will be necessary that this care should be at intervals throughout the day. Later, the setting of the plants during the pleasant days of May and June will bring the person conducting the work in close contact with the soil. During the summer months, the work of caring for the celery can all be performed during the morning and evening, without attention during the heated part of the day. In the autumn, when the crop is ready for marketing or storing, the labor can be performed during the middle of the day, or at least after the air has become dry and pleasant. We are often requested to furnish information regarding lines of work in which women can engage in order to earn a little money for themselves. Aside from the rough work of fitting the land, there is perhaps no cleaner or more pleasant occupation than celery growing for women to engage in; besides it provides for them a greater proportion of outdoor life. The capital required for starting a small celery growing enterprise is not great. Celery culture offers special inducements for boys and young men who desire to get a start in a paying business. With 1⁄2 to I acre of good celery land at his disposal, an industrious young fellow can easily clear from $100 to $300 during a season, and the greater part of the work can be done during vacation and outside of school hours. The main points to be considered when contemplating a small venture in celery growing are: (1) climatic conditions; (2) adaptability of available land; (3) marketing facilities; (4) securing of fertilizers; and (5) irrigation facilities. The requirements along these lines have been discussed under separate heads in this book, the only difference being that on a small scale the character of the land, securing of fertilizers, and irrigation facilities can be more easily controlled, and it may even be possible to build up a market where no demand now exists. Many persons have the impression that celery growing is an intricate process requiring special conditions, skill, and equipment, but such is not the case. Celery is no more difficult to grow than the majority of garden crops, but it has a few peculiarities the understanding of which only adds interest to the work. INDEX Acid phosphate, 18, 29, 30, 33. Areas adapted to celery culture, 10. Celery seed production, 132, 133. Availability of fertilizers, 16, 32, 33, Cold-storage, 111. Copper carbonate, 83, 84. Corn on celery land, 8. Barnyard manure, value and meth- Copper sulphate, 84. 103; with boards, 96; with earth, Blight of celery, 78, 79. Blood and bone, 30, 32. Cost of production per acre, 130. Crates, shipping, 114, 116, 117, 123. of, 61; tools adapted to, 61. Boards for blanching, 96, 97, 98, 99. "Damping," 41, 77, 78. Bone black, 32. Bone meal, 17, 32. Bordeaux mixture, methods of pre- Botanical classification of celery, 1. Bunching and packing, 120. Bunch of celery containing Calcium carbonate, 19. Calcium oxide, 19. Calcium phosphate, 18. Calcium, sources of, 19. Dates of planting, 50, 51, 52. Distances to plant, 56, 58. one Drag for leveling land, 12. Capital required for celery-growing Celery hiller, 98, 100. Celery looper, 93. Celery seed, 35. Drain tiles used for blanching, 102. Early history of celery, 1, 2. 11. Evans' Triumph variety, 126. |