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60992
60992.
This BOOK may be kept out TWO WEEKS
ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE
CENTS a day thereafter. It is due on the
day indicated below:
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
QREINKR..
Celery for Profit,
AN EXPOSE OF MODERN
METHODS IN CELERY GROWING.
. BY T. GREINER,
AUTHOR OF "ONIONS FOR PROFIT," "HOW TO MAKE THE GARDEN
PAY," "THE NEW ONION CULTURE,"" "PRACTICAL
FARM CHEMISTRY," ETC.
PUBLISHED BY
W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., SEEDSMEN,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Spring, 1893,
Copyright, 1S93, by W. Atlee Burpee & Co.
WM. F. FELL & CO.,
Electrotypebs and Printers,
1220-24 sansom street, philadelphia.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.— GLITTERING GENERALITIES.
PAGE
Rambling Remarks, Prospective and Retrospective, ... 9
CHAPTER II.— THE HOME GARDEN CROP.
Good Results With Little Labor. — Value of the Crop. — The
Early Home Supply. — Raising the Plants. — Setting Out. —
Blanching by Boards. — The Late Home Supply. — Raising the
Plants. — Planting.— Blanching,
CHAPTER III.— WHERE THE PROFIT LIES.
Celery for the Summer Market.— Celery Growing in Kala-
mazoo. — Chances Elsewhere. — Growing the Plants. — Hotbeds
and Greenhouses. — Flats in Cucumber Forcing House. — The
Water-bench. — Preparing the Ground. — Setting the Plants. —
Culture. — Handling. —Celery Hoe. — Celery Hillers. — Methods
of Blanching, 26
CHAPTER IV.— A CROP TO FILL IN.
Celery for the Fall and Winter Market.— Growing the
Plants. — Packing Plants for Shipping. — Setting the Plants. — U.
S. Weather Signals. — Culture. — Handling. — Blanching, ... 43
CHAPTER v.— THE NEW CELERY CULTURE.
A New Way Promising Large Profits.— Indispensable Requi-
sites. — The New Method in the Home Garden.— In the Mar-
ket Garden. — A Celery Shed, 50
60992
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.— THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM.
PAGE
Making Success a Certainty. — An Irrigated Field. — Irrigation
by Box Ditch, — Tile Lines as Water Distributors. — Watering
by Hose, 57
CHAPTER VII.— THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP.
Insects and Diseases, and How to Fight Them. — The Pars-
ley Worm. — The Cabbage Plusia. — Slugs. — Celery Blights. —
Celery Rust. — Bacteria 63
CHAPTER VIII.— THE WINTERING PROBLEM.
How to Keep and Blanch the Crop for Winter Use. — Re-
quisites of Success. — Storing in Cellar. — In Box. — In Hotbed-
Frame. — Storage in Trenches. — In Root-Houses or Pits, ... 68
CHAPTER IX.— MARKETING METHODS.
How to Turn the Crop Into Cash.— General Advice. — Pre-
paring for Market — Packages. — Crate for Shipping Summer
Celery, 74
CHAPTER X.— PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT.
The Outcome in Dollars and Cents. — Estimates of Profit. —
Loss Not Impossible. — Profits of the Summer Crop. — Profits of
the Late Crop. — Final Word of Warning, 80
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,
Fig. *'^°=
1. Celery Plants Grown 2 Inches Apart 15
2. Celery Plants Grown y> an Inch Apart, 16
3. Plant Properly Trimmed, 17
4. Wooden Dibbers, i8
5. Blanching by Boards (ready to be set up) 20
6. " Boards (in position, end view), 20
7. " Boards (in position, side view), 21
8. " Boards (thrown back), 21
9. Shading by Boards, 24
10. Fire Hotbed, Cross Section, 28
11. Fire Hotbed, Length Section, 29
12. Sash-roofed Greenhouse, 3°
13. Rows of Flats in Cucumber Forcing House, 31
14. Cross Section of Rows, 35
15. Celery After Handling, 3^
16. Celery Tied with Cotton Yarn 37
17. Celery Hoe, 37
18. Celery Hiller (Planet, Jr. Double), 39
19. Celery After Earthing Up, 4°
20. Machine for Hilling Celery, 40
21. Bleaching by Various Methods, 41
22. Celery Plants in Basket for Shipping, 46
23. U. S. Weather Flags, 4^
24. The New Celery Culture in the Home Garden, 52
25. Newly-set Plants Shaded with Fine Hay, 53
26. Glimpse at Corner of Patch, New Celery Culture, 54
27. A Celery Shed, 55
28. Irrigated Field, 57
29. Irrigation by Box Ditch, ' 5^
30. Tile Lines as Water Distributors, 59
vii
viii LIST OF ILL US TRA TIONS.
Fig. pagb
31. Tile Lines near Surface, 60
32. Parsley Worm and Cabbage Plusia, 64
T^Ty. Diseased Leaves, 66
34. Celery Stored in Box, 69
35. Celery Stored in Hotbed Frame, 69
36. Celery Stored in Narrow Trench, 7°
37. Celery Stored in Wide Trench, 7'
38. W^ays of Trimming the Roots, 75
39. Bunch of Celery, 76
40. Open Crate for Shipping Celery 77
41. New Crate for Marketing Celery, 78
Celery for Profit
I.
GLITTERING GENERALITIES.
RAMBLING REMARKS, PROSPECTIVE AND
RETROSPECTIVE.
What a remarkable change — that which the last decade
has witnessed in our celery industry, both in regard to pro-
duction and consumption ! Only ten years ago celery was
a rarity and a luxury. The majority of riwal people- hardly
knew it by name, and, perhaps, had never seen or tasted a
stalk. The professional market gardener grew it in a
limited and laborious way, mostly for city consumers who
could afford to pay a good price for the article, and then
the supply lasted only during a short period of each year.
How different now ! You find a little patch of celery
in every complete home garden. In various parts of the
country it is grown by tens, by hundreds, even by thou-
sands of acres. The tables of every hotel, down to the
fourth and fifth rank, of every boarding-house, no matter
how modest, are provided with celery almost the whole
year round. People have learned to like the taste of the
vegetable, and they will have it. They can afford to have
it, too, even if they must buy it, because the supply now
is large and prices have come down to moderate figures.
Similar changes have, within the memory of persons not
yet of middle age, taken place in the production and con-
sumption of strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, and other
9
10 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
fruits and vegetables. All these changes are hopeful and
satisfactory signs of the times. The American people are
getting to be more and more weaned from the flesh-pots of
old Yankeedom, and into the habit of substituting there-
for the fruits of the promised land. This means a steady
move in the right direction — away from an excessive,
almost exclusive meat diet, and toward civilization and
refinement.
Notwithstanding all the abundance of celery in our mar-
kets, I claim that we do not yet grow enough to reach
fully around. Notwithstanding the moderate and often low
prices at which celery can now be purchased in almost
every town, I claim that celery growing can be made more
profitable than any other branch of gardening.
In explanation of the one claim, I assert that too many
rural people are yet without a full home supply, and in
that of the other, that the introduction of the White Plume
celery, and of improved methods of culture, are rendering
celery growing so simple and cheap, that the prices now
obtainable, low as they are, will repay the cost of produc-
tion many times over. In fact, it has become now as easy
to grow celery as to grow carrots or potatoes.
The introduction of the White Plume marks the begin-
ning of a new era in celery culture, just as that of the
Prizetaker onion marks that of a new era in onion grow-
ing. In all its consequences it has brought us a complete
revolution in methods.
The home grower now need fear no great difficulty, no
unusual or excessive labor, and hardly a failure. The newer
kinds and methods enable the market grower to produce a
number of times the quantity per acre that was grown by
the old practices, and in some cases even two successive
celery crops on the same piece of ground.
The old methods now cease to be profitable. They are
GLITTERING GENERALITIES. 11
too cumbersome, too troublesome, too laborious, too ex-
pensive. The grower must, of necessity, adopt the newer
improved ways of culture or be left behind in the race.
The times of digging deep trenches for celery are past.
Even the more recent but un-American system practiced
by the Kalamazoo people will not prevail much longer.
If you have a little patch of ground, no matter how
small, that is used for gardening purposes, you are (or
should be) a grower of celery. If you grow celery, even
to the smallest extent, you will be interested in the follow-
ing pages, and it will pay you well to study the information
found in them. I have tried to give plain and com-
plete directions, without side issues or useless flourishes.
May they help the reader on the way to full success in the
production of one of the choicest, most palatable, and
most wholesome vegetables that were ever brought under
cultivation.
T. Greiner.
La Salle, N V., Aiitu7)in of iSgs,
II.
THE HOME GARDEN CRDP.
GOOD RESULTS WITH LITTLE LABOR.
VALUE OF THE CROP. — THE EARLY HOME SUPPLY.— RAISING THE
PLANTS — SETTING OUT. — BLANCHING BY BOARDS. — THE LATE
HOME SUPPLY.— RAISING THE PLANTS.— PLANTING.— BLANCHING.
My friends should not accuse me of losing sight of my
text. I promised to write on " celery for profit." Do not
imagine that this does not include the home garden crop.
If the reader has never been bountifully provided with
good celery, or has never observed " confirmed celery eat-
ers" "at work," I wish he could see the quantities of
this vegetable that are brought upon my table, and notice
the keen enjoyment with which all members of my family
take hold of the crisp stalks. I would not miss the privi-
lege of having a full home supply of this choice delicacy for
many dollars. Many persons, probably a large majority,
cannot appreciate the full force of this statement, simply
because they have never or seldom had a chance to find
out what a fine and enjoyable thing celery, when in per-
fection, really is. They may have had a taste of the stale
stuff ordinarily found in the retail markets — wilted, tough,
stringy, strong in flavor — and, of course, they do not like
it. The solid, brittle stalks and hearts of true chestnut
flavor and crispness are an altogether different thing.
Nine out of every ten of the many persons who claim
that they "do not like celery " I would willingly engage
to cure forever of this dislike, simply by letting them have
a few tastes of the crisp, nutty centre-stalks of well-grown,
freshly-gathered celery.
12
THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 13
Thus far I have spoken only of the enjoyment and com-
forts found in a good home supply of good celery. Much
might also be said about the sanitary, if not medical, effects
of a celery diet. This vegetable is generally recognized
as a nerve tonic and nerve stimulant. If its free use makes
you stronger, healthier, it may save you doctors' visits
and outlays for medicines. If it saves expense, it has a
money value, and is profitable. And then, health is worth
more than money.
But besides all this there is some real, shiny, jingling
cash in the home garden crop of celery. The man, or
woman, or boy, who has succeeded in growing some nice
stalks, always has neighbors who, when they hear of it or
see it — may this be early in the season or late — will want
some. It has been so in my experience, and I never knew
it to be otherwise anywhere. They will want it, and be
willing to pay even a better price for it than the grower
could secure through the regular channels of city trade.
It is true the amounts may be small — a dime or a quarter
now and then — but even small amounts come handy and
help to bear the expenses of running a home garden. Every
little helps, you know. Really, why not make the home
garden self-supporting by selling some of the surplus vege-
tables that even a quarter-acre vegetable patch produces ?
If you raise good garden stuff of any kind, I am sure there
will be somebody in your vicinity willing and anxious to
get some of it at a reasonable price.
The Early Home Supply.
The first celery from my home garden usually comes
upon my table about or shortly after the middle of July.
Any home grower, however unskilled, can have it at that
time just as well as myself, for, as I stated before, early
celery, after the plants are grown, is as easily produced as
14 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
carrots, and much easier than many other of our leading
vegetables.
Sometimes I buy the plants needed for the early crop.
White Plume is the variety you want for this purpose.
Commercial growers will furnish them to you during May,
the proper time for setting them out, at $4.00 per 1000. A
couple of hundred plants will give an abundant supply to
even a large family, and, perhaps, some to spare for the
neighbors.
Usually it is safer and cheaper to grow the plants than
to buy them ; and this is the course I prefer, and always
try to take. Invest five or ten cents in a packet of White
Plume celery seed. Along in the latter part of February
fill a flat box, or a large flower-pot, with nice, clean, mellow
loam, well pressed down and firmed. Apply water enough
to make the soil quite moist ; then sow the seed, either
broadcast or in narrow rows, rather thickly, and sift just
a little sand or fine soil over it, firming well afterward.
