The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1910-08-04
Clemson Extension Work-Celery.

eaten raw with salt and also for
extensively used for seasoning pur-
poses. Celeriac or turnip-rooted Gel
cry is grown for it's large roots,
which are used for seasoning salads.
It is a gross feeder, and though the
soil selected be reasonably fertile, s
or 10 tons of barnyard manure should
be applied per acre and thoroughly
incorporated with the soil before
planting. On land that will produce
forty bushels of corn per acre, not
less than 1000 pounds of fertilizer
containing 7 per cent. available phos-
phoric acid, per cent. nitrogen and
8 per cent. potash should be applied
per acre.
Celery seed are planted in frames
in March. The rows are marked OH
six inches apart and about one half
inch deep. Ten to fifteen seed are
sown to every inch of row and cover
ed with sifted soil. After the seed
are planted the bed should be
sprinkled lightly and then shaded
with bags or burlap until the young
plants begin to appear. Then the
bags or burlap should be removed
and lath screen used in its place.
After the seed have been sown the
surface of the soil in the plant
bed should be allowed to be-
come dry until the plants have
become we'll established. The use
of the lth screen may gradually
be discontinued after the plants have
formed the fourth of fifth leaf.
When the plants are about three
inches high they should be thinned
to one inch apart in the row. The
plants removed may be transplanted
to other beds and will produce as
good, if not better, plants than those
not transplanted. Celery is trans
planted to the field during the sum-
mer months, when it is very hot and
the soil unusually dry. 1t is, there
fore, necessary to water the plants
as they are set out. The tops of
the plants should be clipped back to
half their length about two weeks be-
fore transplanting to the field and
watered sparingly the last week be-
fore transplanting. An hour before
the plants are removed from the beds
they should be watered freely.
If the celery is to be blanched by
earth, the rows should be marked off
five feet wide and the plants set five
inches apart in the row. If the
double row system is used, each set
of double rows should be six feet
wide and the plants set six inches
apart each way.
1t is very important to have stocky
plants to transplant to the field, as
it is very difficult to get the small
ones to live, and they never grow off
as rapidly as plants of larger size.
Plants that have been given ample
distance in the seed bed will be from
six to eight inches tall and very
stocky at transplanting time.
The amateur grower frequently
makes the mistake of setting the
plants too deep in the soil. The plants
should not be set deeper in the field
than they stood in the plant bed. If
the plants are set in the bottom of
a furrow, as is sometimes practiced,
the bud will be covered by soil wash
ing from the sides of the trench and
many of them will die. When the
plants are set in a slight furrow made
by the marker and the soil drawn
about them, the bud of the plant
should be on level with the sur
face of the soil.
The plants should be taken from
the bed with small block of soil
attached to the roots if possible. To
do this a heavy knife with a blade
about six inches long is passed along
each side of the rows one and one
half inch from the plants, cutting
about three or four inches deep. 1t
is then passed between the plants in
the rows cutting the same depth.
The plants are then removed with
the block of soil and roots attached,
pressed lightly in the hand to prevent
the soil from being shaken OF in
handling. The plants are then cover
ed with wet bags or burlap and when
thus protected will remain perfectly
fresh for several hours. The ideal
way for setting the plants is to place
the plant in the hole Immediately
after the water has been poured in;
fill the hole with soil and press light
ly, leaving a mulch of loose dry soil
around oach D1ant