Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-17
CELERY EXCELLENT CROP
TO WIND UP HOME GARDEN
Earhng Boarding Trench and Surface Planting Systems
May Be Used-Plants Can Follow Peas or Other Early
Crops-Methods of Planting, Culture and Storing
By JOHN BARTRAM

CELE1Y is vegetable better grown from
" plants than seeds so far as the home
gardener Is concerned. The improved va
rieties are virtually self-blanching. thus re-
lieving the grower on a small scale from
elaborate and time-consuming systems Of
trenches Plants are on sale from now
on at the nurserymen's stores at from
thirty to fifty cents a hundred.
one hundred plants properly set out and
cultivated should give enough crop for
storage to last a family of five from Thanks
giving to Easter. Twenty-Five TO fifty Of
the early varieties. sometimes called sum
mer celery. and seventy-fve to a hundred Of
the late sorts will relieve the housewife Of
one of the most expensive of winter luxuries
at cost far below the luxury class. The
culture is comparatively simple and the
results almost certain. Early celery can
be planted now and for a week or so late
celery can go in as late as the first week
in August.
Celery can be raised right now as a fol-
low crop for the rows occupied by peas
and later for those used for early corn,
beets and lettuce.
INTENSIVE CULTURE
Thanks to the development of a scientific
process known as the new celery culture"
the succulent plant can be grown sats-
factorily in any small garden with good
soil says n bulletin from the National
Emergency Food Garden Commission.
The new celery culture consists of plant
ing celery so closely together that the
tops themselves form a mass Of shade
through which no sunlight can penetrate,
The perfection of new varieties of self
bleaching celery helps home gardeners to
produce an abundance Of white stalks on
small area.
Such cultivation Is adapted to gardens
which can be irrigated from a city water
supply Celery consumes much water and
plant food, so that fertilization is also
necessary in the new celery culture. A
wheelbarrow load of well-rotted manure
should be worked into a celery row of
fifty feet. Set the plants six inches apart
in rows; rows are eight inches apart.
Plant to the depth roots were in the
ground before, shipping off half the top
and one-third the roots Cultivate with
the hoe till the foliage gets too thick. In
drought water with hose or by buckets.
TRENCH OR EARTHING SYSTEM
There are, of course, other ways Of grow
ing celery, the difference being in the
method Of bleaching, either by earth or by
boards.
II can also. be beached with specially
prepared paper cylinders.
For earthing up, the plants can be set
either level with the ground or at the bot;
tom of trenches about one and half to two
feet deep. AS the growth wakes, the plants
are earthed up till the trench is level with
the surface, after which the earthng is con-
tinued above the surface as long as neces-
sary. Another variant of the earthlng sys-
TEN is to plant flush with the ground and
hill up earth from between the rows. This
method necessitates more width to the rows.
For the trench system the rows can be as
near as two feet apart; for the surface sys-
TEN three to four feet is advisable. The
trench system has an advantage in requir-
ing less water. as the trenches hold mols-
ture.
Celery can be blanched with boards ten