August  22,  1895 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
171 
spaces  at  once,  also  Apples  and  Pears  in  pots  bearing  magnificent 
fruits.  Three  other  100-feet  long  houses  are  filled  with  Peaches 
and  Nectarines  in  pots  in  leading  established  varieties  and  newer 
kinds  on  trial.  OE  proved — indeed,  commanding  merit — Early 
Rivers  Nectarine  was  bearing  large  and  richly  coloured  fruits  of 
splendid  quality.  Then  there  are  Figs,  with  a  house  to  themselves, 
sturdy  little  bushes  in  7-inch  pots,  the  branches  clustered  with  fruits 
that  will  ripen  in  succession  for  a  very  long  time.  A  house  filled 
with  Figs  ii\  pots  is  a  delight,  and  it  is  somewhat  of  a  wonder 
that  such  culture  is  not  represented  more  generally  in  private 
gardens. 
Mr.  Bunyard  has  also  learned  to  grow  Apricots  under  glass, 
and  can  show  a  conclusive  example  of  success.  A  span-roofed 
house,  unheated,  large  open  bush  trees  on  each  side  of  the  central 
path,  branches  studded  with  fruits — a  perfect  crop  which,  if  sold, 
would  almost  pay  for  the  structure.  This  is  the  outcome  of  a  study 
of  the  conditions  under  which  Apricots  flourish  in  their  natural 
habitat.  One  of  these  is  ‘'no  rain”  during  the  resting  season, 
and  therefore  the  house  is  kept  dry  as  a  bone  in  winter,  as  if  it 
were  the  home  of  Cacti,  the  necessary  moisture  being  afforded  on 
the  return  of  spring  and  onwards,  also  with  the  requisite  ventilation. 
The  crop  in  this  house,  which  is  not  more  than  20  feet  long,  light 
and  lofty,  would  meet  the  demands  of  a  nobleman’s  establishment. 
Thus  are  lessons  learned  by  the  way,  and  certainly  many  are 
obtainable  in  this  establishment  close  to  Barming  Station,  and 
within  two  miles  of  Maidstone. 
Reverting  for  a  moment  to  hardy  fruits,  as  grown  for  supplying 
the  markets,  the  old  questions  are  raised  and  advanced  as  if  they 
were  new.  Will  the  extension  of  planting  pay  ?  Will  not  the 
markets  be  overstocked  ?  There  seems  to  be  no  cessation  in 
importations  of  indispensable  food  fruits.  The  markets  have  been 
too  long  overstocked  with  “  stuff  ”  that  the  purchasing  public 
would  not  and  will  not  look  at  twice,  but  never  with  the  best  brands 
at  popular  prices.  The  planters,  with  judgment,  stand  to  win  in 
the  future  ;  the  non-planters,  who  rely  on  more  or  less  exhausted 
trees  and  kinds  of  fruit  not  in  demand,  as  surely  stand  to  lose. 
And  now  as  a  last  lesson  for  the  present.  What  is  to  be  said 
about  the  following,  and  no  doubt  accurate,  record  of  a  fruit  sale 
in  a  Kentish  newspaper? — “Messrs.  W.  R.  Tompsett  &  Son  held 
their  annual  fruit  sale  at  Paddock  Wood,  on  the  31st  ult.  It  com¬ 
prised  over  600  acres  of  Apples,  Pears,  Plums,  Damsons,  and  Nuts, 
and  was  important  not  only  in  point  of  acreage,  but  also  because 
it  included  (as  was  generally  acknowledged  at  the  sale)  some  of 
the  very  pick  of  the  plantations  of  Kent,  and  probably  of  the 
country.  The  attendance  was  larger  than  at  the  preceding  sale, 
the  London  markets  being  especially  well  represented,  one  firm 
purchasing  to  the  extent  of  over  £3000,  while  another  well-known 
firm  from  Norfolk  paid  close  upon  £1500  to  the  auctioneers- 
Almost  all  of  the  eighty-two  lots  were  sold,  while  the  auctioneers 
have  since  succeedeti  in  disposing  of  most  of  the  few  that  were 
not  sold  at  the  time,  bringing  the  total  realised  up  to  about  £8000. 
