Editors Letter- Box, 55 



EDITORS' LETTER-BOX. 



The Editors of " The American Journal of Horticulture " cordially invite 

 all interested in horticulture and pomology, in its various branches, to send 

 questions upon any subject upon which information may be desired. Our corps 

 of correspondents is very large, and among them may be found those fully com- 

 petent to reply to any ordinary subject in the practice of horticulture. Any 

 questions which may be more difficult to answer will be duly noticed, and the 

 respective subjects fully investigated. Our aim is to give the most trustworthy 

 information on all subjects which can be of interest to horticulturists. 



We would especially invite our friends to communicate any little items of 

 experience for our " Notes and Gleanings," and also the results of experiments. 

 Such items are always readable, and of general interest. 



We must, however, request that no one will write to the contributors to our 

 columns upon subjects communicated to the Magazine. 



Any queries of this nature will be promptly answered in our columns. 



Anonymous communications cannot be noticed : we require the name and 

 address of our correspondents as pledges of good faith. 



Rejected communications will be returned when accompanied by the requisite 

 number of stamps. 



Market-Gardener. — How shall I raise celery? — Get the best seed of 

 some good variety of solid celery ; start the plants in a hot-bed, or, for late 

 celery, in the open air ; then prepare your land by ploughing it deeply. Strike 

 deep furrows every six or seven feet apart, or dig trenches ; then manure liber- 

 ally in the trenches, digging or ploughing it in well ; after which it is ready to 

 receive the plants. Some prefer to spread the manure before ploughing. Set 

 the plants in the trench six to eight inches apart ; keep the land well cultivated 

 through the summer ; and, three or four weeks before you wish to gather the 

 crop, earth it up so as to blanch it. The old way of earthing it up gradually 

 through the season is not so good ; for the celery becomes rusty, which injures 

 the appearance and sale of it. Have raised the very best of celery, blanched up 

 twenty inches or more, by the method above described. 



Hybridist, Springfield. — I have a seedling pear that has fruited two years ; 

 but the fruit, though good, is not quite up to my expectations in quality. Will 

 it improve? — It is not always safe to condemn a new fruit after only two 

 years' fruiting ; for pears are always better on middle-aged than on young trees, 

 less woody, and possess more flavor. Sometimes a pear or grape, and even 

 other fruits, will improve very much in quality when the tree gets age. If your 

 fruit is good, hold on to it for a few years, and it may become very good. 



Sheldon, Berkshire County. — Does the Sheldon pear crack? — Yes: on 

 some soils, in some seasons, quite badly. 



