ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WHEN THIS PUBLICATION WAS LAST PRINTED

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1936

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

OMMERCIAL CELERY GROWING in the United

States had its beginning at Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1874, but rapid expansion of the industry did not occur until after 1880. The acreage annually devoted to growing the commercial celery crop at present varies between 31,000 and 36,000 acres, and the shipments range between 19,000 and 27,000 cars.

The extension of the celery-growing industry to a number of sections of the country having specially favorable soil and climatic conditions has made possible the production and marketing of a good grade of celery at practically all seasons of the year. This extension of the industry has developed new problems for the grower to solve and new disease and insect enemies that must be controlled.

This bulletin discusses the fundamentals of successful celery production for the market and for the home garden, including the latest and best-known methods of controlling the disease and insect enemies of the crop.

CELERY GROWING

By W. R. BEATTIE, senior horticulturist, Division of Fruit and Vegetable Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry

CELE

ELERY GROWING AS AN INDUSTRY in the United States really dates from about 1880, at which time the White Plume and the Golden Self Blanching varieties were introduced. Prior to that time certain of the older green types were grown in home and market gardens mainly for local consumption. Statistics for 1936 gathered by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics show that 36,350 acres were devoted to the commercial production of celery and that the total production was over 9,376,000 crates, or 19,090 cars. This does not include celery grown in home gardens or the small lots grown and sold locally, nor does it include that part of the commercial crop which was moved to market by means of motor trucks. The car-lot movement of celery in the United States reached its peak in 1930, when 26,627 cars were shipped. This great. development has been due largely to the increased popularity of celery as a food, the improvement of varieties, the adoption of better methods of handling, and the extension of the industry to regions where soil and climatic conditions make it possible to maintain a dependable market supply throughout the year. It should be borne in mind that celery is perhaps the most expensive of all the vegetable crops to grow. The investment in special equipment is considerable, and the cost of fertilizers, seed, and labor is exceptionally heavy. However, these expenses are variable, and no definite figures can be safely given.

Celery belongs to the same family of plants as the carrot, parsley. fennel, caraway, and anise. The characteristic flavor and odor of the members of this family are due to the presence of certain volatile oils in the stems and leaves, and especially in the seeds. Celery is native of marshy places of the region extending from Sweden southward to Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and in Asia even to the Caucasus Mountains. In its wild form it was known as "smallage"; the only references to its early cultivation seem to be in connection with its production for medicinal use. In its wild form, celery, or smallage, is of spreading habit of growth and has a bitter or pungent flavor and odor. There is mention of a cultivated variety of celery in France in 1623, and in England the seed was sold in 1776 for the growing of plants to be used in flavoring soups and stews. Originally the cultivated celery differed very little from the wild form; the early varieties of celery seem to have been more or less hollow stemmed, the solidstemmed varieties not appearing until later. Even in recent years, since celery became an important vegetable crop, there were still numerous hollow-stemmed plants found among the solid. Careful selection and the breeding of new varieties have largely eliminated this tendency, and plants having hollow stems throughout are now rarely found. Pithiness of the outer stems frequently occurs in practically all of the varieties, especially when the crop is allowed to become overmature before being harvested.

S. L. Emsweller, of the University of California, reported on rather exhaustive experiments conducted during 1930-31 to determine the exact nature of the so-called pithiness in celery. Emsweller distin guished two types of pithiness. In one of these types hollowness is hereditary. All of the stems of the plant are hollow from the beginning. The other type of pithiness is the result of local conditions. In it the outer stems become spongy and pithy. This condition may or may not reach the heart of the plant; therefore a portion of the plant may remain marketable. No part of plants of the first type is marketable. Inasmuch as the true hollow-stemmed condition is hereditary, it is possible to eliminate it from any strain or variety by proper selection of the seed plants and by growing the seed under such conditions that there will be no chance of cross-pollination from naturally pithy or hollow-stemmed plants. The other form of pithiness may result from exposure of the plants to severe cold, lack of moisture during the growing period, or allowing the celery to remain in the field too long and become overmature. Certain varieties, because of their early maturing character. appear to be more susceptible to the second type of pithiness-than-others.

Originally celery was not blanched or eaten raw but, as already indicated, was used largely in soups and stews. It was first used raw in the blanched form in Engierd and later in the United States. From 8 plant that was thought by many to have slight medicinal properties, celery has been raised in estimation to one of the most delicate and delightful of our fresh vegetables.

Credit for the early commercial development of the celery industry in this country is largely due to a group of Holland-American gardeners located in the vicinity of Kalamazoo, Mich., who grew celery as early as about 1874 and offered it for sale to passengers on the trains passing through Kalamazoo. Later, the trainboys and the express messengers on the Michigan Central Railroad trains sold the celery

8