Part 7 (1/2)
The system of level planting is practiced by large growers everywhere.
Trenching is still followed in some private gardens, but is too expensive for commercial operations.
=Varieties.=--The so-called dwarf and half-dwarf varieties have pushed the larger kinds out of the market almost entirely, though seed of the giant sorts can still be obtained. The dwarf kinds are large enough for all purposes, however, and are in best favor everywhere. They are about 18 inches high, as compared to twice that height in the old-fas.h.i.+oned giant types.
The favorites of late years for early celery are the self-blanching sorts, such as White Plume and Golden Self-Blanching, which are the result of the continued selection of individual plants or sports showing a tendency to blanch easily. For winter keeping, the Perle Le Grand, Winter Queen and Perfection Heartwell are the best. These varieties are beautiful as well as highly palatable. There are also red or pink sorts, of high table merit and good keeping qualities.
CELERY.--We recommend Golden Self-Blanching and White Plume for early, Perle Le Grand for both early and late and Winter Queen for late. The latter is the very best keeper. See ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”
=Cultivation.=--The proper culture of the celery has already been suggested in the allusion to its need for water and its shallow feeding habits. The surface soil should be highly enriched, the stirring of the soil very shallow, and the water supply copious, either by capillary attraction from below (as at Kalamazoo) or by rainfall or artificial irrigation.
=Blanching.=--The first step in the process of blanching or bleaching is what is known as handling. This operation consists in grasping all the leaves of a celery plant in one hand, while with the other the soil is drawn together and packed so as to hold the stalks in an upright, compact position. This single operation will fit some of the early-planted sorts for market in the course of two weeks; though a second operation, called hilling, is usually considered desirable, even with the self-blanching sorts. See photograph on first page.
The Kalamazoo growers depend on muck for field blanching, though they also use boards. Muck is merely a dark soil, containing or consisting mainly of vegetable matter. They first ”handle,” as just described, and about five days later draw 6 inches more of the muck about the celery stalks. Again, three days later, they draw an additional 2 inches about the stalks, and in two weeks from the start the celery is ready for market.
These operations are frequently done by two men working together, one holding the stalks and the other drawing the soil to them. The first operation puts the stalks in an upright, compact position, so that little or no soil can get into the heart of the plant. The second draws about the plant all the soil that will conveniently remain there. The third merely supplements the second, as the hill has had time to become somewhat firm and has settled away a little from the upper leaves.
Boards are used for summer blanching, as they are less heating than soil. Ordinary lumber, free from knot holes, is employed. The boards rest on their edges, one board on each side of the row, the tops being drawn together until within 2-1/2 inches of each other, and the lower edge of the board held in place either by stakes or by soil.
The work of handling or hilling must be done only when the celery is dry and unfrozen. In fact, celery must never be handled when wet (except when preparing it for market), or it will surely be rusted and spoiled.
The same practices of blanching celery as here mentioned in connection with the Kalamazoo operations are in vogue near Philadelphia and other Eastern cities, and are not new. The real reason that Kalamazoo is so celebrated is her possession of that wonderful black muck soil, underlaid with standing water. This has attracted the best celery growers of the country; men who have small places of from one to three acres, and who work out every detail to perfection, employing little labor outside of their own families and concentrating their efforts on the production of perfect celery crops. There are extensive celery growers at Kalamazoo, with tracts of thirty or more acres devoted exclusively to this vegetable, but the majority of the gardens there are small, and much hand-work is done.
=Winter Storage.=--The art of the winter storage of celery, as practiced by large growers, is not hard to learn. Both at Kalamazoo and here in the Eastern States there are two methods in vogue. One is the use of especially-built houses, and the other is the open-field plan.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Blanching Celery with Boards.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Winter Queen, the Best Late Winter Keeping Celery.]
The celery house or ”coop” is a low frame structure, half under ground, generally 14 or 16 feet wide, and as long as may be desired.
There is a door in one end and a window in the other. The sides, ends and roof are double and filled with sawdust. There are wooden chimneys or ventilators at intervals of 12 feet along the peak of the roof, and sometimes there are gla.s.s windows in the roof, provided with wooden shutters. The celery stands upon the floor, which is of loose soil.
There is a narrow walk lengthwise in the middle of the building, and boards extending from the central walk to the side walls separate the packed celery into narrow sections. No earth is placed between the celery stalks as they stand. They are, in fact, rooted in the soil of the floor, and are thus able to make the slight growth demanded for complete blanching. The various doors, windows and ventilators make it possible to keep the air fresh and wholesome, and during cold weather a stove may afford heat to the storage room. Artificial heat is not commonly required.
Another method, cheaper and quite as satisfactory, especially on farms or in market gardens, is to trench the celery in the open field. The situation of the trench must be a dry one, where there will be no standing water. The trench must be nearly or quite as deep as the height of the celery, with perpendicular sides, and a foot or less in width. The stalks are set upright in the trench, with all decayed or worthless leaves removed, as closely as they will stand, without soil between them. To keep them in that condition is purely a matter of care. If they are buried deeply and the weather proves warm they will rot. But if the covering be decreased in warm weather and increased in cold weather, the celery can be kept in perfect condition. In private gardens celery is often planted in double rows, a foot apart, and wintered where it grows by covering deeply with soil.
An excellent plan is to make an A-shaped trough of two boards to turn the rain, on top of which a greater or less amount of straw, leaves or litter may be piled, if needed.
Mice sometimes do considerable damage to stored celery, but are more easily controlled in short trenches than in long ones.
Small amounts of celery may be stored in cellars, in boxes a foot wide and a foot deep, with damp sand in the bottom. No soil is needed between the plants. The coolest and darkest part of the cellar is best for storage.
=Diseases.=--Celery diseases are preventable and insect attacks are few. For blight, kainit is recommended, both in the seed-bed and open field. For rust, the Bordeaux mixture is advised. Hollow-stemmed or pithy celery is the result of poor stock or improper soil, and can be avoided by the use of more manure and more water.
=New Process.=--The method of growing celery in highly enriched soil, with plants set 6 or 8 inches apart both ways, is quite feasible. The plants stand so close as to blanch each other to some extent, but the system has never attracted general favor. A great deal of water is required. Cultivation is possible only when the plants are small.
=Profits.=--The use of celery is obviously on the increase, but the demand is for a first-cla.s.s article. The cash results may be set at anywhere from $200 to $500 per acre. The actual net profits of well-conducted operations are considerable.
WATER CRESS.