The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-03-23
RAISING CELERY IN
THE PEcos VALLEY.

| TIE FG~0S NAGIG
l(Paper read by J. l.. Wilson at Ros-
well Farmers Institute.)
l have raised celery more or less
for 20. years. Some times T have me
with very good success and some
times not so we'll. l believe the Pecos
Valley is one of the best localities for
raising celery in the United States,
for the cas- that we can cover it
up in the row where it will grow all
winter, and take it up just as we mar
ket it, 1t m out crisp and ten
der. Farther north they ave to dig
it up and and put it in treches. Colo
RADIO, California nor Michigan celery
can neither of them compete with our
celery in market.
1 have had nothing but praise this
gear wherever I have shipped my eel
cry, except one firm in Galveston.
Texas. This firm said my celery was
too brittle, too easily broken.
Kansas is our best market, although
shipped some to Chicago, one ship
melt to New York, some to Iowa and
Nebraska. All say it was the finest
they Eve saw IT tasted. 1 shipped
one crate to my son in Lubbock, Tex,
for Christmas. l shipped it Dec. q,
but it got delayed and he received it
January 9, making 10 days on the
road, and he said it arrived in fair
condition.
1t requires a very soil for the
raising of celery, to get it first class,
and it doesn't pay to raise second
and third class stuff.
1 generally SOW my seed in beds,
from the 10th to the goth If March,
July, setting up to the 18th or goth.
Celery set out later than the goth has
not done any good for me. Put your
ground in good order. Run your
rows seyera feet apart, run the wa
ter down the rows. set your plants
ter line, 4 to 5 inches apart in row,
and then run water down again every
day or so for some time until they get
started to grow. Besure when setting
never to set more than one plant in
a place. If you set two Or more plants
side by side they will grow up and
look like one large plant, but when
you dig it up it will come apart and
make No. 2 or No. 3 celery.
When celery gets 10 or II inches
h;~l +Lo l;,. ,lN,,JJ -
both sides of the row. and as it grows
keep banking until about the first Of
November and then it should be Gov
cred clear up, top and all.
You should never work celery when
it is frozen If you do o will ruin
it. 1t will turn black and rot.
| plant three varieties, White Plume
for early, Self Blanching for second,
and Giant Pascal for late. Giant Pas
will grow with less fertilizer than
any other l know.
1t axes about 10000 plants to set
one acre, and 500 to 500 dozen No.
1 celery is a good yield for one acre.
l calculate the cost of fertilizing,
x wv my dIu LlAi hSiiiS ~ dSlS vi
about one hundred dollars. 1t
depends on the price how much mon
ey there is in the crop. Last year l
most of mine for so cents per
dozen. This year l sold most of it
for 40 cents per dozen for first class.
One of h main points in raising
is to have large, vigorous
plants. Raise plenty of plants, throw
ing away all small ones.
If your celery is growing fast and
you neglect to water it for awhile,
and it gets very dry. and then turn
water on, it takes the second
growth and will have shelly or mol
low stalks. I had a fair test of that
year. l had two and a half acres
under the south ditch that runs thru
town. They urned the water out the
of September to dry the ditch
so as to cement the ditch. For the
neXt three weeks it was very dry. |
the ain set in, and my celery
to grow again, but the greater
of it was hollow and small.
and brought about fifty or sixty dol
lars al acre. while M celery under
artesian we'll brought from two hun
and fifty to three hundred dol
an acre.
The man who raises celery doesn't
to belong to any eight-hour day
organization. He will come nearer
working Is hours if he makes a sue