escape at once and become 
too hot for the roots. The manure should be 8 degrees higher 
than the soil around. A good compost to plant in is two parts 
soil and three parts manure, well mixed together, which suits 
them best, as it will not excite the plants too much when first 
planted. Make the soil firm, as it means a firm texture in the 
stick. A good manure to add to the soil is rape dust, a slow 
nitrogenous food that improves flavour, and bone meal to build 
up firmly and crisp. Before planting out Celery it should be 
well watered, to get it to lift with good balls, and the plants are 
more easily divided, with less injury to the roots. When the 
plants are a foot high give a little fresh sweet soil around them. 
It puts fresh vigour into them, and strengthens them. Give 
soil as often as necessary, and remove all unnecessary growth 
before doing so. Alex. McPherson. 
Grimston Manor Gardens, 
Gilling East, York. 
Bulbs for Bedding. 
Where it is the practice to bed out bulbs for spring and 
summer flowering in beds or borders in the flower garden the 
time is now approaching when these require to be removed for 
summer bedding plants, so a few words with regard to lifting 
and keeping the bulbs for the ensuing season may be of interest 
to the young readers of this paper. As so much depends on 
the treatment that bulbs receive, it may be serviceable to bear 
in mind the nature of the bulbs, to which country they belong, 
to ascertain as near their natural mode of growth as possible, 
and to act up to it as far as circumstances will permit. As 
there can be such a wide field to choose from under this heading, 
I will confine my remarks to a few of the most used for that 
purpose above mentioned, which may be termed hardy bulbs. 
For example, take Tulips. In many gardens these will still 
be in flower, owing chiefly to the sunless weather which we have 
been experiencing of late ; but in lifting these every care should 
be taken to lift the bulbs with as much soil adhering to them 
as possible, replanting them in some convenient place, where 
they can be carefully treated until the leaves die off, after which 
they can be lifted and dried, afterwards stored away in some 
dry house until again required for replanting., A great, many 
growers throw out their bulbs after one year s flowering, but 
they can be used advantageously, and flower freely for years 
to come if carefully handled. Hyacinths should be treated 
similarly to the Tulip, therefore it is needless giving details 
with regard to them. On the other hand, take bulbous Irises, 
Fritillarias, Snowdrops, and many of the Lilies. These, of 
course, do not require to be lifted ; in fact, should not be, but 
are subjected to a period of dryness injurious to them, for the 
sake of convenience to buyers, when in the market; but m 
ordinary circumstances dryness should be averted with that 
class of bulbs. The above-mentioned bulbs, including _ many 
others omitted, should be planted at least six inches in the 
soil to prevent injury from frosts. A good coating of short 
stable litter proves a good preventive from frosts, and also 
stimulates the growth ^too, removing all carefully when the 
bulbs make their appearance in spring, to give a tidier look to 
the surroundings. In my estimation bulb borders should be 
more commonly seen in private gardens, where, with such a 
variety as it is now able t'o possess, the display of bloom can be 
kept up for a long period of time, and which looks so very 
effective when neatly arranged. Modern. 
How to Grow Mixed Fruit with Plants. 
I have a very small house to make use of, which is 26 ft. long, 
11 ft. wide, and is built on a 3 ft. 6 in. wall, with four rows of 
pipes in it. The stages are the same height as the wall, and are 
made flat with galvanised iron. They are boarded up at the 
sides to keep the"heat- for bottom heat. One end is left open for 
heat to come out to plants, and my house is kept about 76 decrees. 
1 have grown some good Coleus, Gloxinias, and Ferns in it 
through the winter months, and I have now got it full of a good 
collection of fruit. 
I have- got 2 in. of ashes on the stages, which are 4 ft. wide, 
leaving a path 3 ft. wide. Tomatos are the first fruit I shall 
mention. I placed these on the back of my stage on March 14th, 
out of 48 pots, about 18 in. apart, growing them up on one 
stem about- 5 ft. 6 in. in length, and keeping all side-shoots cut 
out. I have allowed enough soil for each plant that would about 
fill a 12 in. pot, being a mixture of loam, old mushroom bed, and 
a little sand. Into this they very soon root and grow. Do not 
give too much soil, thinking to get the Tomatos better, but 
keep to that amount, feeding them with a little Clay’s Fertiliser. 
When they have set their fruits, what they like most, I find, 
is a good bit of moss laid on the soil, which when watered keej,- 
nice and damp ; they root freely into this. They are about 1 ft. 
from the glass. I cut the leaves half off where more light is 
necessary. To let you know how well they do in this way, I 
have fifty Tomatos in one cluster of one kind. I am growing 
three kinds—the Up-to-Date, and the other two are what a friend 
brought from America. I call them the Queen and the Italian 
Cluster. The Queen beats the Up-to-Date because it fruits at 
about the third or fourth eye from its root, and when in their 
prime they throw from four to six Tomatos at each cluster. 
The Italian Cluster gives between twenty and fifty Tomatos to 
the cluster and comes to the size of an egg, being a beautiful 
firm Tomato for a gentleman's table. I started cutting these 
Tomatos on May 13th, and I will refer to them later on. 
Another fruit I am growing in this house is Melons. These 
were treated with double the soil and double the space of Toma¬ 
tos. I am growing so as to get a succession of fruits, which is 
■clone by pinching one plant at sixteen joints from its roots, 
another at twenty joints, and another at twenty-four joints from 
the roots. The one pinched at sixteen will fruit first. Leave 
about four Melons on one plant, which are quite enough to finish 
properly. I cut them when they look ripe, and place them on a 
shelf near the glass in the same house, which finishes them off 
nicely by the sun. Pinch them at one joint above the fruit, and 
keep them watered, or else the crop will be spoiled. I am also 
growing Cucumbers in the same house, treating them the same as 
the Melons at the roots. I pinched these plants at their twelfth 
joint. Then it breaks out from the joint, and Cucumbers come 
on these side-shoots, which are pinched one leaf-joint above the; 
Cucumber. They will keep bi’eaking and showing fruit, but yon 
must use judgment as to how many the plant will carry; sis 
or eight are quite enough for the first crop. Cucumbers will alway. 
come well without setting them; if you set them they will only 
be fit for seed, as they will come quite thick at one end and 
thin at the other. Syringe Cucumbers and Melons once a da\ 
in medium weather, but twice in very hot weather. I sene 
photograph of Tomatos and Melons. The Cucumbers are noi 
large enough, but they are photographed with the Melons. There 
are the two- kinds of Tomatos shown, and by this the reader: 
may see how they grow. A. C. Wallace. 
The Vineries, Sipson, Yiewsley, R.S.O. 
[The photographs showed good crops of the subjects described 
with plants beneath them, but they were not very suitable foi 
reproduction.— Ed.] 
The prize last week in the Readers Competition wa 
awarded to “Heather Bell” for his article on “Growing 
Onions for Exhibition on Heavy Soil,” page 496. 
