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WINTER MEETING.
CELERY.
H. C. CHRISTENSEN, Oshkosh, Wis.
The large and rapidly increasing demand for celery makes it
well worth while for the trucker to give his attention to the grow-
ing of this excellent vegetable.
There are two points that especially recommend it to the market
gardener-the large cash returns that may be obtained from a
small area and its adaptability as a second crop. In our latitude,
planting may be delayed as late as the first week in August and
still a full crop be harvested; so that land that has been previously
occupied with potatoes, strawberries, peas, spinach, carrots and
other early vegetables, may be turned to good account by planting
to celery. While a muck or deep black loam is preferable for its
growth it is not essential and celery of a superior quality may be
grown on heavier soils.
Methods of culture vary somewhat. Those which I shall give
are those we employ in raising it at Oshkosh. The first thing to
be considered is the raising of plants. For early celery, the seed
is sown in flats in the hot-bed about the first of March. A soil
composed of two-thirds good garden loam, one-sixth well decayed
manure and one-sixth sharp sand is used for sowing the seed in.
It is run through a half inch mesh sieve so as to thoroughly mix
and pulverize the soil. Flats three inches deep are filled two-
thirds full. It is pressed firmly and smoothed off with a board.
The seed is sown and covered to a depth of one-eighth of an inch
with clean sand. The covering of sand lessens the liability to
damping off. When the plants have made three or four leaves
they are transplanted into flats an eighteen by twenty-two inch
flat holding two hundred. Here they grow until ready to set out
in the field. Proper attention being given to shading and venti-
lating in sunny weather. For later use, seed is sown in cold
frames with glass or cloth covering! and for still later use it is
sown out of doors as early as possible in rows one foot apart in
finely prepared soil. The seeder is regulated so as to sow the seed
shallow, celery being slow to germinate it is sown thickly so as to
secure a good stand. A little cabbage or cauliflower is sown with
the celery to mark the rows so that they can be wheel hoed before
the celery makes its appearance. They are kept weeded and
11-H. S.
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