Cover the box or pot with a single thickness of light paper
or cloth to keep the soil dark and moist, and set it into the
kitchen or sitting-room window, or in any other place
having a comfortable but moderate temperature. A hot-
bed, with moderate bottom heat, would be a still better
place for it, but not every home gardener can have it thus
early in the season.
About ten days after sowing, the seeds will begin to
sprout. Remove the paper or cloth cover and gradually
get the young plants accustomed to the light and air.
Always water promptly, never letting the soil become tho-
roughly dry, yet at the same time carefully avoiding the
opposite extreme.
Next comes the performance which professional garden-
ers call "pricking out." This means the first transplant-
ing of the young seedlings into other boxes ot " flats," for
THE HOME GARDEN CROP.
15
the purpose of giving them more and uniform space, and
of encouraging root growth. From two to four small
boxes — each say sixteen and one-half inches long, nine
inches wide, and four inches deep — will hold all the plants
necessary for any average family's home supply of celery.
In place of the flats the plants may be set out directly in
a hot-bed, or even a cold frame.
The tiny seedlings transplant easily. Set them one-half
or three-quarters of an inch apart, with rows about three
inches apart, which will give from fifty to seventy-five
Fig. I.
^t> <^^-
Plants in Flats, Two Inches Apart in Row.
plants to the flat or to an equivalent space in the frame.
Water well, and keep them lightly shaded for a day or two,
should the weather be very bright. This is about all the
care they will need until their final transfer to the open
ground, unless they should grow very rank, when it will be
necessary, or at least advisable, to shear or clip off a large
part of the tops. Spindling plants are not wanted.
Neither should we go to the opposite extreme. When
plants are given much space, their roots will develop, as
16
CELER V FOR PROFIT.
shown in Fig. i. We thus obtain fine-looking, short,
stocky plants, and they will be all right, when we take
them up with the soil adhering to their roots, and set them
out with some care.
In Fig. 2 we see plants crowded together to one-half
inch apart in the row, as I have advised you to set them in
the flats or frames. In this case the roots grow long and
fleshy, like parsley roots. These plants can be taken up
Plants in Flats, One-half Inch Apart in Row
with less care, and set out in the open ground more rapidly
and more conveniently than the others. The fleshy roots
contain reserve forces upon which the plant can draw dur-
ing the time when it tries to get a new hold in the soil.
They also reach down further into the stratum of perpetual
moisture than the finer, sprawling roots of the plants in
Fig. I. In short, the advantages seem to be mostly on the
side of the plants grown more closely.
THE HOME GARDEN CROP.
17
Having once secured good plants — such as shown in Fig.
2 — with which to begin outdoor operations, the battle is
about half won. Any spot, any vacant row in the well-
manured garden may be used for our purpose. Where the
garden was plowed ''in lands" or beds, or when furrows
were left purposely for surface drainage, these furrows may
be utilized, or a furrow or two may be opened on a vacant
Fig. 3.
A Plant Properly Trimmed.
strip, or between crops of quick growth that we know will
be off by July, such as early peas, radishes, early lettuce,
bunching onions, etc. Fill these furrows with fine, rich
old compost (if containing a portion of poultry manure,
all the better) and then mix this compost and the soil well
together, either by means of the plow, cultivator, or even
2
18
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
with the spade. Firm the soil well, and smooth the surface
with hoe and rake, and you are ready for setting the plants,
which should always be done as soon as possible after the
ground is prepared and while still moist.
Stretch a garden line a couple of inches to one side of
where the row of plants is to stand, or make a mark for
the row in the most convenient way. Now get the plants
ready. Pull them up out of the flats or frame ; put them
in bunches of convenient size, and cut off the ends of both
root and top, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Plants thus trimmed
Fig.
Wooden Didders.
handle well, and usually
better than plants with
root-ends left on.
In nice, mellow loam,
setting out celery plants
may be used for making
to use a small dibber, si
You can easily whittle
preferably of hickory or
stand the ordeal of transplanting
all the tops, and the long, slim
sandy and especially mucky soils,
is easy work, and the index finger
the openings ; but I always prefer
milar to those shown in Fig. 4.
one out of a piece of dry limb,
apple tree. This will answer the
THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 19
purpose as well as any dibber you could buy. Set the
plants about five inches apart in a straight line, pressing
the soil firmly about the root of each plant. If you want
to know whether the work was done right, take a good
hold of one of the leaves and pull. If the plant comes
out of the ground, it was not set firmly enough ; if the
leaf breaks without loosening the plant, all is right.
Remember, however, that you cannot and must not set
out plants when the ground is sticky. The soil is in best
condition for the operation when only just dry enough to
easily crumble to pieces between the fingers. Then we
could altogether dispense with watering the plants after
setting, especially during cool and cloudy weather. If the
soil is dry, however, the air warm, and the sky clear, the
application of half a gill or so of w^ater to each plant,
shortly after setting them out, is only a reasonable precau-
tion and demand. It is easily and quickly done, requiring
only a very few bucketfuls of water for the few hundred plants
set out by the home gardener, and I strongly advise that it
be done in ^// cases, except in cloudy weather or when rain
is expected. Shading and similar precautions, serviceable
in setting plants for the later crops, during July or August,
are hardly ever needed in setting those for the early crop
during May, as the soil then is usually moist and moderately
cool, and evaporation not excessive.
Not much in the way of after-cultivation is required — a
little hoeing, as other crops receive it, is about all. Early
in July the plants will be large enough for bleaching. I
never "■ bank " or '^ earth up " the early crop, but prefer
to bleach it in the simplest manner by means of a few old
boards, 8 to 12 inches wdde, such as can be found lying
about on almost any place. There is no need of ''hand-
ling " or tying, either. Just take two boards, and lay one
on each side of the row (see Fig. 5) ; then take hold of
20
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
the outer edges, and turn them up together and against the
row (see Fig. 6). That is all. In a week or two you may
begin to use the celery. The row, when boards are on,
Fig. 5.
^>J^
"Ife?
Boards Ready for Setting up Against the Row.
then looks as represented in Fig. 7, and, with boards thrown
back, as represented in Fig. 8. As fast as the plants are
taken up, and boards become available for use elsewhere,
they are moved along to a row, or part of row, not yet
Fig. 6.
Boards in Position for Bleaching.
blanched. Thus the same boards may be used a number
of times in succession, and the supply of freshly-bleached
celery kept up until the late celery is ready for the table.
THE HOME GARDEN CROP.
21
If you have only narrow boards, say five or six inches
wide, they will answer the purpose, if you set them up as
directed, and, after a few days, draw five or six inches of
Fig. 7-
Row OF Celery— Boards on.
Fig. 8.
- »- ——s"
Row OF Celery — Boards Thrown Back.
soil to the row from each side, replacing the boards on top
of this.
22 CELER V FOR PROFIT.
The Late Home Supply.
The late home crop should be ready in October and last
until spring. Again, the first thing should be to make pro-
visions for the plants. It is better, safer, cheaper to raise
them than to buy them. Really first-class plants cannot
often be bought, and when you do buy them, you are not
sure whether you have a good kind or not. Sometimes in
May one can get, at little cost, small seedling plants (the
thinnings) from a celery grower in the vicinity, and these
may be set out in well-prepared soil, one-half or three-
fourths of an inch apart in the row, kept well cultivated
and free from weeds until wanted for setting out to make
the crop.
My advice, however, is to buy a ten -cent packet or an
ounce of seed, selecting Giant Pascal as first choice,
and New Rose or some other good pink variety as second.
These two are the very cream of the celeries, and to my
taste about at the head of the list in quality.
There is no difficulty about raising the plants for any one
who knows how to prepare a garden spot for early radishes,
early beets, lettuce, onions, etc. They all require a nice
smooth bed of rich, mellow ground. The rows for these
vegetables are usually about twelve inches apart. This is all
right. Use one of the rows among the onions or radishes,
sowing seed, at the very earliest moment after the ground
can be prepared (March or April), thinly in a shallow mark,
as you would sow carrot seed ; cover lightly if at all, and
firm well, either with a garden roller, if you have one, or
with the feet.
The seed seldom fails to germinate promptly when thus
treated. As soon as the plants can be seen, stir the
ground about them with a wheel-hoe or common hoe, and
pull up all weeds as fast as they appear in the row. The
THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 23
plants should be thinned at the very start, and no more
than twenty-five to fifty be allowed to remain to the foot
of row. Water in very dry weather, but do this thoroughly
when you do it at all. Give one good soaking that will
last, rather than a mere sprinkling repeated every day, which
is of no earthly use.
Should the plants grow very rank, and especially if
crowded, make it your business, some time in June, to
shear or clip off about one-half of the tops. The final
planting-out should be done during July, as early as con-
venient, where the seasons are short, and up to August, or
even later, in the Middle States. Prepare the plants, and
set them out in rows exactly as directed for the early
celery. If you have well-grown plants to spare, some neigh-
bor will gladly take one hundred plants or so for forty or
fifty cents. kow, we meet one difficulty not encountered
in the other case, namely, a hot and dry season. The soil
may be parched and dust-dry, and rains may fail us for
weeks. Under such circumstances it is advisable to apply
water freely to the row or rows a few hours before the
plants are to be set, and again after they are set, and, if
possible, to shade the plants slightly for the first few days
after their transfer. A light sprinkling of fine hay over
the plants will provide all the shading required and usually
prove of material benefit. Another way of providing shade
may be seen in Fig. 9. Drive little stakes slantingly on
the south or southeast side of the row, a few inches from
the line of plants, and lean boards up against them. After
the plants have become well established, these boards can
then be removed. Rapid growth is now to be encouraged
in all possible ways, especially by stirring the soil frequently
and keeping the weeds down. Applications of water,
liquid manure, or soapsuds will be of especial service in
this direction. A part of this late crop will probably be
24 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
wanted for the table fresh from the patch, although the
early crop may well be made to hold out up to the first or
middle of October. The bleaching process for this part
should be begun early in September, and may be carried
on in somewhat the same fashion as directed for early
celery, except that the boards ought to be not less than ten
to twelve inches wide. Earthing up, as will be described
in next chapter, may give still better results, and is espe-
cially desirable when the plants are intended to be left in
open ground for use in November and December.
The other part, intended for winter storage, requires no
bleaching, but it should be handled or boarded up a few
Fig.
Shading the Plants.
weeks before it is to be taken up, in order to make the
plants grow upright and compact. Late in October or early
in November — at any rate before the temperature has at
any time gone much below the freezing point, and surely
not below twenty-three or twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit —
lift the plants with a spade, leaving some soil adhering to
the roots, and set them rather closely together upon the
floor of a moist cellar, or upon a layer of moist soil put into
a large box. The bleaching process will then be finished
during winter, and the plants may be used as wanted. Try
to keep the roots moist and the tops dry ; in this, with a
THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 25
cool temperature and a trifle of ventilation, we have all
the " secrets" of keeping celery.
During the past season I have come across an entirely
new way of growing celery, not only for commercial pur-
poses, but also in the home garden. You will find in this
a most valuable and true short-cut. Look it up in the
chapter on " The New Celery Culture." Let no reader of
this book fail to give this simple method a trial. There,
truly, he will find ''good results with little labor."
III.
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES.
CELERY FOR THE SUMMER MARKET.
CELERY GROWING IN KALAMAZOO. — CHANCES ELSEWHERE. — GROWING
THE PLANTS. — HOTBEDS AND GREENHOUSES. — FLATS IN CUCUMBER
FORCING HOUSE. — THEWATER BENCH.— PREPARING THE GROUND. —
SETTING THE PLANTS.— CULTURE. — HANDLING.— CELERY HOE. —
CELERY HILLERS. — METHODS OF BLANCHING.
Don't tell me that the competition of the Hollanders
around Kalamazoo, Mich., is so ruinous that the business
of growing early celery elsewhere holds out no further
promise of financial success. True, this competition is
formidable. The methods adopted by these people and
their success — if such it is — are based on a system of
drudgery to which American vegetable growers will not
readily submit, namely, on the employment of the whole
family — father, mother, grandparents, and children of
all ages and sizes — keeping all of them at work every
minute of long working days. Even then their profits are
not commensurate to their efforts, and if they were forced
to employ able-bodied working men at full prices for their
various operations, and then sell their crops to the
''shippers" as they do now, it is doubtful whether the
industry would long survive.
