Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


of the relationship. For the purpose of simplification of the
subsequent part of this report, this section has been placed
preceding the description of the experimental plot arrangements.
 Celery is commonly shipped from the Everglades region in a
crate which measures 10" x 24" x 16" and which contains
approximately 70 pounds when packed for shipment. The celery
is roughly stripped and graded in the field, the marketable celery
being divided commonly into 3's, 4's, 6's, 8's, 10's and xx's.
The 3's are the largest stalks and contain three dozen stalks to
the crate. The other sizes also indicate the number of dozen
stalks packed in the crate, with the xx's being very small. The
popular medium sized stalks are the 6's, and a satisfactory crop
is one in which the 6's make up the largest relative proportion
of the crop, with 4's, 3's, 8's, 10's and xx's following in order.
 It is important that the effect of the fertility program on
the stalk size distribution be known, therefore, and fortunately,
for the average year this relationship is a simple one. It is
simply this-with a spacing of four inches between plants and
30 inches between rows as was used throughout in the experi-
mental plots, the fertility program which gave the highest yields
in the average year also gave the most desirable size distribu-
tion. For example, the highest 5-year average yield from Area
2 of these experiments was 589 crates per acre, and the average
distribution (by weight) with regard to the various stalk sizes
was as follows: 12.9% of 3's; 20.5% of 4's; 29.7% of 6's;
20.8% of 8's; 9.0% of 10's and 7.1% of xx's. In other words,
83.9% by weight of the marketable celery crop was composed
of 6's, 8's, 4's and 3's.
 Of course, in years when the highest yielding fertility pro-
gram gave particularly good yields, a larger portion of the crop
was represented by 3's and 4's. Conversely, when celery yields
were relatively low, the preponderance of the crop was 6's and
8's, with a sizable proportion of 10's. However, since it is
impossible to foretell the yield at the time the fertilizer is
applied, the best that can be done is to rely upon the average.
and the average shows that when you fertilize to obtain the
highest possible yield, the stalk size distribution will take care
of itself in a satisfactory manner. For this reason, the stalk
size distribution will be disregarded in the balance of this bulle-
tin, and the fertilizer treatment which gives the highest yields
will be considered the best treatment.