THE QUESTION BOX. 



The Question Box shall be an " open parliament " for the discussion of the practical, every-day questions that perplex the 

 irrigation farmers. Questions will be answered by those men of long experience among our readers who are glad to give of their 

 knowledge for the common good. Further answers are solicited from any reader whose experience differs from that published 

 here. The editors reserve all rights of control of the department. 



What do you knotv of the new forage plant, sacaline, which is 

 being offered by " THE AGE " and by many of the agricultural 

 papers? If the claims made for it are fully true, it has some of 

 the distinctive elements of the worst pests the farmer has to deal 

 with. 



THE AGE is on the alert to discover such plants as 

 are best adapted to the intensive culture incident to 

 farming by irrigation. A proposition came from the 

 seedsmen, A. Blanc & Co., which was taken under 

 consideration, and as it appeared to be well indorsed 

 by responsible parties an offer was made which would 

 enable our readers to test its value. A recent letter 

 from the above firm is calculated to excite suspicion, 

 and as it has evidently been sent in about the same form 

 to all publishers our readers should ponder it carefully 

 so as to avoid the risks involved. They say : "It has 

 been stated by W. Atlee Burpee & Co. of this city, 

 that the plant could not be eradicated. We have 

 written to a number of parties who have grown this 

 plant as an ornamental for several years in this country, 

 and, without a single exception, we have been assured 

 by them that there was no trouble in eradicating it 

 except in very rocky ground. The plant, as you 

 know, makes roots like asparagus, and also sends 

 down deep tap roots. Near the surface of the ground 

 it makes long runners, which in time root again, and 

 from which the plant is thus propagated. If, however, 

 the main crown is cut below the soil, the tap root will 

 not grow again, and by lifting the main crown the 

 running roots are taken up also. We are also told by 

 parties who have grown it for years that by plowing 

 it under and growing on the soil some crop that 

 requires cultivation the sacaline is effectively erad- 

 icated ; as the plant has never produced seed in this 

 country it cannot spread from that source. From our 

 own experience we would say that we have tried to 

 propagate from the tap roots and utterly failed to 

 do so." 



Without considering these points seriatim, we are 

 disposed to believe that any man who has fought the 

 spread of Johnson grass will recognize enough simi- 

 larity in the habit of root growth to cause a prudent 

 hesitation about giving this a foothold in garden or 

 field. THE AGE has withdrawn its offer as to the 

 distribution of the seed, although it will send a small 

 package with caution as to planting it to those who 

 have made claim for it. There is food for thought in 

 the following from the Nebraska Farmer, signed by 

 J. M. Rice, Winview, Okla. : " I expect to try it, as I 

 do most of the forage plants. But I want to caution 

 farmers as to the unthoughted planting of it. Just 

 read what is claimed for it, and then if you think it is 

 the thing for your farm try it on a small scale. But 

 notice that it is claimed that neither drouths, floods 

 nor fire will destroy it; that the roots take possession 

 of the ground; grows fourteen feet high, and that 

 cattle cannot trample it out. If these things be true, 

 and that it spreads by its roots, might it not be a pest 

 which you could not get rid of ? Then if it pro- 

 duces 180 tons of forage per acre, are you prepared 

 for handling even one acre of it. I of course know 

 nothing of it. Almost every seedsman has seeds 

 and roots for sale, and their descriptions are almost 

 identical, scarcely any variation except in details. So 

 far as I have been able to gather, it has not been 

 tested in this country except as an ornamental plant. 

 I think seedsmen should have given it a thorough test 

 before offering it for sale.'' 



Crops for Young Orchards. A. D. T. Please inform 

 us new oeginners what hoed crops may be grown at a profit in a 

 young orchard. How about strawberries? May other roots than 

 potatoes be cultivated without harm to the trees? 



Better Without. The best crops to be grown in 

 an orchard at a profit are such as can be marketed 

 with or at good prices. If any can be grown in the 

 orchard without injury to the orchard, I have yet to 

 see them. No crops vvhatever should be grown in 

 the orchard, from the fact that the trees need all the 

 fertility for their own growth. But if you are deter- 

 mined to grow something in your orchard, let them 

 be "hoed crops '' by all means never small grain or 

 grass, clover or alfalfa. A. E. BLOUNT, Las Cruces, 

 New Mexico. 



Another View. Young orchards need good nurs- 

 ing to insure quick returns and fruitfulness. Well- 

 hoed crops will add rapid growth, strength and beauty 

 beyond ordinary methods of cultivation. Strawberries 

 and blackberries, Irish and sweet potatoes, cabbage, 

 butter beans, or navy beans may be grown in an 

 orchard the first four or five years. They do not 

 exhaust the fertility and moisture of the soil as grain 

 crops do. The largest summer growth I ever saw on 

 peach trees was in a strawberry patch I set out in 

 the spring of 1869. It was hoed once a fortnight 

 until the middle of September. A rank growth of 

 purslane which got a start during a day or two of wet 

 weather was pulled and piled around the young trees, 

 the result showing it to be a good fertilizer. Nearly 

 all kinds of young fruit trees will grow more thriftily 

 in a raspberry or even a blackberry patch if well 

 cultivated. I have a young orchard now growing in 

 a strawberry patch in better condition than any other 

 orchard ot its age in the county. I have also a plum 

 orchard and a few standard pears, set in 1889, in a 

 blackberry patch that have made a remarkable 

 growth. The pear trees were standards, inferior and 

 unsalable, and I set them there rather than throw 

 them away. I had no idea they would attain their 

 present size in six years. Raspberries and black- 

 berries protect the body of the trees on the south and 

 southwest side in the hot July and August season. 

 Rotation of crops is advisable. Two or three crops 

 of strawberries is all that should be grown in an 

 orchard before changing crops, and all straw and 

 dead leaves should be burned to destroy insects. 

 Sweet potatoes is a good following crop, for which 

 the ground should be well prepared. If the ground 

 is dry, a pint of water with each root at the time of 

 planting will insure a set. A profitable crop of 

 sweet potatoes can be raised after the berry crop has 

 been harvested. From one and a half acres of an 

 old berry patch I harvested four hundred bushels of 

 large early Nansemond potatoes the last year, be- 

 sides a lot of small unsalable potatoes fed to calves 

 and chickens. The ground was set between the 6th 

 and 10th of June with 12,000 plants costing $1.00 per 

 thousand. Sweet potatoes may be followed by Irish 

 potatoes and buckwheat, and ploughed in the following 

 year, and then may be planted to strawberries again. 

 By the time the two crops of strawberries have been 

 harvested the orchard will be six or seven years old, 

 and ready to go it alone, paying its own way. It is a 

 mooted question upon which orchardists do not agree 

 as to the culture of an orchard. It is my opinion that 

 a crop of clover, followed by buckwheat and rye, and 



