44 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
along the middle of each trench, allowing four or five inches distance frotr, 
plant to plant. When this work is finished, give the plants water in plenty 
and occasionally water them from time to time, if the weather be dry, and 
likewise let them be shaded, till they strike root and begin to grow. When 
they have grown to the height of eight or ten inches, draw earth to each 
side of them, breaking it fine. This should be done in dry weather, being 
careful not to bury the hearts. Repeat the earthing once in ten days, till 
the plants are fit for use. Be careful, however, not to draw up too much 
earth to the plants at first, lest they be smothered, and leave the plants in 
a little hollow, that they may receive the full benefit of the waterings 
rain, &c. 77 
Taking the crop. —It is best to begin at one end of a row, and dig clean 
down to the roots, which then loosen with a spade, and they may be drawn 
up entire, without breaking the stalks. 
To preserve this plant during the winter, on the approach of frost take up 
a part of the crop, and lay it under sand for winter use. Those left in the 
beds may be covered with litter, to be removed in mild weather. Cobbett 
directs, to preserve celery in beds as follows :— u Two boards, a foot wide 
each, their edges on one side laid upon the earth of the ridge, formed into a 
roof over the point of the ridge, the upper edge of one board going an inch 
over the upper edge of the other, and the boards fastened well with pegs, 
will do the business completely; for it is not the frost, but the occasional 
thaws , that you have to fear, and the wet and rot that they produce. 77 
To save seed. —Either leave some established plants in the spring where 
growing, or in March, as soon as the frost will permit, set the plants in the 
ground, full two feet asunder. 
Cultivation of celeriac. —The times of sowing are the same as for the othei 
sorts. In the beginning or middle of June, they are transplanted into a flat 
bed in the open air, at the distance of fifteen inches from each other, and not 
in trenches, like other celery. They must be abundantly watered as soon 
as they are set out, and the watering must be repeated every other day, or, 
if the weather should be warm, every day. As they ’ncrease in size, they 
will require a greater quantity of water, and they must be occasionally hoed. 
The roots will be fit for use in September or October. Sabine states, that 
he has been informed that the plan of giving excess of water is peculiar to 
this plant, and that its vigorous growth is more dependent on richness of soil 
than any other cause. Abercrombie directs to earth up the bulbs four or 
five inches, after they are full grown, in order to blanch them. 
c ‘ £7se.—The blanched leafed-stalks are used raw, as a salad, from August 
till March ; they are also stewed, and put in soups. In Italy, the unblanched 
leaves are used for soups, and when neither the blanched nor the green 
leaves can be had, the seeds bruised form a good substitute. The root only 
of the variety called the celeriac is used, and Sabine informs us ( Hort . Trans 
