Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-04-25

o.swiss Csisry in north Dakota
wv. BxsKIxs, In DAKOTA Farmer.
In reply 70 your request for an article
- celery growing, ! will say that
writing newspaper articles is not in
NY line, but will do the best l can to
explain my method of culture.
have been quite successful in grow
ing celery here, and am willing your
readers shall have the benefit of my
experience
we will begin at the beginning,
which Is the sowing OF the seed. For
this we use fats shallow boxes) l2x24
Inches and 2 inches deep. Sift the box
full Of good rich garden soil. With q
straight edge scrape so as to leave the
box level full. Sow the seed broadcast
quite thickly. We grow from eight to
Ten thousand plants in the size OF boxes
named. Now with a smooth piece OF
board gently press the seed into the
soil, ut the same time pressing the soil
down about u inch below the top OF the
box. Now. with a fine sieve sift on
enough good sharp san to fill the box
--use your straight edge again and you
have your seed all covered exactly
alike. Now press the sand down arm
IL; water very carefully but thorough
" with q syringe or sprinkler, with a
dne hose, so as to not wash the seed
out from under the sand. Set away
where the temperature can be kept at
Sc degrees at night, and from go to 10
degrees in the day time, according TO
whether the sun shines or not Ia green
house or hotbed is the best place. cover
with paper to keep from drying out too
rapidly.
Keep the sand always moist, al the
seed must never dry out, and the plants
will be up in about two weeks.
Now the object of covering the seed
with sand win be apparent; If dirt was
used II would form a crust over the
seed, and as soon as the seed germin-
ated Il would raise the crust up, and it
would be almost impossible to get the
little plants out from under it. But the
sand viii not crust TO any extent, and
the first watering will settle it down,
fcaving the little plants on top. Now
rive the plants plenty of water, sun
and air. and in about two weeks they
are ready to transplant. This is done
by filling the same sized boxes loosely
with dirt and putting about 400 plants
In each box, using a small wooded 'dib'
and placing the plant In the dirt clear
TO the seed leaves. When the box is
full jar it gently, which, il the soil Is IN
the right condition, will fill the holes
made by the did," and settle the soil
nicely around the plants. Water thor
oughly, shade Cor a day or two, and
grow in a dry temperature of FROM go
TO 65 degrees. As soon as they begin
20 crowd each other shear them back.
This gives better roots and makes them
stocky.
In about six weeks from the time of
transplanting the plants are ready to
20 in the field. Before planting ont
they should be hardened off" by TX
posure to the outdoor air and by giving
them less water. We do this by re-
showing the sash on pleasant days and
gradually leaving it off altogether.
The ground should be well prepared
by deep plowing-should be well har-
rowed and planked, SO as to be per-
fectly free from Jumps, roots or trash
of any description. Now our method
Is to stretch lines eight feet apart the
length Of the field. Get a good sharp
hoy to drop plants for each man; pull
the plants; take what a be reached
around nicely with the hand and dip
the roots In a bucket of water; cut of
the roots, leaving them about 3 inches
long; shear the tops il they are more
than two or three inches long; keep
the roots moist until they are in the
ground. The planter gets down on his
knees by the side or astride of the line,
and with q steel pointed dibber make
= hole for the plant; put in the plant.
taking pains to get the roots Town full
length; now place the point of the 'dib'
about two inches from the plant and
run it straight to She roots of the plant.
A little practice will enable n to do
this SO that the plant will be fastened
80 securely that the leaves may be pull
ed of and the plant not conn up. If it
will do this the plant Is properly plant
ed, and unless very dry weather fol-
lows, there is little danger of its not
living. A good man will set from eight
to ten Thousand plants a day, and hard
ly q plant fad to grow, IL the ground is
in good condition.
said we made our rows eight feet
apart. This is for the
EARLY celery
which we plant as soon as danger OF
freezing is over, using white plume,
putting tho plants about 5 inches apart
in the row. Our late celery we plant
between these rows, thus leaving the
rows four feet apart. The object OF
planting in this way will appear fur
ther on. After the field is planted and
rs soon as the plants have caught on,
we begin to cultivate, using Planet, Jr.,
double-wheel hoes. After the plants
get TO growing a little, we start the
horses, using Planet, Jr., horse hoes,
with sweeps instead of the ordinary
shovels. These are kept sharp and are
sure death to any weed that shows it
self. In fact, we don't intend they shall
show themselves, but kill them before
they are up. As soon as the plants are
large enough SO they will not get COW
cred up, the ~cultivating is all done
with horses.
As soon as the frst celery planted is
= foot high we begin to bank up for ear
ly market, using Planet, Jr., single
earthers.
A great deal Of judgement has to be
exercised now as celery rusts very
uuicklv III banked too long in hot wealth