Fifty  pounds  an  acre  was  made,  while  several  large  plantations 
realised  £40.  One  27  acre  piece,  only  nine  years  old,  made  £700. 
This  fact  is  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  landed  proprietors 
who  have  unremunerative  property,  the  annual  outlay  on  fruit 
and  orchard  land,  when  the  trees  are  grown  up,  being  compa¬ 
ratively  very  small.  Such  results  in  a  period  of  agricultural 
depression  must  be  welcome  to  the  owners,  and  the  auctioneers 
may  be  congratulated  on  such  a  successful  sale.”  Certainly. — 
Inspector. 
GROWING  CELERY. 
There  is,  perhaps,  no  vegetable  to  which  a  larger  breadth  of 
ground  is  devoted  than  Celery.  A  good  crop  of  Potatoes  may 
be  more  profitable  to  the  poor  man,  and  during  the  summer 
months  Peas  occupy  more  space  in  the  gardens  of  the  opulent  ; 
but  as  the  autumn  advances  Celery  begins  to  show  itself,  and 
we  are  all  alike  friendly  to  its  successful  cultivation  ;  and  as  the 
time  has  now  arrived  when  it  ought  to  be  planted  in  good  quantity 
for  winter  use  a  few  general  remarks  on  that  subject  may  not 
be  out  of  place,  and  Celery  especially  likes  the  ground  prepared 
for  it  some  time  before  planting. 
I  may  here  observe  that  the  old-fashioned  mode  of  planting  or 
growing  Celery,  by  digging  a  deep  trench  and  adding  raw  manure, 
to  be  dug  up  with  the  subsoil  to  be  planted  on  immediately,  was 
certainly  bad  in  principle  as  well  as  in  practice,  more  especially  in 
such  soils  as  had  not  previously  been  trenched  pretty  deeply,  and 
that  recently  ;  for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  soils  require 
a  certain  amount  of  exposure  to  the  open  air  before  they  are  in  a 
condition  fit  to  receive  the  various  crops  they  are  to  be  sown  or 
planted  with,  otherwise  for  a  time  the  progress  they  make  in 
growth  is  very  slow.  Hence  the  impropriety  of  planting  Celery  in 
a  medium  so  much  at  variance  with  its  well-being.  In  fact,  the 
digging  of  deep  trenches  for  Celery  ought  to  be  abandoned  in  all 
cases  where  there  is  not  a  deep  and  good  soil  to  work  on  ;  neither 
ought  manure  in  a  raw  state  to  be  used  for  this  crop,  for  its  action 
is  expected  to  be  immediate  ;  consequently  the  mixture  in  which 
its  roots  are  to  ramify  ought  to  be  at  once  good  and  suitable  for 
them  ;  and  where  necessity  or  the  taste  of  the  cultivator  insists  on 
Celery  being  planted  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  ditch,  let  that  ditch 
be  made  at  least  10  inches  or  a  foot  deeper  than  is  wanted,  and 
that  space  filled  up  with  the  good  surface  soil  mixed  with  fine 
well-decomposed  manure  and  on  this  plant  your  Celery  in  single 
rows  about  8  inches  apart,  or  still  wider  if  very  large  heads  are 
wanted  ;  but  if  moderate-sized  heads  will  do,  and  a  greater 
number  be  requisite,  then  plant  a  little  closer.  The  result  will 
be  in  most  cases  more  satisfactory  ;  for  although  large  Celery 
is  certainly  noble-looking,  there  is  a  rule  in  many  private  families 
of  reducing  it  to  a  certain  size,  by  which  means  very  large  Celery 
is  no  better  than  medium-sized. 
