The field and garden vegetables of America

by Fearing Burr

CELERY.

Smallage. Apium graveolens.

Celery, or Smallage, is a hardy, umbelliferous, biennial plant, growing naturally "by the sides of ditches and near the sea, where it rises with wedge-shaped leaves and a furrowed stalk, producing greenish flowers in August." Under cultivation, the leaves are pinnatifid, with triangular leaflets; the leaf-stems are large, rounded, grooved, succulent, and solid or hollow according to the variety. The plant flowers during the second year, and then measures from two to three feet in height; the flowers are small, yellowish-white, and are produced in umbels, or flat, spreading groups, at the extremities of the branches; the seeds are small, somewhat triangular, of a yellowish-brown color, aromatic when bruised, and of a warm, pleasant flavor. They are said to retain their germinative powers ten years; but, by seedsmen, are not considered reliable when more than five years old. An ounce contains nearly seventy thousand seeds.

Soil.—Any good garden soil, in a fair state of cultivation, is adapted to the growth of Celery.

Propagation.—It is always propagated by seed; one-fourth of an ounce of which is sufficient for a seed-bed five feet wide and ten feet long. The first sowing is usually made in a hot-bed in March: and it may be sown in the open ground in April or May; but, when so treated, vegetates slowly, often remaining in the earth several weeks before it comes up. "A bushel or two of stable manure, put in a hole in the ground against a wall or any fence facing the south, and covered with a rich, fine mould three or four inches deep, will bring the seed up in two weeks." If this method is practised, sprinkle the seed thinly over the surface of the loam, stir the soil to the depth of half an inch, and press the earth flat and smooth with the back of a spade. Sufficient plants for any family may be started in a large flower-pot or two, placed in the sitting-room, giving them plenty of light and moisture.

Cultivation.—As soon as the young plants are about three inches high, prepare a small bed in the open air, and make the ground rich and the earth fine. Here set out the plants for a temporary growth, placing them four inches apart. This should be done carefully; and they should be gently watered once, and protected for a day or two against the sun. "A bed ten feet long and four feet wide will contain three hundred and sixty plants; and, if they be well cultivated, will more than supply the table of a common-sized family from October to May."

"In this bed the plants should remain till the beginning or middle of July, when they should be removed into trenches. Make the trenches a foot or fifteen inches deep and a foot wide, and not less than five feet apart. Lay the earth taken out of the trenches into the middle of the space between the trenches, so that it may not be washed into them by heavy rains; for it will, in such case, materially injure the crop by covering the hearts of the plants. At the bottom of the trench put some good, rich, but well-digested compost manure; for, if too fresh, the Celery will be rank and pipy, or hollow, and will not keep nearly so long or so well. Dig this manure in, and make the earth fine and light; then take up the plants from the temporary bed, and set them out carefully in the bottom of the trenches, six or eight inches apart."—Corb.

It is the practice of some cultivators, at the time of setting in the trenches, to remove all the suckers, to shorten the long roots, and to cut the leaves off, so that the whole plant shall be about six inches in length. But the best growers in England have abandoned this method, and now set the plants, roots and tops, entire.

Blanching.—"When the plants begin to grow (which they will quickly do), hoe on each side and between them with a small hoe. As they grow up, earth their stems; that is, put the earth up against them, but not too much at a time, and always when the plants are dry; and let the earth put up be finely broken, and not at all cloddy. While this is being done, keep the stalks of the outside leaves close up, to prevent the earth getting between the stems of the outside leaves and inner ones; for, if it gets there, it checks the plant, and makes the Celery bad. When the earthing is commenced, take first the edges of the trenches, working backwards, time after time, till the earth is reached that was taken from the trenches; and, by this time, the earth against the plants will be above the level of the land. Then take the earth out of the middle, till at last the earth against the plants forms a ridge; and the middle of each interval, a sort of gutter. Earth up very often, not putting up much at a time, every week a little; and by the last of September, or beginning of October, it will be blanched sufficient for use."—Corb.

Another (more recent) method of cultivation and blanching is to take the plants from the temporary bed, remove the suckers, and set them with the roots entire, ten inches apart in the trenches. They are then allowed to grow until they have attained nearly their full size, when the earth for blanching is more rapidly applied than in the previous method.