Norwich bulletin., 1913-09-20
HOW EASILY CELERY IS RAISED

:! HOW EASILY CI CWritten Specially for The Bulletin)
 Celery Easy to Raise" That was the heading which attracted my att tention The article which followed began like this:-
 'Celery is no longer a luxury within the reach of those only who can afford to buy it at a fancy price, but can be had in abundance by every farmer.
 "Ey-ah"! as Mulvaney might have said.
 Gladys of Hath street might have chirped.
 s,Aw. Rats''!-That's what Hank. the hired man, said. when l read it to him.
 Hank came about a sixteenth of an inch nearer tn etruth than Miss Gladys. too. Because Hank knows. He and ] have been trying to raise about two thousand celery plants during the drouthy summer We started with a good deal more than double that num- Der but had to abandon the bigger part of our patch for the simple req son that we couldn't attend to it ali, and do our other work on other crops, Yop see' most of my garden sSe neIs is bit l have. last spring, for celery It is the bottom of kind of saucer. The ground is higher all around it and. at one side. rises into a little ridge All the moisture of an acre tends towards the central depression In heavy rains more or less rich top dirt is washed down into it from the ridge mentioned This occurs mainly in the spring thaws. Altogether, it is about the best bit I've got for a crop which, like eel cry, requires very rich soil and un- ending wet
 We'll, having chosen the ground with our best judgment we proceeded to manure it. First went on a heavy dressing of fine sheep manure, cal culated at the rate of forty loads to the acre. This was plowed under. the furrows being driven about eight inches deep Then a home mixed fer tilizer compounded of nitrate of soda, bone meal. sulprate of potash and tankage so as to analyze about 5:6:8, was broadCasted at the rate of 1,60O pounds to the acre, and narrowed in. The narrowing was done first with spring tooth, set to do it's durnedeSt, and later with an Acme which crush ed the clods and smOOthed the surface and fined the dirt to ashinesS.
 Then we sowed it to lettuce and spinach which came up promptly, made good growth, and were out of the way by celery setting time. Our celery plants were started in another bed which had to be sowed twice be- cause the flea beetles ate up all the first seedlings before they were six teenth of an inch high. It also had to be copiously watered. every nightfalL after sundown. because the early months,-like the later summer,-were rainless and almost dewless. By cOv- ering it with cheese cloth we man aged to save the second sowing from t6e beetles and by daily watering to force it into growth, despite the drouth.
 When it came time to set out the plants, they were big and lusty. and the lettuce and spinach out of the way on the celery ground. We plowed that patch again and. after blowing. top dressed with heavy application of hen-manure, on which acid phosphate had been freely used as an absorbent, etc. This was narrowed we'll in. Then our trenches were made by blowing twice-back and forth in the same furrOw, and cleaning it out with the shovel-plow The plants were all set after sunset, so as to give them the dark hours to get a start and were copiously watered in as fast as set, d mulch of dry dust being drawn over the wet dirt as soon as the water had wholly soaked out of sight. Immedi- ately after the first handling" a light sprinkling of nitrate of soda was drib- bled along in the trenches taking care to scatter none of it within six inches of the plants themselves.
 All this time we were without rain, and our celery had to depend for it's moisture. after that in the soil had been used up, on what we could apply from buckets. My only source of wa ter supply is from wells and small stream about eight rods from the eel cry patch. For several weeks Hank and l brought an average of thirty buckets each from the brook. every evening except Sunday, and put the sixty buckets all on one row, so that six rows got good soaking once a week apiece. Meanwhile we kept the soil between the rows under constant cultivation, handled" the plants no less than three times Owe had to. or see them go to pot, and, about three weeks ago, were able to begin board- ing them.
 We've just uncovered and dug few dozen punches. Oh. yes. it's celery. ! ou can tell it by the looks and. some times. by the taste. Also so far as I can discover. it's the only celery in the valley. A good many of my neighbors try to raise a little for fam
 
 "eventuated". this year. Nor is mine what l should call prize celery It wouldn't take a premium at a county fair anywhere south of Labrador The stalks are small; there are few of them to the root; the white plumes" which should grace it's tops look like white feathers. raised in token of de- feat.
 And more than half the bed. the half which we had to ignore in the mat ter of water-carrying, isn't worth blowing under.
 shall not. dare to keep any account with my celery. this year. to see how profitable CD it has been. If I should set down in cold figures against what little it will bring me in of money, the cost of the manure and the cultivation and the labor it has involved the re- suit wouldn't be pleasant to contem- plate.
 l get awful tired, sometimes, reading the absurd assertions too frequentIy printed in agricultural papers about how ''easy" it is to raise this that or the other crop. One day some anony-
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