Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/49



Celery is a native of Britain, and is found in marshy ground, ditches, and such situations. In its wild state, it has a rank, coarse taste. The effect of cultivation is remarkably displayed in producing the sweet, crisp, mild, stalk of Celery, generally very palatable to all, from a wild, detestable, and apparently worthless weed.

This vegetable is yearly gaining repute, and is cultivated to a great extent, though in our market far from being in perfection.

.—The leaf-stalks, when blanched, are used raw as a salad; they are also stewed, and used for seasoning soups; an agreeable conserve can also be made from the stalks when perfectly blanched.

There are several sorts in cultivation, but they may be set aside to give place to the two following:—

White Solid, which is most generally prefered, on account of the color, and is considered by some as the most crisp; and Red Solid, which differs from the former only in color, though it withstands the frost better than the White, showing, at least, that there is a constitutional difference. Manchester Red is another name for this variety. There are also sorts sold as Giant Red and Giant White, Seymour’s Red and Seymour’s White, all corresponding with the varieties known as the Red and White Solid Celery. There is another variety known as the Lion’s-Paw Celery, pure white, but in our opinion inferior to the White Solid. As for giant sorts, they are attained purely by culture, and astonishingly so too. Seed from the same plant, in the hands of some growers, will produce stalks four feet long, blanched to a silvery whiteness; with others, a meagre stalk of a few inches high, with its base of a dirty