The only real advantage which the Kalamazoo Hol-
landers seem to have over growers elsewhere possessing
suitable celery soil is the reputation of the Kalamazoo
product ; but this is offset by serious disadvantages, espe-
cially (i) the high tax they are compelled to pay to
middlemen and express companies, in consequence of
26
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 27
a wholesale production which demands the whole United
States for a market, and calls for long-distance ship-
ments, and (2) the great local demand for manure which
results in prices far more favorable to the seller than to the
buyer and user.
Indeed, there are thousands of places in the United
States where a much better combination of favorable
conditions for the celery grower can be found than in
Kalamazoo, and where the celery industry can be estab-
lished on a safe and American basis. But let us make no
mistake. We must not imagine that it will be safe to
engage largely in growing '' celery for profit," unless the
conditions of soil and market are unusually favorable.
It is true that celery will thrive on almost any kind of
soil if only rich enough. Yet to make its culture profitable,
we must be enabled to systematize the work, and reduce
the labor account to a minimum by the substitution of
horse-power and improved implements for hand labor, and,
if possible, to surround the crop with additional safeguards
against failure by artificial irrigation. In the first place,
we must have soil that is easily worked, such as sandy
muck or meadow land, clean, deep, rich, mellow, and well
worked. There should also be a never-failing supply of
water available for irrigation. Next we need plenty of
good manure at moderate prices, and finally a good near
market.
Wherever a combination of these conditions is found,
celery is just the crop that offers superior opportunities for
profit, and the summer crop still more than the fall and
winter crop. Early celery on irrigated land is produced
more easily and cheaply than later celery. A full stand is
easily secured, as May is much more favorable to the opera-
tion of setting plants than July or August. Then the early
crop is pretty much out of the way of fungous diseases ; it
28
CELER V FOR PROFIT,
is easily bleached, needs no storage facilities, and usually
brings a better price than the other. Indeed, the advantages
seem to be pretty much on the side of the summer celery,
at least after the plants are secured.
Growing the Plants.
I have already spoken of this in the preceding chapter.
The same general principles, which govern the production
of the plants for the home garden, are applicable also to
Fig. io.
Fire Hotbed. Cross-Section.
the similar operations of the commercial grower. White
Plume and Golden Self-blanching are the only varieties
that can here come in consideration. The selection of
variety, of course, must always depend on the whims and
fashions of the local market. Golden Self-blanching, with
its rich, golden-yellow stalks, is a favorite in some localities ;
but it grows almost too feebly, and is too easily affected by
disease to be serviceable for general culture. The White
Plume must still be considered the leading early sort.
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES.
29
Start the plants under glass in February. A hotbed
with moderate bottom-heat will answer. The commercial
grower, however, should have better facilities than just an
ordinary manure hotbed. The least that he ought to have
is a fire hotbed that can be started up at any time when
wanted, even in the coldest weather. Cross- and length-
sections of such structure are given in Figs. lo and ii.
The bed is formed, in the simplest manner, by a double row
of ordinary hotbed sashes, which rest on a strong frame and
meet in the centre on a ridge plank. Underneath the soil,
which is supported by heavy planks and strong timbers, is
Fig. II.
Fire Hotbed. Length-Section.
the flue. Use fire-brick for the fireplace, and for eight or
ten feet of the flue next to it. Terra-cotta pipe will do for
the rest of the flue and for the chimney.
A single hotbed sash affords space enough to start twenty
to thirty thousand plants, and will require one and one-half
or two ounces of seed sown broadcast. After sowing, firm
the soil well over the seed, then sift an eighth-inch layer of
fine loam over it, and keep slightly shaded for a week or
more, especially during bright weather.
The soil used in all cases for growing the plants should
30
CELER V FOR PROFIT.
be a fine, rich, porous loam, such as can be found in old
gardens and old pasture lands ; or, still better, a black,
sandy muck, that has been in cultivation for at least a num-
ber of years.
The possession of a greenhouse, or forcing pit, renders
the job of growing the plants much safer and more con-
venient. People who shun the expense of putting up a
regular greenhouse, but who have plenty of hotbed sashes
on hand, may build a forcing pit, as shown in Fig. 12, and
heat it with an ordinary, cheaply-constructed flue. Seed,
Fig. 12.
t
SCALE OF FEET
2 4 6 8 10 15
Forcing Pit, Roofed With Hotbed Sashes.
of course, may be started in bench -beds, in same manner
as advised for the hotbed. The use of flats, however,
seems to me a much handier method. I always secure the
flat boxes, in which my nearest grocer receives his canned
meats. They are sixteen inches long, nine inches wide,
and four inches deep, and just as if made purposely for
starting all kinds of early vegetable plants. Fill them with
the prepared loam to within half an inch of the top ; water
thoroughly, sow the seed, and cover it lightly with sifted
soil, as before directed. Then the flats may be piled up
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES.
31
on top of each other in some convenient corner, or under
the benches in the greenhouse, or in any other place where
the atmosphere is moderately moist, and the temperature
between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave them thus
for from five to seven days ; then take them down, water
again, and pile them up as before, to be left from five to
seven days more, or until the seeds begin to sprout, when
the flats must be placed singly upon the benches and lightly
shaded for a little while longer. Even if you have no
greenhouse you can start the plants in the same way, to
Fig. 13.
Row OF Flats in Cucumber Forcing-House.
be ''pricked out " in the hotbed or cold frame later on,
thus avoiding the necessity of starting your beds so incon-
veniently early in the season.
Houses used for forcing cucumbers afford plenty of space
for growing vegetable plants in flats. The benches may be
arranged as shown in Fig. 13, which will need no further
explanation. The cucumber plants require only narrow
benches, and the space in front of them may just as well
be utilized for the accommodation of a row of flats as not.
For starting celery and other fine seeds, the ''water-
32 CELER V FOR PROFIT,
bench," as described by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment
Station, seems to me to deserve special mention. This
bench is made with matched flooring laid in white lead, so
as to be water-tight. The ends and sides, which should
not be more than two inches high, are also made water-
tight. It may be of any dimensions desired and in any
part of the greenhouse. It may even be placed underneath
the regular plant benches, say at least a foot below the
bottom of the upper one, so as to give room to pass flats in
and out easily.
''The use of these water-benches," says Prof. W. J.
Green, 'Ms to water seed just sown and young plants re-
cently transplanted, without the application of water to
the surface of the soil. Seeds are sown in flats having
about two inches depth of soil ; these flats are then trans-
ferred to the water-bench, and watered by sub-irrigation,
which is accomplished by letting into the water-bench
sufficient water to soak the soil in the flats quite thor-
oughly, but not enough to make it mortar-like or pasty.
Small plants are transplanted into flats and treated in the
same manner.
"The flats in which seeds are sown may be kept in the
lower water-bench until the seeds germinate and the young
plants appear, but if kept in a dark place much longer than
this, injury would, of course, result. In an upper water-
bench young plants may be kept as long as desired, and
watered by sub-irrigation as often as need be. This
method of watering is satisfactory and saves labor. Not
only can the soil be thoroughly and evenly watered in this
manner, but there is no danger of washing out seed or of
knocking over young plants."
When the young seedlings are about one and a half
inches high, they are ready for "pricking out" in other
flats. The process has already been described in Chapter
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 33
II, and will need no repetition. Make the rows three
inches apart, and set the plants in them one-half inch
apart.
The proper " hardening off," previous to the final trans-
fer of the plants to open ground, should never be neg-
lected. It is a matter of some importance. Set the flats
into an open cold frame, or into some sheltered spot out-
doors for a week or so, and by the end of that time they
will be ready for setting out.
Setting the Plants.
The first step in the outdoor operations is the prepara-
tion of the ground. This we expect to be already rich and
well supplied with organic matter. Still, we can safely put
on additional broadcast dressings of good compost, and
they should be heavy, say from fifty tons upward per acre,
if we depend on them for making the crop. Old cow
manure is considered to be a most excellent fertilizer for
celery. I like broadcast application of the barnyard
manure much better than putting it in a furrow right
under the row, as the roots of the plant go quite a way in
search for food, and the latter will not be out of reach of
the plants, even if distributed all over the ground.
Then comes plowing. In the mellow soil, which alone
we consider suited to '' celery growing for profit," this is
an easy job. Yet all possible pains should be taken to
have it well done. Harrowing comes next. Going over
the ground a few times with a smoothing harrow, each
time in a different direction, will probably be sufficient.
At any rate, make the ground smooth and even. Then
mark out the rows, four feet apart if the plants are to be
bleached by earthing, or three feet apart if by boards. In
the latter case even less distance between the rows would
answer. The marks need not be deep nor wide. Any
3
34 CELER Y FOR PROFIT.
ordinary one-horse corn marker, which marks out three or
four rows at a time, may be used. By all means, however,
have the rows straight and uniform.
Now, also, is the time to apply commercial fertilizers,
especially the so-called high-grade, special vegetable ma-
nures, if their use is desired either to make up for a
deficiency in the applications of compost, or to heighten
the general effect. I like to use them any way, or in their
place ashes, bone meal, dried blood, cotton-seed meal,
sulphate of potash, etc. The complete mixed fertilizers,
containing about four or five per cent, nitrogen, eight to
ten per cent, phosphoric acid, and six to eight per cent,
potash, may be scattered in a wide strip over each row, at
the rate of looo to 2000 pounds. Most of the other sub-
stances named had better be put on broadcast after the
first harrowing, and mixed with the soil by the subsequent
harrowings, or they may be drilled in with the fertilizer
attachment of our ordinary grain drills, and the ground
marked out afterward.
In case we have not the full quantity of stable compost
required for broadcast application, we will have to adopt
another course. Plow and harrow the land as advised ;
then open up deep furrows, going back and forth in the
same place and letting the plow down as far as practicable ;
next fill these furrows or trenches half full of the compost,
and mix this well with soil, filling the trenches at last
almost to the top. How to do this mixing and refilling in
the most convenient manner is yet an open question with
me. Possibly one of the easiest ways is to go along in
each furrow with an ordinary horse cultivator. In a small
way it can be done with hoe and rake ; but in whatever
way done, I would aim to have the soil appear as shown in
Fig. 14. The place where the plants are to be set should
form no more than the merest suggestion of depression in
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 35
the general surface, thus insuring safety to plants from the
danger of being buried in mud and sediment during heavy
rains.
Just as soon as the ground is ready to receive the plants
(and of course the plants ready to go out) — say along in
May — the work should proceed without unnecessary delay.
Take the flats to the field; pull up the plants; arrange
them in bundles of convenient size, and trim as advised
and illustrated in Chapter II (see Fig. 3, p. 17). To do
the work of setting the plants expeditiously, you want men,
young or old, that are used to handling plants to set them,
and a young boy to distribute the plants ahead of the
planters as fast as they need them. Let each planter have
Cross-Section of Rows.
a dibber, such as shown in Fig. 4 (page 18), and see that
he takes pains to firm the soil well around the roots of the
plants. The latter should stand five or six inches apart in
the rows. On the whole, it is an easy matter for people
accustomed to such work to set out the plants in this kind
of soil, and a few good men will soon set an acre. Instead
of marking out the rows the plants may be set along a
garden line stretched tightly directly over the manure-
filled furrows.
Culture, Handling, and Bleaching.
What we now desire is rapid, thrifty growth. This is
dependent not only on the amount of plant food (with
moderate moisture) placed in reach of the roots, but also
36 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
on its availability. Frequent stirring of the soil aids the
plants to get hold of their food. It gives life to soil and
plant, and promotes thrift and luxuriance. The same cul-
tivation and general treatment required for all other garden
crops is needed. I think highly of the Planet Jr. horse-
hoe. Use the narrow blades. Begin this operation a few
days after the plants are planted out. Go back and forth
in each space, and quite close to the right-hand row each
time, thus stirring the soil close up to the plants. Repeat
often ; it cannot well be overdone.
In case a good market is available for them, a crop of
radishes, or of cabbage or cauliflower plants may be grown
F.G. 15.
Celery After Handling.
between the rows of celery. You can sow two or three
rows of these vegetables in each space with the garden seed-
drill, and cultivate with hand wheel-hoes. The radishes
and cabbage plants, etc., will be off in time to make room
for working the celery when that work is needed. Usually,
however, it will be found preferable to leave the spaces
between the celery rows vacant, thus preventing all inter-
ference with thorough and convenient work in cultivating
the celery crop.
The manipulation known as *•' handling" formerly con-
sumed much time and labor. It was usually performed by
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES.
