If in a private garden, the ground on which the fall crop is usually set will likely be that from which a crop of some early vegetable has been taken. This land should be again well enriched with fine, well-rotted manure, to which may be added a liberal quantity of wood ashes. If the manure or ashes is not easily obtained, a small amount may be used by plowing or digging out a furrow 8 or 12 inches deep, scattering the manure and ashes in the bottom of the trench and filling it up almost level with the surface. The plants should be set about the middle of July, preferably just before a rain. The plant bed should have a thorough soaking shortly before the plants are lifted, and each plant be trimmed, both top and root, before setting. The plants should be set from 5 to 6 inches apart in the rows and the earth well firmed around each one.
The after-cultivation consists in thorough tillage until the time of “handling” or earthing up the plants. This process of handling is accomplished by drawing up the earth with one hand while holding the plant with the other, packing the soil well around the stalks. This process may be continued until only the leaves are to be seen. For the private grower, it is much easier to blanch the celery with boards or paper, or if the celery is not wanted until winter, the plants may be dug up, packed closely in boxes, covering the roots with soil, and placed in a dark, cool cellar, where the stalks will blanch themselves. In this way celery may be stored in boxes in the house cellar. Put earth in the bottom of a deep box, and plant the celery in it.
Celery is sometimes stored in trenches in the open (Fig. 303), the roots being transplanted to such places in late fall. The plants are set close together and the trenches are covered with boards. A wider trench or pit may be made (Fig. 304) and covered with a shed roof.
Chard, or Swiss chard,—is a development of the beet species characterized by large succulent leafstalks instead of enlarged roots. (Fig. 305). The leaves are very tender and make “greens” much like young beets. They are cultivated exactly like beets. Only one variety is offered by most seedsmen in this country, though in France and Germany several varieties are grown.
Chicory is grown for two purposes,—for the roots and for the herbage. “Barbe de capucin” is a salad made from young shoots of chicory.
The Magdeburg chicory is the variety usually spoken of, it being the one most extensively grown. The roots of this, after being ground and roasted, are used either as a substitute or an adulterant for coffee.
The Witloof, a form of chicory, is used as a salad, or boiled and served in the same manner as cauliflower. The plants should be thinned to 6 inches. In the latter part of summer they should be banked up like celery, and the leaves used after becoming white and tender. This and the common wild chicory are often dug in the fall, the leaves cut off, the roots packed in sand in a cellar and watered until a new growth of leaves starts. These leaves grow rapidly and are very tender, making a fine salad vegetable. One packet of seed of the Witloof will furnish plants enough for a large family.
Chervil.—The chervil is grown in two forms,—for the leaves, and for the tuberous roots.
The curled chervil is a good addition to the list of garnishing and seasoning vegetables. Sow seeds and cultivate the same as parsley.