' May 1, 1903. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
17 
: Vegetable Garden. 
2rOOS5 > 
OPERATIONS FOR MAY. 
With plentiful rain and intervening 
spells of fine weather during this month a 
favorable’ opportunity is offered for get- 
ting forward with the work in this de 
“partment. 
‘Beds from which crops have ‘recently 
~ been cleared away should boa well dug, 
have a heavy dressing of manure, if ne- 
‘cessary, for the succeeding crop, and 
should be thrown up rough to enable them 
to benefit from full exposure to the 
weather until the time for planting ar- 
rives. © 
Sowings can be made of broad beans, . 
silver beet, carrots, turnips, endives, let- 
tuce, onions, parsley, spinach, and early, 
medium, and late varieties of peas. 
Cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, horse 
radish, herbs; and rhubarb roots that are 
ready can now be planted out in favorable 
weather. Keep. the necessity of rotating 
* ereps well in mind for the better economy 
of the food stuffs in the soil. A, crop of 
beans, for instance, should never be suc- 
ceeded by a crop of beans.. The plants 
of one family,having to a certain extent 
tastes in common, should only. be suc- 
ceeded ‘by those of an entirely different 
family and character. An exact. method 
of rotation should be worked out and 
strictly followed. Potatoes, as is well 
krown, require a rich, well manured soil, 
ani.can, therefore, be followed by peas, 
beans, carrots, turnips, or cabbages, the 
same soil sufficing for them without fur- 
ther enriching. They in their turn 
should be succeeded by vegetables of dis- 
similiar tastes. x 
The main point in rotating crops suc- 
cessfully is to make a study of the various 
tastes of the different subjects in order 
to be able, at the time of planting, to sub. 
stitute one crop for another of a totally 
different capacity. 
Clear. away all refuse, exhausted vege- 
table crops, and all untidy matter to the 
rubbish pits, there to rot down and form 
_ soil for future crops. 
Celery sufficiently advanced should be 
blanched by earthing up four or five weeks 
previous to its being required for the 
table. 
PEOSO IO SO > 
CELERY. 
' Celery has been not inaptly described as 
the most gentlemanly of all the’ salad 
herbs, and at its best it is perhaps de- 
serving of the compliment. It shows u2- 
mistakeable signs of good breeding and 
cultivation, and when daintily crisp and 
“muitty” its alliance with the Stilton is 
beyond reproach. This, however, is to 
take the herb on its social footing ; but it 
has other and weightier claims to respect- 
ful recognition. Few edible plants better 
repay attention; and to the amateur gar- 
dener who prefers the useful to the orna- 
mental his celery is hardly less a pride 
than a delight. The early sowing of the 
ssed ; the tender pricking out of the push- 
ing young things and their removal to tem- 
porary premises; the transplanting of the 
more robust in the carefully prepared 
trenches. And then the digging of those 
same trenches! That is a feat which has 
surely received the domestic commenda- 
ticns it so well deserved. Perhaps it 
looks harder work than it really is, but 
the carefully raised banks of earth make 
a capital show. Even now, however, the 
kcenest pleasure of all is to come, and it 
wul make the three summer months run 
as lightly over the amiable culturists’ head © 
as if he had his own “‘acceptance” to meet 
at the end of them. Which, happily, in 
this innocent form of recreation, is never! 
needed. The inspiring process known as 
“carthing up the celery” will occupy the 
gardener during the greater part of the 
summer. He takes it in easy stages, and 
by the time he has finished the last row, 
it 1s time to begin again on. the first. And 
that he has been engaged in “earthing up 
the celery’ is an impeachment which the 
most sensitive amateur is always ready to 
admit without .a blush. 