37
packing some soil around the plant with one hand while
the other held the stalks closely together. Amateurs and
family gardeners often secured the same result by winding
cotton yarn once around each plant. Fig. 15 will show
you how the plants appear when soil is packed about them
Fig. 16.
M^
A..JAA
Celeky After Tying.
by hand, while Fig. 16 shows the plants after they are tied.
Both methods are laborious and cumbersome, and must
yield to simpler ways when we grow celery for profit.
Two years ago I saw for the first time the tool illustrated
in Fig. 17, in use on Mr. John F. White's celery farm near
Mount Morris, N. Y. This is simply an ordinary old hoe
Celery Hoe.
with blade enlarged by riveting to it a piece of a worn^
out crosscut saw, eighteen inches long. Two men, each
one provided with one of these hoes, take one row. One
goes on one side, the other on the other side. Each one
puts his hoe across the row, setting the blade down about
midway between it and the next row, and then drawing
38 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
the soil toward the plants, under the foliage and against
the stalks, and as this is done from both sides, the plants
are straightened up and all the stalks of each held closely
together by the soil piled up against them. This is done
at a rather early stage of the plants' growth, perhaps four
or five weeks after they are set in open ground, or some
time in June, for this early crop. It teaches plants while
yet young to lead an "upright " life.
The manufacturers of the Planet Jr. horse-hoe are now
making an attachment to that implement for hilling celery
in two styles, the single and double. The single celery
hiller, they say, " works but one side at a time, and throws
harder and higher than the double, and is adapted to all
width rows, from two feet to ten. It also has the leaf lifter
and lever expander. It is the more satisfactory for the last
and highest hilling, and large growers need both. The
single machine is also often used where the rows are so close
together that there is not enough earth to complete hilling
up both rows at once. The single hiller is then used to hill
very high every other row, taking away most of the earth
from the alternate rows. Then when the blanched row is
marketed it is again used to hill up the remaining row. It
is also used to bank up the celery when storing in trenches
for winter."
For the double machine, the following points are claimed :
" It hills all rows from the first to the last time, when not
planted over four and one-half feet apart. In the first hill-
ing the detachable leaf guards are invaluable, enabling the
operator to throw up the earth beneath all the leaves, so
close as to make the first ' ' handling ' ' very easy. Slotted
knees at the rear make the vertical adjustment, while the
patent lever expander is a simple and delightful method of
adjustment to width."
It is shown in Fig. i8. There may be other implements
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 39
designed to accomplish the same object and deserving to be
tested. At any rate we must try to do this work in a more
expeditious and cheaper way than by the old plan of
'' handling " on hands and knees.
The varieties which we have planted for this early crop
are said to be self-blanching. Still they will need some
manipulation, when planted in this way, in order to pro-
duce a nice, salable article, just the same as if we had
planted other kinds, for instance, blanching by boards,
as described in Chapter II, and illustrated by Figs. 5, 6, 7,
and 8. It is often claimed that celery, when blanched by
Fig. 18.
Planet, Jr. Celery Hiller.
boards, is of inferior quality. I have never found much
difference between stalks blanched by boards or by earth-
ing up. Quality, I think, depends on variety, and still
more on rapid growth consequent upon high culture. I
have no difficulty in producing celery of the very best
quality, sweet as nutmeats and brittle as glass, by means of
board-blanching.
By far the largest part of all celery grown for market is
yet blanched by earthing up. A furrow is first thrown
from each side against the " handled " plants with a one-
horse plow, the earth then drawn further up to them with
40
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
a hoe, and the earthing up finished with spade or shovel.
The plants then appear as shown in Fig. 19.
Fig. 19.
Celery after Earthing Up.
This old way, however, is again too cumbersome, too
laborious, too expensive. We must find cheaper ways of
accomplishing the same object, and I believe it can be
Fig.
Machine ior Hilling Celery.
done well enough for all practical purposes by means of a
plow, winged shovel-plow, the Planet Jr. celery hi Her, or
of other tools designed for the same purpose. Fig. 20
WHERE THE PROFIT LIES.
41
represents a machine of this kind recently patented by
Maurice M. Ranney, of Michigan. I have not had a
chance to try it. Perhaps it will fill the bill ; at least I
hope so, for the work must be done in some such way if
we desire to secure the best financial success in celery
growing.
The proper time for putting on the boards, or earthing
u}) the rows, is when the plants have nearly reached suit-
Fig. 21.
Methods of Blanching.
«, with Tiles ; />, with Paper; c, with Extension Bleachers.
able size for market. Ten or fifteen days of good growing
weather will then fit them for use or sale.
There are still other methods of blanching celery. I
have tried all I could hear of, but find none of them cheap
or satisfactory enough for universal use. This is the case
with blanching by means of standing a three-inch tile over
each plant, although it does the work quite well. Some
years ago I had some " extension " tiles made for the very
42 CELER Y FOR PROFIT,
purpose of blanching celery. They are shaped like flower-
puts without bottom, and fit nicely upon one another. But
they are altogether too expensive, and inconvenient to
store and handle. I have given up the idea entirely. Then
there is the method of blanching by paper. Ordinary
brown wrapping paper will do very well. Cut pieces about
twelve by eight or nine inches, and wrap one firmly around
each plant, tying with string. Plants thus treated will
blanch moderately well in the usual time. Fig. 21 illus-
trates these various methods of blanching ; but I give them
more for the sake of information, than in the expectation
that the celery grower ''for profit" will make practical
use of them.
By whatever means the early celery is grown and
blanched, it should be put on the market without much
loss of time. Earliest in market usually means most money
in pocket. There is where the profit lies.
IV.
A CROP TO FILL IN.
CELERY FOR THE FALL AND WINTER MARKET.
GROWING THE PLANTS. — PACKING PLANTS FOR SHIPPING. — SETTING
THE PLANTS. — UNITED STATES WEATHER SIGNALS. — CULTURE. —
HANDLING. — BLANCHING.
The late celery, even if it should be less profitable than
the early crop, is yet a very handy one. Whenever a piece
of ground becomes vacant in July or August, or even in
September further south, and the market gardener knows
no other crop to plant for profit, celery is the one he most
likely will select. Often the gardener must choose between
raising celery or letting the land lie idle for the rest of the
season. Late celery, in brief, is a crop that gives an oppor-
tunity for raising a second paying crop after early peas,
early beets, early potatoes, bunching or pickling onions,
early cabbage, strawberries, even early celery, and perhaps
other crops, and for putting one's own and one's hired
men's labor to good use, when otherwise there might not
be enough to do for all hands. The crop, indeed, comes
very handy for '' filling in."
Growing the Plants.
First get the seed. Select the variety that finds most favor
with your customers or in your available markets. Golden
Heart (Half Dwarf) is now more generally grown than
any other. Giant Pascal, I think, would ''take" in any
market, and Boston Market is a favorite in some localities.
Procure the seed early, and test it to be sure that it will
germinate promptly. A pound of seed should give you
250,000 plants. Possibly twice that number might be
43
44 CELER V FOR PROFIT.
raised from it. To make sure of a good stand, however,
it is advisable to sow a pound on about 5000 feet of row,
or one ounce on 300 feet of row. Thus you may calcu-
late to get at least 150,000 good plants from the one pound,
or almost 10,000 from the one ounce of seed. Heroic thin-
ning in the first stages of the plants' growth will be re-
quired even then.
To serve as a plant-bed, select the nicest, richest, mel-
lowest, best-protected spot you have, and, if shaded during a
small part of the day, all the better, but the exposure should
be south or southeast, so that the patch will be ready for
operation as early as possible in spring. A sandy muck or
mould, or any loam that is abundantly supplied with humus,
is just the thing. To fit it best for the purpose, it may be
deeply plowed and laid off in narrow beds in autumn.
Early in spring apply a good top-dressing of poultry man-
ure and of ashes, or, if you do not have or cannot get these
materials, of any other rich and fine manure. I also like
to put on some high-grade complete commercial fertilizer,
say at the rate of 1500 to 2000 pounds per acre. It takes
but a small spot for a thousand plants, and we can well
afford to be extremely liberal with plant foods. The soil
should be made almost excessively rich to give the best
results. We need hardly fear to overdo this.
Next, let the soil be well and deeply worked up ; and,
after it has been made smooth with the harrow, and firmed
with the roller or otherwise, it is ready to receive the seed.
You can use the garden seed-drill, but you must try to put
the seed down very shallow and cover but lightly ; or, you
may sow by hand in shallow marks ; then draw a fine steel
rake along lengthwise over each row, and then again firm
the soil with a garden roller. I usually sow by hand, and
without covering the seed, firm the soil over the seed by
walking heel-to-toe fashion over every row.
A CROP TO FILL IN. 45
Ordinarily I put in the seed for the later or main crop
about April ist to 15th. If the seed was good, and the
work properly done, the young plants will be pretty sure to
make their appearance in about two weeks after sowing.
To make this all the surer, a light sprinkling of fine hay or
similar material might be put over the patch after seed is
sown, to be again taken off as soon as the young plants have
come up. Such covering is quite serviceable in preventing
evaporation, and in keeping the surface continuously moist,
but I have never found it absolutely necessary. The ground
rarely gets so thoroughly dried out at this season as to pre-
vent the prompt germination of good seed planted in
freshly-stirred soil, and well firmed afterward.
Just as soon as you see the first sign of plant-life in the
rows, begin work with the hand wheel-hoe. Any kind or
style, either straddling the row, or going between, if other-
wise it does good work, will do. Keep the soil well stirred
all the time while the plants are in the plant-bed, clear up
to the rows, and do not be afraid to gauge into the plants,
and thin them quite thoroughly where they are crowded.
Follow this up with the hand-weeder, cutting down the
row of plants to a narrow line, at the same time pulling
out all weeds, and some celery plants, too, if they get too
thick. I like to have them stand at least one-quarter inch
apart, or from twenty-five to fifty plants to the foot of row
This treatment is sure to give you strong, stocky plants
by the time they are wanted for setting out, especially if
you can give the rows a good soaking once or twice in dry
weather. As an extra help in producing thrifty growth,
and preserving moisture in the soil, light applications of
nitrate of soda may be given. I find them very eftective,
and almost indispensable. Sow it broadcast as you would
wheat, at the rate of a pound or more to the square rod
each time, making the first application soon after the seed
46
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
is sown, and another a few weeks later. In the absence of
nitrate of soda, pulverized saltpetre, in half the quantity,
may answer. Should the plants show a tendency to grow
up tall and spindling, do not hesitate to shear, clip, or cut
oif at least one half of their tops.
Good plants are thus grown quite cheaply, and a good
trade in them may be worked up. In fact, this plant trade
is a side issue that can often be made more remunerative
than growing celery for market. There is money in celery
plants, even if you have to sell them at $1.50 per 1000.
Packed in cheap baskets, they can easily and safely be
shipped long distances. Simply put a layer of sphagnum
Fig. 22.
Celery Plants Packed for Shipping.
moss into the bottom of the basket, put in the plants,
standing upright and surrounded by the moist moss. This
is the simplest way of packing celery plants for shipment.
This method you find illustrated in Fig. 22.
Setting the Plants.
The general principles ruling the process of setting out
the plants for the summer crop are also applicable in this
case. The soil should be enriched and prepared, as already
advised in Chapter III. In my latitude I like to do this
work just as soon as the first crop is cleared off and the
A CROP TO FILL IN. 47
land becomes available, even should this be as early as last
week in June; but any time in July will do for the winter
crop. August and September are the months for this work,
as we proceed further south.
The details of the process of setting out the plants are
the same as described for the summer crop. With frequent
rains at this time the operation is just as easy and safe.
Ordinarily, however, we have just then much sunshine and
dry soil. If the soil is a moist muck or loam, our success
will be reasonably certain if we take pains to plant shortly
after the ground has been worked, and, consequently, is
still moist clear to the surface. With chances of irrigation
well utilized, we have nothing to fear any way. Without
them, however, we may find it a difficult task to set celery
plants, no matter how good and well-rooted they may be,
into hot and dust-dry ground. I would then advise to
water the rows a few hours or a half day before planting
time, even if it has to be done with ordinary garden
sprinklers. Let the water soak well into the ground right
in line where the plants are to stand. Be sure that the
plants, when out of the ground, are not exposed to air and
sun any more than is absolutely unavoidable. Let each
bundle of plants, as soon as properly prepared and trimmed,
be dipped in water, or the roots in a puddle of thin
mud, and then planted as speedily as possible. If hot and
dry weather continues, shade the plants set out by scatter-
ing a little fine hay over them.