The  time  of  planting  Celery  varies  much  with  the  latitude  of 
the  place,  local  advantages  or  disadvantages,  as  well  as  the  season, 
more  especially  that  part  of  it  in  prospect,  of  which  we  have  but 
little  foreknowledge.  However,  generally,  July  may  be  set  down 
as  a  good  month  for  planting  the  main  crop,  and  the  earlier  the 
better  for  late  places,  and  vice  versa ;  only  as  some  favoured 
situations  have  the  disadvantage  of  suffering  from  drought  in 
September,  and  consequently  a  cessation  of  growth  takes  place, 
there  is,  perhaps,  as  much  certainty  in  obtaining  good  Celery  in  a 
cold  and  late  situation  as  in  a  dry  and  early  one,  as  it  is  a 
known  fact  that  Lancashire  and  other  moist  counties  produce  the 
best  Celery,  not  even  excepting  the  vale  of  the  Thames,  both  above 
and  below  London,  where  very  excellent  Celery  is  certainly 
obtained  ;  but  it  is  as  much  the  result  of  the  liberal  use  of  manure 
as  anything  inherent  in  the  soil  or  situation. 
One  thing  is  certain — that  the  mode  of  managing  it  about 
London  cannot  well  be  improved  on  ;  and  as  the  natural  habitat  of 
the  plant  is  in  wet  ditches  and  similar  marshy  places,  it  follows 
that  the  plant  cannot  reasonably  be  expected  to  thrive  in  a 
dry  medium  ;  therefore,  where  circumstances  render  it  necessary 
to  plant  it  in  such  places,  let  it  be  liberally  watered  at  the  fitting 
time,  and  this  watering  must  be  repeated  at  all  times  when 
wanted  ;  not  regular  daily  dribbling,  but  a  sound  good  watering 
once  or  twice  a  week,  and  the  hardened  surface  of  the  soil  dis¬ 
turbed  next  day,  if  it  had  not  previously  been  covered  over  with 
short  manure  or  other  substance  that  would  not  cake  and  harden 
at  the  top  ;  and  as  we  often  have  very  dry  weather  in  August  and 
September,  it  would  be  better  at  the  setting-in  of  such  dry 
periods  to  cover  the  ground  by  the  side  of  each  plant  with 
leaf  mould,  short  manure,  or  something  that  will  allow  the  water 
to  pass  freely  through,  and  at  the  same  time  arresting  its  evapora¬ 
tion,  or  the  hardening  of  the  ground  underneath.  Liquid  manure 
may  be  occasionally  given. 
In  planting  out  Celery  for  good,  it  is  prudent  to  have  all  the 
plants  in  one  row  as  nearly  alike  in  size  as  possible,  as  there  is  a 
danger  of  choking  up  a  small  one  where  large  ones  have  to  be 
earthed  up  at  each  side  of  it.  Another  plantation  may  be  made  of 
smaller  plants. 
Where  the  ground  consists  of  a  very  shallow  soil,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  Celery  is  wanted,  and  size  not  a  particular  object,  it 
might  be  prudent  to  plant  one  or  more  broad  beds,  say  G  feet 
wide,  and  as  long  as  desirable.  In  this  the  plants  are  to  be  placed 
in  rows  across,  each  plant  occup;ping  about  a  foot  square,  which 
might  be  done  by  allowing  about  16  inches  between  the  rows  and 
9  inches  from  plant  to  plant.  This  description  of  plantation  might 
be  on  the  ground  surface,  and  earth  or  other  material  might  be 
brought  to  blanch  them,  if  sufficient  cannot  be  had  around  them. 
The  advantage  of  this  plan  is,  that  a  greater  number  of  plants  can 
be  grown  on  the  same  spot  of  ground  than  by  any  other  ;  and 
though  it  would  be  wrong  to  say  they  are  individually  as  large  as 
those  planted  in  single  rows,  yet  they  are  often  of  a  useful 
size  for  ordinary  purposes. 
While  on  this  head,  I  may  observe,  that  where  Celery  trenches 