But it is necessary to admit that the 
delicate white celery which results from 
tls pleasant series of operations is of very 
humble origin. The wild celery, or 
“smallage’’ is to be found in most tem- 
perate climates. It was once plentiful 
enough in England, and the Isle of Thanet 
and the meadows bordering the Trent 
were almost over-run with it. The 
famous Marshal Tallart, brought as a pri- 
sener of war to England in 1704, resided 
for some years at Nottingham, and the in- 
troduction of celery into this country has 
been placed to his credit in the ill-audited 
books of post-humous fame. It may be 
admitted that, to enhance the attractions 
of the “elegant table” at which he was ac- 
customed to entertain the neighboring 
gentry, the Marshal “procured celery to 
be sent him from abroad.” But this is 
in no sense an implication that celery was 
net then produced in England. Ag a 
matter of fact, it was fairly common, 
though no doubt it was as yet inferior. to 
that imported from, Flanders. John 
Evelyn informs his readers how “‘smallage 
and celery are to be sown in the month ‘of 
March ;” while from a work written by 
a nephew of John Milton in 1678, we 
learn that “Sellerie is an herb which, 
nursed up in a hot-bed and afterwards 
transplanted into rich ground, is usually 
whited for an excellent winter  sallad.” 
Such a precise description. must have been 
founded on experience; and it is quite 
clear that celery was grown and “earthed 
up” in England long before the enforced 
sojourn here of its so-called introducer. 
Other authorities tell us that it was first 
cultivated in Italy, and some support is 
given to this idea by the often-recurring 
item in old lists of plants—“upright Ita- 
lian celery.” Some of the Italian varie- 
ties are still occasionally seen in England, 
but the Italians care little about “blanch- 
ing” their celery. Nor, for that matter, 
do the Germans or the French. It is as 
an ingredient of soups and stews that the 
esculent is chiefly esteemed on the Con- 
tinent, and the unbleached plant is cer- 
tainly of more powerful flavor. 
It has been long recognised by the 
chefs—and eyen our own “plain cooks’ 
follow suit herein—that celery is abso- 
lutely indispensable in the kitchen. As 
one of the great masters of the art 
_ pathetically inquires, “What. would _ be- 
come of all my soups, sauces, and entre- 
mets without celery?’ We leave him to 
his own solution of that problem, finding 
enough to wonder at in the neglect of 
celery as a cooking vegetable among our- 
selves. . Scores of authorities on the culi-. 
nary art have insisted on the advantages 
of celery cooked; as opposed to celery raw. 
But what aloss is there in the presentment 
of celery at table in the guise of a sauce, 
in which we have almost invariably to take 
the word for the flavor. - Both epicures 
and moralists would experience a grateful 
glow of appreciation if the traditional im- 
posture known as “celery sauce” were at 
last to be superseded by the real thing. 
Recipes abound, but here is one of ap- 
proved simplicity which has not been sur- 
passed by anything more novel and intri- 
cate. “Wash six heads of celery. Halve 
or leave them whole, according to size, and 
cut into lengths of four inches. Put them 
into a stewpan with a cup of thin white 
gravy, and stew till tender, Then add 
two teaspoonfuls of cream, a little flour 
and butter seasoned with pepper, salt, and, 
nutmeg, and simmer for a few minutes all 
together.” But this, the fair critic may 
object, is not celery sauce at all, but simply 
stewed celery. Precisely ; but it provides 
a delicious sauce, while you also make sure 
of the celery, so often unaccountably ab- 
sent. And there is another way which, 
as a great artist delicately whispers, is too 
good for any but discerning palates. It 
is really in the nature of a “fritter,” and 
is produced by first par-boiling the lengths 
cf celery, and then dipping them in batter 
and frying quickly in a pan with plenty 
of good oil. Experienced liners have been 
known to express their approval of this 
dish by complacently asking for more; a 
form which may be taken as the epicure’s 
supreme endorsement of the plat submit- 
ted to his judgment. A chop and celery 
fritters should be an idea worth cultivat- 
ing. It is, however, one of those simple 
little’ combinations which require to be 
perfectly done. 
It should be accepted as an axiom that 
the best celery procurable is not too good 
for cooking purposes. | Whether it shall 
bo the “Manchester Red” or the “Sand- 
ringham White” is a matter of choice. But 
too often we only get “the celery” with 
‘the cheese, while the outsides are thought 
good enough for the cook. But these are 
sometimes strong and disagreeable, if not 
