It is still an open question whether pithy celery is to be attributed to culture, or circumstances of growth; or whether it comes from some defect in the plant from which the seed was obtained. We have given the matter much thought during many years, and incline to the belief that, as in a pithy turnip, it is wholly a matter of cultivation, and not an inherited peculiarity with the seed; but we have no certain evidence that this is the case.

A correspondent of the London Garden says:

"The cause of disappointment so often complained of in celery become hollow, is through the seed of worthless kinds being sold under the name of a good variety, which latter can always be had fairly true, if the right sources are gone to; it is usually the low-priced article that turns out disappointing. Anyone who is anxious to make sure of always having some particular sort of celery true, need have no difficulty in doing so when they have once got the sort; if at planting-out time a dozen plants are put in anywhere in an open place at about a foot apart, taking no further notice of them after they have once begun to grow, except just seeing that they do not get smothered with weeds, they will give as much seed in the autumn but one following as will suffice for a good-sized garden for three or four years, in about which time another supply should be provided".

We quote this because we have been under the same impression for many years till recently we have had reason to believe that it is not always the fault of the seed or the kind.

I notice in the June number your quotation from a correspondent of the London Garden, wherein the writer takes the ground that hollow or pipy celery is always the consequence of using seed of some worthless kind. That this is true in general, there can be no question, as a most extensive practice in growing and testing the different kinds of celeries well proves; but our experience also has proved that on stiff heavy soils the same variety of celery will be specifically heavier than on boggy soils formed mainly from leafy deposits. I first discovered this some twenty years ago. We had two places in which we grew celery, one, leafy deposit and the other heavy clay loam, and in marketing the crop, we found, which was nearly of the same bulk, that that on the clayey loam, was nearly one-third heavier than that grown on the leafy mould soil. All giant or tall-growing celeries should be avoided; as a rule they are always more hollow, give twice the labor to work, are inferior in flavor to the dwarf-growing sorts, and under the same conditions, rarely give as much weight of crop.

No market gardener that knows his business, ever grows the "giant" celeries here now.