I do not usually advise postponing the job of setting out
plants in a dry time waiting for rain. It is much better to
make an extra effort to get water. On the other hand, I
like it well enough to have a cloudy day for the work, and
rain soon following after. People who have access to a
daily paper, or a chance to watch the flag and whistle sig-
nals employed by the United States Weather Bureau, have
48
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
this great advantage, that they can get reasonably reliable
information about next day's weather. When I have a lot of
plants to set out, I watch the weather forecasts in my daily
paper quite closely. Should cloudy weather or rain be an-
nounced for the next day, I make the best use of my time,
and of all the forces available, and let the plants go into
the ground as rapidly as possible, even if we have to keep
at it until after nightfall.
The flag signals relating to this phase of the weather are
given by the display of one of three square flags. One of
them is white, and indicates clear or fair weather ; one is
blue, and indicates rain or snow ; one white and blue, and
indicates local rains. Their general appearance is illus-
FlG. 23.
WHITE
CHANGE OR FAIR RAIN OR SNOW LOCAL RAINS
United States Weather Flags.
trated in Fig. 23. A black triangular flag refers to the
temperature, indicating warmer weather when placed above
one of the flags already described, and colder weather
when placed below it. A white flag with black square in
centre announces the approach of a sudden cold wave.
Of the whistle signals there is at first a long blast of
from fifteen to twenty seconds' duration. This is intended
simply to attract the attention of the observer. Following
this, one long blast (four to six seconds) indicates fair
weather, two long blasts indicate rain or snow, and three
long blasts local rains. The short blasts refer to the tem-
perature, namely, one blast meaning a higher temperature,
A CROP TO FILL IN. 49
two blasts a lower temperature, and three blasts the ap-
proach of a cold wave.
Culture, Handling, and Bleaching.
Little is here to be said about these operations, since
they are the same as described for the summer crop. You
may look the directions up in Chapter III, if you wish.
There is one exception, however. The winter celery need
not and should not be much blanched before it is put into
storage. Any part of the late crop that has been properly
earthed up, and is in fit condition for market, should be
disposed of as soon as convenient. Blanching is the first
step toward decay. Celery that by ''handling " or slight
hilling has been made to grow upright and compact, will
have plenty of chance to bleach during winter, and soon
be all right for putting on the market.
In explanation of a general principle I have to add that
what we call blanching or bleaching is not real bleaching —
not a change of green to white — but only the production
of new growth, which remains white in the absence of
light. This also explains why early celery can be
''bleached" in ten days or two weeks, while the perfect
bleaching of late celery may require four or six weeks. In
one case the growth is rapid, in the other comparatively
slow.
V.
THE NEW CELERY CULTURE.
A NEW WAY PROMISING LARGE PROFITS.
INDISPENSABLE REQUISITES, — THE NEW METHOD IN THE HOME GARDEN.
— IN THE MARKET GARDEN. — A CELERY SHED.
The idea of growing celery so closely together that it
will blanch under its own shade is not exactly a new one.
I have repeatedly come across it in the agricultural press in
years past. Prior to the introduction of the White Plume
celery, little attention was paid to the plan, for the just
reason that there was no variety in existence well suited
for it. Then came the White Plume, and later the Golden
Self-blanching, and they have made '^ the new celery
culture" a possibility, and to some extent a success.
I have given this new plan a pretty good test, at least
for one season, and think it has its uses, and under the
right conditions can be made exceedingly profitable.
The two conditions, without which success cannot be
expected, or at least made a dead certainty, are (i) plenty
of plant foods, and (2) plenty of water. If we wish to
grow on one acre the same amount of stuff that we have
been in the habit of growing on four or five, it stands to
reason that we must also put upon the one acre the same
quantities of manure that we used to put on the four or five.
In short, there is no use trying to raise celery on the new
intensely intensive plan on any soil save that which is or
can be made excessively rich. Put all the rich, well-rotted
compost on the land that you can plow under or fork in.
If you make use of commercial fertilizers, use them at the
rate of several tons per acre. Heavy dressings of wood-
50
THE NE W CELER Y CUL TURE. 51
ashes, dried blood, fish compost, etc., will come acceptable.
The wonderful amount of celery that this method enables
us to raise on a piece of land justifies the most lavish use
of fertilizing materials.
We can also afford to incur quite a considerable expense
for the sake of making a water supply — a stream, a pond,
a canal, wells, cisterns, or whatever it may be — available
for irrigating our celery grounds. Water we must have.
The enormous growth of closely-planted celery which
covers the ground with a dense mass of foliage one to two
and more feet high, pumps up, consumes, and evaporates
an astonishingly vast amount of moisture. The summer
rains are seldom copious enough to supply one-half of the
water needed, and unless water is given by artificial means,
the soil will appear dry even shortly after a moderate rain.
The home gardener may well depend on buckets and
garden sprinklers for the purpose of transporting the water
needed for his few hundred plants, and brought from cis-
tern, well, washtub, creek, or pond. But whoever has to
furnish the liquid element for even a single thousand plants
in this manner will most likely get tired of carrying buck-
ets before the season is half gone.
The New Culture in the Home Garden.
I cannot be too emphatic in my advice to the home
grower. By all means set out two hundred or three hun-
dred White Plume plants in your richest and best-manured
and best-prepared ground. Set them in short rows, ten
inches apart, and the plants five inches apart in the rows.
If you have more than eight rows, it may be well to leave
the central row vacant in order to give you a better chance
to reach all the parts of the patch with the watering-buckets
and cans. Fig. 24 gives a glimpse at the home garden
patch. There are ten rows, each twelve feet long, containing
52 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
in the aggregate about two hundred and seventy-five plants.
To make the patch real snug, and to bleach the outside rows
all the better, each bed is enclosed by boards eight to
twelve inches wide and as long as necessary, set up on edge
as shown, and held in position by pegs or little stakes.
This is a pretty easy and simple way of raising all the celery
you may want from middle of July to March or April.
Along in May, or early in June, plant a patch of White
Plume, with perhaps some Golden Self-blanching for varia-
tion and for trial. Keep the ground between the plants
well stirred for a fcAv weeks. Usually there is no need of
applying water at this early stage. Soon the plants will
Fig. 24.
The New Celery Culture in the Home Garden.
cover the ground and choke out most of the weed-growth.
T have made a sure thing still surer by putting a mulch of
fine old compost several inches deep between the rows of
plants within a week or two after they were set out.
When the plants begin to cover the ground, the time for
water applications has come. Continued or very heavy
rains may for a while relieve you of the task ; but do not
let light rains or short showers interfere. Give the ground
a thorough soaking once every five to ten days, according
to the weather. Washing-suds and similar liquids are of
especial benefit. Make all such applications directly to
the ground between the rows, flooding rather than sprink-
THE NE W CELER V CUL TL/RE. 53
ling. Overhead watering will not be necessary. You will
do no harm even if you should use from twelve to fifteen
buckets of water for the patch shown in Fig. 24 at a time.
By the first of August or sooner the crop should begin to be
available for the table, and the two hundred and seventy-
five plants will give a full supply to a good-sized family
until late fall.
To provide for a supply from that time on until pretty
well toward spring, set another similar patch in early July
or thereabouts, on similarly-prepared ground, and at simi-
lar distances, selecting Giant Pascal, New Rose, or other
good non-bleaching sorts. A few plants may again be of
the White Plume or Golden Self-blanching varieties, in
order to give you an immediately available supply to last
Fig.
Newly-set Plants Shaded by Mulch of Fine Hay.
until the main part has become more thoroughly blanched
in winter storage.
In setting out the plants during the usual dry weather of
this period, use the precautions mentioned in the previous
chapter. As but part of a square rod is required for such
a patch, however, it is not a great thing to apply water
enough, previous to setting the plants, to thoroughly
moisten the soil and make the operation of planting a suc-
cess, especially if a little fine hay is sprinkled over the
plants afterwaid, as shown in Fig. 25. With plants crowded
together as closely as required by the '' new celery culture,"
a little hay goes a great way.
The late crop makes the bulk of its growth during a
54 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
period of usually more abundant rainfall ; artificial water-
ing, therefore, is less imperative and less indispensable, or-
dinarily, than for the summer crop. Still there will be
times when water may be needed, and in most cases an
occasional soaking given to the ground will prove quite
beneficial.
The New Culture in the Market Garden.
The experiments heretofore made in this line are neither
many nor extensive, and there are a number of points con-
cerning this branch of the business yet needing further
Fig. 26,
Glimpse at Celery Patch Grown on the New Plan.
investigation and tests. One of these points is the proper
distance between the plants. Some writers recommend to
set them seven by seven inches apart. I have tried various
distances. In my early patch, last season, the plants stood
six inches apart, with rows a foot apart ; in my late patch
they were planted seven by seven inches apart. Hereafter
I shall adopt a middle course, make the rows ten inches
apart, and set one plant to each five inches of row. This
puts the plants as close as White Plume should stand, in
order to bleach well without further manipulation, and yet
gives us a better chance to mark out the ground, set the
THE NE W CELER V CUL TURE.
55
plants, and run the hand wheel-hoe through the patch, than
when we plant seven inches apart each way. In short,
five by ten is much more convenient, and, I think, just
as effective. For marking out the ground you can use any
ordinary garden marker w^ith teeth ten inches apart, going
over the ground both ways. Then, following the rows, set
a plant in each cross-mark, and one between.
Fig. 26 gives us a glimpse at a celery field of this kind.
Fig. 27.
Celery Shed.
with plants just making good growth. I can assure you
that it is a sight worth seeing. You will get some idea,
too, of the amount of stuff growing on a piece of ground,
when you come to figure out the number of plants required
to set an acre — more than 120,000.
Celery likes a reasonable amount of light. It will not
thrive in shade, and especially not in the shade of trees, as
their roots will consume a part of the plant-food which the
56 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
celery needs for strong growth. On the other hand, I
find that some little shade in hot weather is quite beneficial
and promotes rapid growth. In view of the wonderfiil
possibilities of a piece of land properly treated when
planted to celery on the new plan, I am quite confident
that it could be made an exceedingly profitable investment
to fit an otherwise judiciously selected piece of ground, in
the manner shown in Fig. 27. The idea is simply to pro-
vide slight shading. For this purpose posts in lines are
set, to stand eight or nine feet above the surface of the
ground, and connected with scantlings, across which, in
turn, are placed slats or poles. The ground underneath
can be worked and planted in the manner described for
the new culture, and the plants will 'be safe from excessive
sun-heat, and consequently from some of the diseases that
often attack the exposed plants in the hot season.
VI.
THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM.
MAKING SUCCESS A CERTAINTY.
AN IRRIGATED FIELD. — IRRIGATION BY BOX DITCH. — TILE LINES AS
WATER DISTRIBUTORS. — WATERING BY HOSE.
Nowhere have I seen a better solution of the irrigation
problem than on the celery fields near Mount Morris, New
York, already mentioned in this work. Fig. 28 represents
a plan of this tract of muck land. The main ditch, which
is cut near the foot of the hill on almost a dead level, can
Fig. 2
Plan of Irrigated Field.
be filled from the little mountain stream rushing by at the
upper corner. Cross ditches connect this main ditch with
a parallel ditch, which is dug at the foot of this tract and
serves as an outlet. When the patch needs watering, the
brook is turned into the main ditch, and the latter allowed
to fill up. The water seems to percolate quite easily
57
58 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
through this sandy muck, and in a day's time the whole
strip next to the head ditch, i i i i, will be pretty well
soaked through. Then by opening flood-gates the water
is allowed to fill the first section of each cross ditch,
and these in their turn will soak up the next lower strip,
2 2 2 2. Thus continuing, the whole tract is thoroughly
soaked up in the course of a few days. Here celery and
other garden crops grow luxuriantly.
Undoubtedly there are many other places where similar
opportunities for sub-earth soaking exist, and wherever
found they should be practically utilized, as they double
and treble the crops and the value of the land.
Fig. 29.
m
Irrigation by Box Ditch.
Ordinary loams and ordinary sub-soils, however, do not
let the water pass through thus easily and freely. To dis-
tribute the water from a higher source of supply — a ditch,
a canal, a pond, a brook, or stream — we must usually resort
to surface irrigation. If we conduct the water to the
highest part of a field with slight slope, we can then turn
it into shallow furrows made with a hoe or hand plow be-
tween the rows, six or eight feet apart, and let it flow along
in one after another, until the corresponding strip has been
given a thorough watering or soaking.
THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM. 59
A box ditch, as shown in Fig. 29, may be utilized as a
conductor of the main supply to the highest part of the
field, or sometimes a simple furrow or ordinary shallow ditch
may answer the same purpose.
A superior w-ay of distributing the water from the main
supply to all parts of the field is by means of tile lines
laid eight to ten inches deep, and as closely together as
needed to make the w^ater reach to the middle between
these lines, say eight or ten feet apart. Fig. 30 shows the
arrangement of this style of sub-irrigation in the ''new
celery culture." Each line should be on a dead level.
If the soil is tenacious, offering some resistance to the
Fig. 30.
^,^^-
I
M
Tile Lines as Water Distributors.
free capillary passage of water, or liable to become pasty, or
if it be desired to arrange the tiles only for the use of one
crop and at least expense, I would lay the lines more
closely together on the surface, and only barely covered,
and leave the row just over them vacant. This arrange-
ment is made plain in Fig. 31.
Cheap home-made hose may also be utilized for dis-
tributing the water over the area to be irrigated. If this
area is a patch planted on " the new culture," however, it
may be w^ell to understand at the beginning that there is
little chance to walk through, or work in, an unbroken
60 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
planting. At suitable distances apart one or more rows
should be left vacant to serve as a path for the person
carrying the hose.
A short time ago, Mr. H. A. March, of Washington,
gave me the following details of his irrigating plant : —
*' We have a never-failing spring of water situated about
twenty feet higher than any of our tillable land. This
water is brought down in open troughs to the tanks on the
upper side of the field to be irrigated, holding 20,000
gallons each. We turn the water into the tanks in the
heat of the day, and the sun warms it up to about 60°
Fahrenheit.
Fig. 31,
Gi>^ ^h (-V*"^-
Tile Lines Near the Surface as Water Distributors.
''To distribute the water, we use a hose made from
twelve-ounce duck. We take a piece thirty feet long,
and cut it lengthwise into three pieces, which makes
ninety feet of hose about two and a-half inches in diam-
eter. We fetch the edges together, double once over, and
with a sewing-machine sew through the four thicknesses
twice, which makes a hose that will stand a six or eight-
foot pressure. To make it waterproof, we use five gallons
of boiled linseed-oil with half a gallon of pine tar,
melted together. Place the hose in a wash-tub, turn on
the oil hot (say 160°), and saturate the cloth well with the
mixture. Now, with a clothes-wringer run the hose through
THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM. 61
with the wringer screwed down rather tight, and it is ready
to be hung up to dry. A little pains must be taken to
blow through it to keep it from sticking together as it
dries. I use an elder-sprout about a foot long with the
pith punched out. Tie a string around one end of tlie
hose and gather the other end around the tube and fill it
with wind, then hang it on a line and it will dry in a few
days and be ready for use. It will last five or six years.
"To join the ends, we use a tin tube two and a-half
inches in diameter by one foot long. It is kept tied to one
end of the hose all the time. To connect them, draw the
open end of the hose over the tube of the next joint and
tie it securely. When ready to irrigate, we take the hose
in sections convenient to carry, lay it from our tanks to the
third row from the outside and down this row to the end
of the field. Then the water is turned on.
" To connect the hose with the tank, we take a hard-
wood stick fifteen inches long, bore a two-inch hole
through it, and with a hot iron burn it out smooth on
the inside, work one end down until it will fit into the end
of the hose next the tank and tie it securely; then work
the other end down so that it will fit tightly into a two-
and-a-half-inch hole. With a two-and-a-half-inch auger
bore a hole in the tank on the side next the field you wish
to water, two inches up from the bottom — then no sediment
or dirt will wash into your hose. Push the plug into the
hole, with a mallet give it a few gentle taps, and the work
is done. We now have our water running, and it can be
carried to any part of the field for any crop that needs it.
''To prepare for setting out celery plants in a rather dry
time, we take the end of the hose in hand, and fill the row
the hose is in and the two on each side of it about half full
of water, working backward to the end of our first joint
(thirty feet) ; then we cast the first joint off and go on in
62 CELER V FOR PROFIT.
the same way until the five rows are watered. We have a
two-and-a-half-inch plug ready to fit the hole in the tank,
pull out our connection-tube and drive in the plug until
the hose is again laid where wanted. A man in this way
will water three or four acres in a day. With a Planet
Jr. cultivator and one horse we level the ridges into the
furrows, then with a light drag make the whole surface
smooth and level. In a few hours the water soaks up
through the dry earth and leaves a nice moist soil, that
will not bake, to set our plants in, with plenty of moisture
and good manure at the roots, where it is most needed.
Not one in a thousand plants will die, and hardly even
wilt, in the hottest sun.
'' As the plants get larger we use the Planet Jr. to throw
a little soil to them, and that is all the handling we give.
When they have grown to six or seven inches, they con-
sume water very fast. Our man now stretches the hose
down the fifth row, instead of the third, and waters nine
rows at a time, for now he waters the whole ground instead
of the furrows. By compressing the end of the hose he
is able to throw the water eight or ten feet each way.
The ground is thoroughly soaked with warm water. In
about three days we start the cultivator.
''The ground being underdrained thirty feet apart, all
surplus water is immediately taken off, and this allows us
to irrigate at least once a week, and to use the cultivator
within a few days after, to keep the soil from baking.
Under such treatment one can almost see the plants
grow. ' '
Thus far my friend March. Let me add that this
problem of irrigation is of the greatest importance to
every commercial celery grower. If practically solved,
there is nothing else of note in the way of highest success
in celery culture, either old or new.
VII.
THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP.
INSECTS AND DISEASES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM.
THE PARSLEY WORM. — THE CABBAGE PLUSIA. — SLUGS. — CELERY
BLIGHTS. — CELERY RUST. — BACTERIA.
Unlike the majority of the choicer garden vegetables,
celery has no insect enemies that might justly be called
destructive or formidable. The *few that attack the plant
are easily kept in check by simple means.
Insect Enemies.
The most conspicuous and common among the two leaf-
eaters, which are found on celery, is the ''celery cater-
pillar," which, although quite handsome in its black and
yellow-striped suit, makes itself decidedly disagreeable by
the nauseating odor emitted from two yellow horns situated
on the body just behind the head. The adult, a beautiful
butterfly (^Papilio asterias), may be seen flitting to and fro
about the celery plants, alighting here and there for the
purpose of depositing its eggs. I always try to kill the
beautiful mischief-maker whenever I have a chance. In
Fig. 32, at ^, it is shown in one of its favorite attitudes.
The larva is seen at a. Usually we find only scattering
specimens, and they may be picked off by hand, or killed
by a puff of bubach (insect powder) from the bellows.
The second leaf-eater is the cabbage plusia {Plusia bras-
sicce). At c, in same figure (32), you see the larva in
the looping position, which it assumes when moving. It
is about an inch long, of a pale-green color, with longi-
tudinal lighter stripes. The head is small, and the body
63
64
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
gradually enlarges from the front backward. They are
more frequently found on cabbages, lettuce, and a lot of
other plants, than on celery ; but usually there are a num-
ber of them together, making them more destructive when
they do appear in the celery patch. Dusting with fresh
insect powder, or spraying with kerosene emulsion, will kill
them. The moth, shown at d, usually flies only by night,
but occasionally may be found about in cloudy weather.
Fig. 32.
Celery Leaf-eaters. i^Ha!/ Natural Size.)
a. Celery Caterpillar ; d, Asterias Butterfly ; c, Cabbage Plusia Larva ; d, Moth.
More damage than is done by these leaf-eaters is often
done by stalk-gnawing insects, especially by slugs. Against
the latter, however, we have simple and effective remedies.
The snails work at night. After dusk scatter powdered,
fresh air-slaked lime over the plants and upon the ground, or
during the later stages of growth, when slugs are most to be
THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP, 65
feared, spray thoroughly with strong lime-water, taking pains
to reach well under the foliage and on the lower parts of
the stalks. Salt water will also kill these slugs.
Fungous Diseases.
The disease which is most common in our celery patches,
and gives us a great deal of trouble, is the celery blight,
often wrongly called rust. It is due to the rapid growth of
a fungus, known to mycologists as Cercospora Apii {Yx.'),
on the leaves. A leaflet, attacked by the blight is shown in
Fig. T^2i^ a. The disease is liable to attack the plants in all
stages of growth, and at almost all seasons, but ordinarily
makes its first appearance when the plants have reached
considerable size, and then spreads rapidly in all kinds of
weather, and in spite of all treatment. This, at least, is
my experience. White Plume and Golden Self-bleaching
are especially subject to this and other diseases. I have
tried to keep the blight in check by thorough weekly appli-
cations of various fungicides, including ammoniacal solu-
tion of copper carbonate, solutions of sulphide of potas-
sium, of corrosive sublimate, etc. ; but my success has by
no means been encouraging. Usually, however, we can
get the summer crop out of the way before the disease has
made much headway, and done much damage.
Above all things we should try to keep the blight from
attacking the plant-beds. Never set a plant in open ground
that shows the least infection. Raise plants, if possible, in
a new location every year, and never use the same patch
that has once been invaded by the enemy. Shading the
plant-beds with lattice-work laid over a frame, will prob-
ably keep the plants in health. Celery grown in a celery
shed (see Fig. 27) will also be likely to remain free from
the disease.
Another leaf blight (^Septoria Petroselini^ Des., var. Apii,
5
6Cy
CELER Y FOR PROFIT.
B. & C.) is also probably quite common, and maybe easily
confounded with the other. The appearance of a blighted
leaflet is shown at b, same figure. It differs from other
celery blights, to the ordinary observer, in the more com-
plete killing of the leaf affected.
Fig. 33.
Fungous Diseases of Celery.
a. Leaf Blight {Cercospora Apii, Fr.) ; <5, Leaf Blight {Septoria Petroselini, Des.,
var. Apii, B. & C.) ; c, Leaf Spot {Phyllosticia Apii, Hals.) ; d. Rust {Puc-
cinia l>ullata,'W\nt.); e, Bacteria on Leaf; /, Core of Plant affected with
Bacteria.
The celery leaf spot {Phyllosticia Apii, Hals.) begins as
a dull-brown patch, never becoming of the light ashy color
characteristic of the cercospora in one of its stages. A
THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP. 67
leaflet attacked by spots is seen at c. The leaf may be
attacked only in one spot, which, continuing to enlarge,
causes the whole to become brown and lifeless, followed by
a torn condition. Two or three of these large, dead places
may be all that the leaf contains, while the balance is
healthy and deep green.
The celery rust (^Puccinia bullata and P. castagnei) has
not yet been found in this country, although it appears to
have a wide range geographically. A leaflet affected with
P. bullata appears at d.
More rapidly destructive, where it appears, than any of
the preceding, is a bacterial disease which has not yet been
fully investigated and classified. The germs, when intro-
duced into the core of a plant, cause this tender portion to
decay with greater rapidity than when placed in leaf tissue.
The appearance of a leaf affected with bacteria is shown at
e. All the dark portion abounds in germs. The central
portion of a celery plant, with its heart infested and one
of the outermost leafstalks decayed and fallen, is shown
at/.
For much of this information about fungo.us diseases, as
well as for the illustrations, I am indebted to a special
bulletin on ''Some Fungous Diseases of the Celery," by
Prof. Byron D. Halsted, issued by the New Jersey Experi-
ment Station. I am sorry so little can be said concerning
the remedial or preventive treatment of these fungous pests.
My remarks about the treatment of Cercospoi^a Apii apply
to all the rest of these diseases. Most of the experimenters
claim, however, that spraying with the ammoniacal solution
of copper carbonate has resulted in checking some of these
troubles, and in saving at least a partial crop. The tests
should be continued.
VIII.
THE WINTERING PROBLEM.
HOW TO KEEP AND BLANCH TLIE CROP FOR
WINTER USE.
REQUISITES OF SUCCESS. — STORING IN CELLAR. — STORAGE IN BOX. —
STORAGE IN HOTBED FRAME. — STORAGE IN TRENCHES. — STORAGE
IN ROOT-HOUSES OR PITS.
