How to Grow Celery in Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1853

Horticultural.

CELERY.

     The production of goods celery is a point well worthy the care of the gardener.  Few vegetables are more highly prized were require so much attention from the time the seed is sown till it is furnished to the table.  The droughts of summer and the severe frosts of winter are alike injurious to it; and to insure a crop, the soil must be in the best condition.  Moisture is essential to its cultivation, and the supply of well fermented manure or rich compost is one of the first conditions for its success.  An open, free, loamy soil sufficiently rich in vegetable matter will suit it.  Stiff, tenacious clay is to be avoided, as it binds too much, and prevents the free development of the plant; such soil also induces canker, while free sandy loam, with a sufficient supply of well decomposed manure, will raise it, free from this.  As a large quantity of manure must be supplied with the crop to insure its rapid growth, it is not essential that the soil should be previously very rich, its physical condition is more important.  In choosing a piece of ground for celery it is advisable to take into consideration the nature of the crop that may follow, so that the best advantage may be taken of the high cultivation generally applied to it.  The ground where good celery has been raised will be capable of producing any crops requiring highly manure and soil, the following season.  A very successful plan is adopted by some gardeners to secure a shade for the young plants; they plant a row of keys or corn between the trenches, which is taken off the ground before the soil is required for earthing up.

When the ground has been chosen mark off a space of five feet in width, and opened a trench eighteen inches wide, throwing out the surface soil a spade deeper, spreading it over the ground equally.  In the bottom of this trench deposit the manure or compost. Farmyard manure, night soil, hog-pen manure, and other well decomposed material, is the best for this vegetable, which depends on its perfection on quick and luxuriant growth.   This should be well incorporated with the soil and reduced to a fine state for the reception of the plants.  Plant them in double rows in the trench at eight inches from plant to plant, and about four inches between the rows; the plants should be alternate in the rows.  Care must be taken in removing the plants not to reduce the roots too much, they may be removed without being checked by lifting them with a garden trowel.  The soil about the young plants should be made as fine and mellow as possible.  The middle of July is quite soon enough to plant out the general crop of celery in this climate; they cannot endure a much longer summer, and by planting earlier nothing is gained.  The soil must be frequently stirred to keep down weeds and admit the air.  It is not advisable to earth up until the plants have obtained a good size; as they do not keep well during the winter when they are earth up too soon in the season.— Very good celery is grown and blanched without earthing, until the final covering is put on for the winter.  Such as is not required for use until the latter part of the season they be safely treated in this way, as it will be sufficiently blanched by being covered during the winter.  A portion for immediate use must be first up as soon as the plants obtain a height of six or eight inches.— This operation must be carefully managed, taking care to keep the soil from getting into the heat of the plant. The most certain method is to fold the leaves closely together with one hand, while the soil is drawn up around them with the other.

The first earthing is the most important. If this is properly attended to, the succeeding ones are not so likely to be mismanaged.  The five feet

[sic] space is used for the purpose of covering up for the winter.  Where such space is left, it is not necessary to remove the plants from the trench, as is sometimes done; but they may be covered up as they stand. The great danger is from rotting when covered up in this way, and to prevent this the soil must be made so compact as to prevent any water from entering. In a very severe season, boards are placed over the ridges.— When the stocks are removed from the trench they are placed on the ground up right, and banked up with dry soil to a sufficient depth to exclude the frost, and covered with straw or boards.  If covered when dry they are not likely to white, and are well blanched by the latter in and of winter. That portion of the crop for early use may be secured in a separate trench, and may be deposited in a dark part of the cellar.

There are only two or three varieties of celery cultivated to any extent in this vicinity, of which Seymours’ White Solid is the most useful.  The Red Solid is cultivated to some extent, but is not found so suitable as the White, and is not so much used now as formally.— There is a great difference in the quality of seed depending upon the stock from which it is grown. It is a seed which disappoints many persons in not germinating readily; a bed sown one week may come up freely, while another sown the following, from the same package, and on similar soil, may disappoint, [sic] Moisture in the soil is important.— New York Agricultor.

Planters’ Advocate, Upper Marlborough, Maryland Wednesday Morning, September 14, 1853.

Transcribed from:  Maryland State Archives
Planter’s Advocate Collection
MSA SC 3415
msa_sc3415_scm3596-0006