Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1916-05-12
RI GROW CELERY.

{ INV II uiO Wv ~ SSiSAJ SASSNooAti
y has no desire to eat any other,
md there is no reason why anv
,ne who has the room to grow it
should not have his own winter
supply. says the Cincinnati En-
quirer.
The old method was to dig a
trench a foot and half deep,
which was filled with good loamy
soil and stable manure, in which
the young plants were set. The
first objection to this was that
these young plants were shaded
part of the time until they grew
up to the top of the trench, and
in the effort to accomplish this
nature grew them so rapidly that
the stalks grew long and slender
aud the crowns did not bush out
as they should. From time to
time. as the plants grew, the
soil from the sides of the trench
was filled in about them, using
the hand to get it about the
stalks, which was back breaking
work at the best. AS the plants
emerged from the trench the soil
was ridged about them frequent
ly until growth stopped, when
they were allowed to stand until
bleached.
| Compare this with the new
way: Select strip of mellow
sandy soil, following potatoes is
good if the latter were fertilized
heavily. Dig the soil to the
width of two feet, as deep as the
top soil, working in as much
stable manure as it will take,
not putting it deep down in the
furrow as you dig, but laying it
halfway up the furrow, so thu
when covered 1t will be not more
than four inches from the top OF
the soil, as we desire the fibrous
roots to luxuriate in this later
on. If you have the time or as
| sistance it will benefit this soil
Iif it be trenched before digging.
To do this, throw it out clear
down to the subsoil for a width
of two feet on the side of the
row and allow it to lie another
week before digging. This must
| be done as soon as the soil can
be worked and not when the
weather gets warm, as the soil
should not be exposed to the hot
sun. Sunshine kills vast mum.
bers of the beneficial soil BAG.
terra, without which no soil is
fertile. There is no use in dig.
lying up the ground between the
celery roots, as this space need
only be kept free from weeds
and is used as path as we'll.
i OF course the celery seed:
should for an early crop be sowr
i'll the house or greenhouse III
flats thinly, and when they have
sho wn their third leaf thin them
out to two inches apart in the
fats and shear them off hall
inch above the crowns to make
them stool out. The more
branches You get the more heart
, there will be to the celery. The
, seedlings should be kept in a
Warm, light place, but not IN the
direct rays of the sun, or they
!. will become spindling in spite OF
all you can do. They may re.
main in the flats until time to
transplant them to the open
ground, but if you have not toe
mary to handle it will repay you
to shift them into other fats, al
lowing them to Sc: three inches
apart and set them out bout the
first week of June.
The rows should be leveled off
before the planting is begun and
the plants set level with the top
and just as deep as they set in
the fats 1t is the intention to
grow them flat" just the same
as beans or peas. The soil is
worked about them, but never
ridged up or allowed to have ac-
cess to the heart Of the plants.
There is a reason for this
method of celery growing, or.
rather, number of them. The
one which suggested 1t is the
fact that all the diseases Of
fungous nature which afflict
celery carry their spores in the
soil, and it is these spores CON-
ing into contact with the plants
which cause heart rot, brown rot
and anthracnose, all of which
render the celery plants insight
ly and often unstable. You