Quality Crops 
T 
'WO garden crops that are 
absolutely different, and 
yet have several points in com¬ 
mon are celery and asparagus: 
the latter one of most delicious 
the early spring garden has to 
offer, the former bringing the 
crisp, nutty, ripe flavor of late autumn to the table during the fall 
and winter months when fresh green things are scarce. 1 hey 
are alike in that, while universally appreciated, there is a wide¬ 
spread idea that it is very difficult to grow them, that there are 
some professional secrets about their culture which the amateur 
gardener cannot successfully acquire. 1 hey are alike further in 
that, while both are started or planted in the spring, the most 
important part of their culture comes in the late summer months. 
The part of celery culture usually considered most mysterious, 
simply because it is a special garden operation which does not have 
to be practiced with other vegetables, is the “blanching, includ¬ 
ing storage for winter use. And as the quality of the celery will 
depend almost altogether upon the method and thoroughness of 
the blanching process, it is not surprising that the many failures 
due to ignorance at this point of the game have given celery the 
reputation of being a very difficult crop to grow. 
More than almost any other garden crop celery requires a very 
rich soil and an abundance of water. As the plants aie not set 
out until very late — last part of June to last part of July the 
celery plants may be set where peas, 
lettuce, radishes and other early things 
have been growing. Before the soil is 
dug up for the celery a heavy dressing 
of some fine, rich compost, such as the 
manure from a hot-bed, which may be 
cleared out now, or anything similar, 
provided it is fine and well decom¬ 
posed. If no compost is available, a 
good dressing of high-grade fertilizer, 
or of bone dust, should be raked into 
the soil. And besides this fertilizing, 
something used in the row in which 
the plants are to be set, such as well 
pulverized hen manure, bone flour, 01 
bone-flour and cotton-seed mixed, will 
give the plants that cpiick, strong start 
so necessary to all transplanted things, 
and especially those set out late. 
In addition to having the soil rich, 
you should take every possible pains 
to get plants which are not only strong 
and stocky, but of good pedigree — that 
is, grown from the finest strain of 
seed. Some celery plants which look 
promising will produce celery with 
“hollow hearts”; if you grow your 
own plants, use only the best grade of 
imported French seed. The majority 
of home gardeners, however, buy 
their celery plants. Get yours from 
some plantsman upon whose honesty 
you can rely, or, if possible, 
from some neighboring market 
gardener who grows plants for 
his own use and who knows, 
probably from bitter expe¬ 
rience, the result of using cel¬ 
ery plants grown from inferior 
seed. Try to secure what are known as “re-rooted” plants from 
the late crop, the seed for which is usually sown outdoors about 
April i, and not transplanted to flats, as are the plants for early 
celery for fall use. The “re-rooting” consists in cutting the main 
root a little below the surface, resulting in the formation of a 
growth of fine fibrous roots that make the plants much more sure 
to live when they are set out in the garden. 
Your success with celery will depend to a large extent, too, 
upon the selection of suitable varieties. For the plants which you 
will require for fall use—through September and October—the 
early, dwarf-growing “self-blanching” type should be used. Of 
these the Perfected White Plume is the earliest and the nearest 
to being actually “self-blanching.” That term, however, should 
not be taken in a too literal sense, as even this sort should be 
earthed up to blanch thoroughly before being used. Golden Self¬ 
blanching is more used than any other celery, and deservedly so. 
It is not quite so early as White Plume, but is of even better 
flavor and better suited for storing for later use. The stalks are 
very “chunky!” thick, broad and solid, and the whole habit of 
growth of the plant is very compact, 
so that it is much easier to blanch than 
the taller growing sorts. Of the sev¬ 
eral good late or winter varieties, I 
prefer Winter Queen. It is semi¬ 
dwarf in habit of growth, and there¬ 
fore easier to blanch than the taller 
growing sorts, such as the old fa¬ 
vorite Giant White Solid; it keeps 
perfectly, and with proper storage 
may be had through the winter and 
well into spring. Giant Pascal is a 
compact, stocky growing, large, late 
celery of fine quality, exceptionally 
brittle. The new Silver Self-blanch¬ 
ing is similar in size and growth to 
Golden Self-blanching, but silvery 
white in color, like White Plume. 
As I have already suggested, the 
distance at which the plants should be 
set will depend upon the way in which 
one intends to blanch them, although 
the variety also makes some differ¬ 
ence : more space between the rows 
being necessary for the taller growing 
sorts, as more earth is required to 
blanch them. In the small garden, 
where space is limited, and only a hun¬ 
dred or two plants are grown, ordi¬ 
nary short drain-tile, placed over the 
plants when they are ready to begin 
(Continued on page 177) 
While entailing more labor than the board-and-bank method of 
blanching, drain tile is advisable where space is limited 
CELERY CULTURE USUALLY CONSIDERED MYSTER¬ 
IOUS BECAUSE ITS BLANCHING IS UNIQUE—A 
WORD ON ASPARAGUS AND ITS FALL CARE 
157 