The principal requisites for success in keeping and
blanching celery in winter storage are few and simple,
namely : —
(i) A storage place, dark, cool, frost-free, moist at the
bottom, dry from overhead. A trench, a cave, a cellar
may supply all these conditions, or if not, can usually be
made to do so. Properly-constructed root or celery storage
houses always must supply them.
(2) Celery free from disease, taken up, usually with some
soil still adhering to the roots, before the temperature has
at any time fallen below about 25° Fahrenheit, which in
my locality means by the first or middle of November.
(3) Plants stood upright moderately close together, but
not overcrowded enough to exclude all circulation of air
around the foliage, with roots resting upon or in moist soil
in one or the other of the storage places named. That is
about all.
Storing for Family Use.
One method has already been mentioned. Simply take
up the plants at the time specified by prying under each
plant with a spade, simultaneously taking hold of the tops
with one hand and pulling. Then set them as closely
together as the bunches of roots will permit, upon and
68
THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 69
partially in a layer of moist muck or loam in a corner of
the cellar. Keep this layer always moist, or wet, and the
foliage always dry. Use the plants that were most nearly
blanched first, saving those which had the least done to
them in the field for the last.
Fig. 34.
Storing Celery in Box.
Instead of putting them directly upon the cellar bottom,
you may place them into a box of convenient size having
a layer of muck or loam in the bottom. Just above this
layer bore a few holes into the sides of the box, and through
these you may apply water as needed. A box thus arranged
Fig. 35.
Stored in Hotbed Frame.
is shown in Fig. 34. Place the box in a corner of the
cellar bottom.
Another good way for the home grower is shown in Fig.
35. Throw the old soil and manure out of the hotbed,
put in a little loam, and stand the celery upon and in this.
70
CELERY FOR PROFIT.
as advised for storage, in the box. First cover with the
shutters ; but when winter comes in real earnest, put fine
hay or leaves upon the celery, filling the frame clear up to
the top ; then replace the sashes and, finally, the shutters,
and straw, hay, or other coarse materials, as a further
protection in cold weather. The sides of the frame should
be well banked up. A crop may also be grown in the hot-
beds vacant at that season, by setting plants in them seven
inches apart each way in July, watering freely ; then, as the
Storage in Trench.
plants grow, putting another frame of similar dimensions
upon the first one, thus enclosing the plants to their full
height, and then covering up and protecting as already
described.
In an - emergency, a few plants, nicely cleaned and
trimmed, may be kept for some time by packing in alter-
nate layers with moist sphagnum moss. Of course, they
should stand top side up.
THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 71
Storing for Market Purposes.
For storage on a large scale, the narrow trench system
(see Fig. 36) offers the advantage of simplicity and cheap-
ness, so far as equipments are concerned. In some well-
drained spot dig a ditch, or ditches, not over a foot wide
and just deep enough to sink the tops of the stored plants
to the surface level. In taking up the plants, sorne soil
may be left on the roots, but many growers, to save space,
knock the soil all off before storing the plants. Pack them
into the trench as closely as can well be done ; then either
lay single, wide boards upon the ditch, or better, make
Fig. 37.
Trench for Storing Celery.
troughs, from two boards each, and place them on as a
cover. Stop up the ends with straw or leaves for ventila-
tion. At the approach of cold weather put on some soil,
and later some coarse manure, or the like.
A wider trench is shown in Fig. 37. This plan has been
practiced in various localities for many years. M. Garra-
han, of Pennsylvania, gave me the following description
of it: —
'' We throw out a trench four feet in width, putting half
the dirt on each side to facilitate covering. The trenches
are just far enough apart to drive between and unload from
each side. A board is run through the centre of the trench
72 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
to prevent the celery from crowding together too closely.
The upper edge is about on a level with the top of the
celery. If not packed too tight, it will keep longer with-
out rotting. The trench is dug two feet deep, more or less.
Rafters are cut from two by four scantlings (hemlock or
chestnut), at an angle that will bring the peak or ridge four
feet from the bottom of trench. Generally, three boards,
a foot wide, will cover each side. Ventilators are made
from common fence boards, inserted at reasonable dis-
tances, and in severe weather stuffed with litter to exclude
frost.
''For about two weeks after storing, celery will 'sweat'
and throw off a great deal of moisture. We, therefore, slip
the roof on as soon as we can after filling the trench, to
keep off rain, and leave the soil covering off as long as we
dare. At the approach of real cold weather, we simply
put about a foot of earth all over the roof. With rafters
four feet apart, we have no trouble about the roof settling
under its weight.
"The advantages of this plan are that one can store
celery as fast as could be done in narrow trenches, and
much faster than carrying the plants down cellar. It can
be taken out at any time, and in any kind of weather. We
also insure immunity from rats, as we take up the covering
and plow the ground level in spring. Then we have a lot
of lumber in the fall that has been used for banking up, so
that it does not seem to cost much money."
The " celery houses," or " celery pits," in use by celery
growers in various sections, are constructed pretty much
on the same general principle as the wide trench plan illus-
trated in Fig. 37. They vary in width between six and
twenty-four feet, and in length to suit the quantity to be
stored. These wider ones have a ridge-pole resting on
posts, and for the roof rails, slabs, or old boards may be laid
THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 73
across, from ground to ridge pole, and covered first with
coarse litter and then with earth. Make the covering thick
enough to keep out frost. At one end there should be a
door, and a window and ventilator at the other.
Such structures, of course, require some attention during
the winter. Air must be admitted from time to time, in
suitable weather, to prevent rotting, and yet frost has to be
excluded.
IX.
MARKETING METHODS.
HOW TO TURN THE CROP INTO CASH.
GENERAL ADVICE. — PREPARING CELERY FOR MARKET. — PACKAGES. —
CRATE FOR SHIPPING SUMMER CELERY.
It may be well to repeat some of the advice so frequently
and properly given. Always cultivate your home market
in preference to a distant market. Really good celery,
such as any gardener can grow if he follows the directions
given in this book closely, is so palatable and appetizing
that you will have no trouble in getting your neighbors and
townspeople to like it, and soon to find it indispensable. Try
to tempt their appetites and to work up a trade. The taste
for celery is growing, and when the article is really good,
I find it always tempts the buyer. Even small towns, when
well worked, can and will consume large amounts of this
vegetable.
When you have more than can be disposed of near home,
work your nearest larger market. Don't ship everything
to New York city, to Boston, and Philadelphia. The
larger inland towns often give you good opportunities. The
nearest larger city usually is your best market, unless a trial
shipment to a more distant market proves that to yield better
returns.
Preparing for Market.
All efforts should be made to get the article into the
market as fresh and crisp and as attractive in appearance
as possible. This may consume time, and require expense,
but it should not be neglected on that account, and it will
be found to be a well-paying investment. So far as the
74
MARKETING METHODS,
75
manner of trimming and arranging the stalks, and the style
of packages are concerned, you must be guided by the
whims and fashions of your particular market.
The Kalamazoo shippers have made the bunch of one
dozen plants common and popular in all markets ; but I
think they make a slight mistake in trimming off the root
with one square cut, as shown at A in Fig. 38. It seems to
me much more preferable to trim with four slanting cuts, as
Fig. 38.
Ways of Trimming the Roots.
shown at B. The plants are taken from the field or pit,
freed from nearly all the unbleached leaves as well as from
the root part, then placed, a dozen at a time, into a square
frame and tied firmly. We then have bundles of a dozen
plants each, and these are tightly packed in flat boxes and
sent to market.
During August and September 1892 I have shipped the
results of the "New Culture" to Buffalo, and notwith-
76 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
standing the glut and low prices prevailing in the markets
during that season, and notwithstanding the fact that the
stalks were not bleached as perfectly as closer planting (or
boarding up) would have done, the cash returns were
enough to pay me moderately well.
On mucky or otherwise very loose soils the plants, when
not earthed up, may be pulled up easily and expeditiously by
hand. On more tenacious soil, or if plants were earthed
up, you will have to make use of spade or shovel.
Fig. 39-
Bunch of Celery.
Two large tanks or tubs filled with water should be
handy by for washing and rinsing the plants. As fast as
the plants are taken up, from pit or field, remove the super-
fluous leaves, cut away the roots ; then give the plants a
thorough washing, getting them thoroughly clean by scrub-
bing with a brush or broom, and then rinsing in the second
tank or tub. Then tie them in bunches as the market
requires, and ship them in the customary package.
Another method of preparing celery for market, in use by
Eastern growers, is the one illustrated in Fig. 39. The
Jl/A RKE TING ME TIIODS.
77
plants are cleansed and trimmed, so that the heart of each
is well exposed, giving the plant a somewhat flattish shape.
Then from two to four, and even up to five roots, according
to size, are fastened together as shown in illustration, either
by means of a long nail driven through the base of the
plants, or by tying with twine, and always in such a man-
ner that the hearts are all exposed to view on one side.
The Boston market demands that the crop shall be exposed
for sale in oblong boxes which equal a barrel in capacity.
Fig. 40.
JI
.'?y^'->A^
Open Crate for Shipping Celery.
and that the bunches of celery be of such a size that three
dozen of them will fill the box even full.
New Jersey growers often pack the bunches tightly in
large barrels, making bunches of which from three to four
dozen will fill the barrel.
For most local markets the grower may use any kind of
package — box, crate, or barrel — which he finds most avail-
able or most convenient. I have shipped part of my crop
in bunches of a dozen roots each to the near Buffalo mar-
kets, packed in open crates as shown in Fig. 40. This plan
works all right provided you can ship the freshly-gathered
78 CELER V FOR PROFIT.
and prepared plants in the evening, as I do, and have them
in market by four or five o'clock the next morning, and
usually sold the same forenoon. Celery, if left lying about
open in commission and retail stores, soon deteriorates, and
at last becomes worthless. I always instruct my commis-
sion merchant to sell without much delay, at a small price
if he cannot get a big one, but to sell any way.
Crate for Shipping Summer Celery.
Not everybody is so situated that he can get his crop
into the retailer's or consumer's hand thus promptly. The
risks in consequence of wilting are especially serious with
Fig. 41.
Crate for Summer Celery.
the summer crop. Mr. Robert Niven has used the crate
illustrated in Fig. 41 with satisfactory results.
It is made of three-quarter-inch stuff, one side being
twenty inches long, the other fourteen and a half inches
long. The lower slats have a width of four inches, the
upper ones a width of one and a half inches. The posts
are twelve inches long and one inch square, and nailed
inside the corners. The joints are mitred and painted
before nailing together, and the bottom is made water-
tight all around.
The plants to be shipped in these crates are left with
roots on. They are properly washed and rinsed, then
MARKETING METHODS. 79
bunched, and packed upright into the crates, enough water
being poured into the latter to cover the roots. Thus put
up, the celery will keep for a week or longer in good con-
dition, and the commission merchants may thus ship them
safely to hotels and stores throughout the country.
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT.
THE OUTCOME IN DOLLARS AND CENTS.
ESTIMATES OF PROFIT. — LOSS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. — PROFITS OF THE
SUMMER CROP. — PROFITS OF THE WINTER CROP. — FINAL WORD
OF WARNING.
Before engaging in a new enterprise, the prudent busi-
ness man always tries to figure out the exact amount of
profits that he thinks he may expect as the final outcome
of his venture. This is no more than it should be. In
the course of similar arithmetical efforts, the celery grower
obtains a mental view of the possibilities of the crop, and
an aim for his labors.
This is not all. The soil-tiller is very likely to look over
his crops from time to time, and watch their progress, and
figure out in his mind how much they may yield him in
clean cash. Few people, however, are in the situation, or
will try to make as careful an estimate of the expenses and
returns a year ahead, as the State and National Govern-
ments, for instance, are in the habit of making yearly of
their revenues and disbursements. The reason, too, is
plain. There are only too many elements of uncertainty,
too many unknown quantities, in the figures which have
to serve as basis for the soil-tiller's calculations. Who can
tell what the season will be — whether a favorable one or
not? Who can foresee what accidents may befall the
crop ? Who can know what prices will be ruling — whether
high or low? Many of the conditions that influence plant
growth are yet shrouded in mystery. Even the individual
80
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT. 81
grower, who knows all the details of his environments,
who is thoroughly acquainted with his soil and its treat-
ment, his location and its special adaptabilities, his markets
and their whims, etc., cannot, with entire safety, make a
reliable estimate. If I undertake to make it for others, I
can only do so under the assumption that the conditions of
soil and market, etc., are such as I have advised to select,
and such as represent a moderately favorable combina-
tion.
The soil-tiller's estimates, in fact, are seldom safe. The
ruling emotion in the human heart is hope. It is just what
stimulates our efforts and actions. Without it all would be
stagnancy, despair, death. We are inclined to take a rosy
view of the situation, and thus we usually rest our calcula-
tions on the possible combination of conditions that are all
favorable, rather than on the far more probable mixture of
favorable, unfavorable, and indifferent conditions. Some-
times the ''carefully made" estimates may show a nice
profit, but when the balance is drawn after the crop is all
disposed of, the books may show an actual loss. The crop
is an expensive one. For the person who has made an in-
judicious selection of environments, or for the careless
manager, loss, in short, is not an impossibility. But it
should not occur otherwise.
Still it may be well to aim high. We may set a mark
somewhat below the possibilities of the crop and within
reach and reason, and then try to hit it or at least to work
as near to it as possible. Close watch of the development
of the crops, of the prices, etc., will soon show us the causes
of failures which seldom are entirely avoided in our first
trials. With the causes once known to us, a little effort
will soon enable us to find the proper remedies. ''If at
first you don't succeed, try, try again ! "
82 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
In the following I give rough estimates of the outcome in
growing the crop : —
ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE SUMMER CROP GROWN
BY THE OLD CULTURE.
Expenses per Acre.
To growing 25,000 plants under glass, seed included, $35 00
" Rent of land, 15 00
" Manure and fertilizers, including application, . . 50 00
" Plowing, harrowing, marking, 8 00
" Setting the plants, 8 00
" Cultivating, handling, hilling, 12 00
" Gathering, trimming, washing, bunching, ... 25 00
" Packing and Packages, , 25 00
** Cartage and Incidentals, 12 00
" Commission and transportation, 70 00
Total expenses, ^^260 00
Returns.
By 1500 dozen bunches @, 30 cts, ^45o 00
Deduct expenses, 260 00
Net profits, $190 00
If the crop can be disposed of in a local market, to
dealers or regular retail customers, the largest item in the
expense account — commission and transportation, ^70.00 —
can be saved, and nearly all of it added to the net profits.
Possibly higher prices, also, may be secured for this early
crop, so that it would not be so very extravagant, under
these favorable circumstances, to figure on nearly ^300 net
profits from an acre of ground in early celery. If the
grower can obtain such results, he is on the high road to
success.
On the other hand, if he has to buy his plants, they may
cost him $75.00 instead of $35.00. The land may be worth
$500.00 an acre, bringing the rent up to $30.00 instead of
$15.00. If the earthing up is all done with hand tools
PROFIT AXD LOSS ACCOUNT. 83
instead of celery hilling machines, the cost of ^' cultivating,"
handling, hilling, may be many times the amount stated
(^12.00). Possibly also there may happen to be a glut in
the market, and your bunches sell for 25 or even 20 cents
each. In short, if many unfavorable conditions should
happen to work together, the profits may be all consumed
to the last cent, and the grower will have to be thankful if
he gets his expenses back and good pay for his own labor,
even without a penny of clear profit.
ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE SUMMER CROP GROWN
BY THE NEW CULTURE.
Expenses per Acre.
To growing 1 1 5,000 plants, seed included, .... fti2ic 00
" Rent of land, 25 00
" Compost, including application, 75 00
" Fertilizers, * ' 75 00
" Plowing, harrowing, marking, 10 00
" Setting the plants, •...'.*' 30 00
" Irrigating, ...'.'....'. 50 00
" Cultivating and weeding, 20 00
" Gathering, cleaning, bunching, 60 00
" Packing and packages, ....... \ \ \ 80 00
" Cartage and incidentals, 45 00
" Commission and transportation, 325 00
Total expenses, ^920
00
Returns.
By 7000 dozen bunches @ 30 cts , ^2100 00
Deduct expenses, 020 00
Net profits _ «ii8o
00
It will be seen that the crop, at first sight, appears to be
exceedingly expensive ; yet the net profits, when the
accompanying conditions are right, prove to be correspond-
ingly large. As in the case of the crop grown in the old
way, the grower who has a near local market may possibly
84 CELERY FOR PROFIT.
sell his crop without having to pay commission and
transportation expenses, and thus increase his profits
materially ; or he may have to buy his plants, and be
satisfied with a smaller price than the one given in my
estimate, and see his profits dwindle down. In all these
estimates I allow about 25 per cent, of the plants set out
for culls.
ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE LATE CROP GROWN BY
THE OLD CULTURE.
Expenses per Acre.
To growing 25,000 plants in open air, ^1000
" Rent of land, 15 00
" Manure and fertilizers, 50 00
" Plowing, harrowing, marking, 8 00
*< Setting the plants, 8 00
" Cultivating, handling, hilling, 12 00
" Storing in trenches or root houses, 50 00
** Trimming, washing, bunching, 25 00
" Packing and packages, 25 00
" Cartage and incidentals, 12 00
" Commission and transportation, 70 00
Total expenses, ^285 00
Returns.
By 1500 dozen bunches @, 30 cts., ^450 00
Deduct expenses, 285 00
Net profits, ;^i65 00
The loss in wintering the crop, or part of the crop, is
sometimes quite considerable. Often disease takes hold of
the plants, and spreads rapidly even while they are in winter
quarters, ruining a large part.
In growing the late crop by the " new culture," we will
meet with difficulties in storing. It takes large storage
capacities (one-fourth of an acre) to store the product of an
acre of ground, and a great deal of time and labor. But
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT. 85
the profits are correspondingly large also, if the crop is
good, and the product in demand.
ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE LATE CROP GROWN BY
THE NEW CULTURE.
Expenses per Acre.
To £jrowing 115,000 plants outdoors, ^4000
• «' Rent of land, 25 00
" Compost, including application, 75 0°
« Fertilizers, 75 00
" Plowing, harrowing, marking, lo 00
" Setting the plants, 30 00
" Irrigating, 25 00
*' Cultivating and weeding, 20 00
" Gathering and storing, 150 00
" Trimming, washing, bunching, • . 75 ^"^
" Packing and packages, loo 00
" Cartage and incidentals, 40 00
" Commission and transportation, 285 00
Total expenses, $95° 00
Returns.
By 6000 dozen bunches @, 30 cts., $1800 00
Deduct expenses, $950 00
Net profits, ^850 00
These are again subject to changes as already explained.
A Final Word of Warning.
Now once more let me give a word of warning and
caution. Don't let these figures tempt you. Don't try to
begin on an acre scale. If you have never grown celery
before, start in slowly, cautiously. It is safer to begin with
a square rod than with an acre. Learn by experience, and
when you have become familiar with the requirements of
the crop, and are sure yxDu can supply them, then is the
time to embark more largely in this line of business.
ONIONS FOR PROFIT.
A Full and Complete Hand=Book of Onion Growing.
At last we publish a really complete hand-book on Onion grow-
ing, the first ever issued ; it is by Mr. T. Greiner, the author of
the New Onion Culture, of which book he says: "The New
Onion Culture was intended mostly to present a new phase of
the business, and to encourage further researches in an entirely
new direction. As a ' Hand-book of Onion Growing ' it has short-
comings and is I'ar from
being complete. It leaves
too much room for per-
sonal inquiries. I have
looked the field of horti-
cultural literature in
America over pretty
closely, and am unable to
find a' hand-book for the
Onion grower the teach-
ings of which are based
on modern methods and
embody (as they should
in order to justify any
claims of being ' up-to-
the-times ' ) the two meth-
ods, the old and the new,
in profitable combina-
tion."
T.GI^EINER
PmL-ADELPHIA,P/V.
There is Big Money
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Price, Postpaid, 50 Cents,
or can be selected FREE as a premium on or-
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PUBLISHED BY
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A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE CHEMISTRY OF
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HOWTOMAKE
^m ' AND
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PUBLISHED BY
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How TO Cook Veqetables.
BY MRS. S. T. RORER.
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This new book, of which the copyright is owned by us, is not for sale, and
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Selection of Location— Preparing the
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Vegetables — The Use and INIanagement of Cold Frames in Winter — Winter
Care and Pruning of Small Fruits— Culture of Succulent Roots and Bulbs-
Herbs, their Uses and Manner of Growing.
g^" The paper-cover edition can be had FREE, as a premium,
on a seed order of $5.00 ; or bound in cloth, on a seed order amount-
ing to $7.50.
PUBLISHED BY
W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
HOW TO GROW
Cabbages and Cauliflowers
MOST PROFITABLY.
This book gives the most complete information on the successful growing of
these important crops, and treats fully on: —
How to succeed with CABBAGES— The Best Soils— The Cabbage a Greedy
Feeder— Mauui-es-Plantiug and Cultivation— Insects — Early Cabbages —Late
Cabbages — Cutting and Marketing.
CAULIFLOWER— Selection of Land— Making Seed Bed and Sowing Seed-
Cultivation — The Pearliest Forcing of Cauliflowers — Cauliflower in the Open
Ground — For the Family Garden — Enemies of the Cauliflower — Varieties —
Tying and Bleaching — Cutting — Trimming — Packing for Market— How to Keep
for Winter Use.
Few, if any, crops yield larger returns than Cabbage and Cauliflower, and
with this treatise on " How to Grow," success is reasonably assured. Illus-
trated.
Price, postpaid, 30 cts.; or can be selected FREE as a. premium on orders
amounting to c^3.00 or more.
How TO Grow Melons
FOR MARKET.
In order to present the subject to our readers in the most comprehensive and
concise manner, we have compiled from the Prize Essays, and our own experi-
ence, a treatise that we thiuk will be of value to every melon grower. It treats
of both Muskmelous and Watermelons, with full information on the selection of
soil, use and application of manures, selection of suitable and profitable varieties,
planting of seed, destruction of insects, copious notes on the cultivation of the
crop, how to grow extra large melons, how and when to gather for market, etc.
Price, postpaid, 30 cts. ; or can be selected FREE as a premium on orders
amounting ti) ;;>>.U0 or more.
ROOT CROPS
For Stock Feeding.
Especially those who have never grown PvOOt Crops should read ROOT CROPS
FOR STOCK FEEDING and How to Grow Them. Illcstratkd. A
practical little treatise com!)iled from the Prize Essays. Edited by W. Atlee
Burpee, with copious ailditions from our own experience in growing these
crops. It treats fully not only on How to Grow, but also How to Store and How
to Feed ; it also gives careful notes on the most profitable varieties. In these
days of low prices for cereals and high valuation of land, Root Crops for
Stock Feeding is a subject of the greatest importance to every farmer who
desires the Farm to Pay a Profit. It is our earnest desire that the i)ublication
of this treatise may greatly increase the growing of Root Crops in the United
States, where this branch of Agriculture is yet in its infancy.
Price, postpaid, 30 cts. ; or can be selected FREE as a premium on orders
amounting to ^3.00 or more.
PUBLISHED BY
W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
HOW TO GROW ONIONS;
WITH NOTES ON VARIETIES.
A complete and exhaustive treatise ; in every way a thor-
oughly reliable guide for all who purpose growing this most
profitable crop. This book will open a new field for profit
to many who have previously been deterred I'rom growing onions
for market. It gives in full the prize essay with the above
title, by Mr. T. Greiner,
of Monmouth County, N. J. ;
also Onion Growing by Ir=
rigation, by Col. C. H.
Arlie, of Lake View, Ore-
gon — carefully edited, with
additional notes, including
an article ou growing Sets, by
W. Atlee Burpee. Be-
sides other matter, it gives
complete instruction on the
following subjects: —
Kinds ofSoil— Preparation of the Soil
— >raniires : How, When, and What
Kindsto Apply— Seed — Sowing the
Seed— Rolling— Cultivation—Hand
Weeding— The Most Useful Imple-
ments — Thinning — Injurious In-
sects—Harvesting the Crop— How
to Market— Storing for Winter-
American Varieties of Onions — Italian Varieties— How to Grow, Handle, and
Store Onion Sets— Onion Growing by Irrigation.
Each subject connected with growing onions is treated in a
plain and practical manner, so that Farmers who have never
before raised onions for market can succeed, while even experi-
enced growers may find many facts of interest.
Illustrated, Price 30 Cents, Postpaid,
or can be selected FREE as a premium on or-
ders amounting to THREE DOLLARS or more.
^ I fWATLEEBuRPEE^Co ^'
published by
W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA,