24 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Seeding. 



Cost. 



Cutting 

 Grain. 



Plant 

 Foliage. 



Dodder. 



of course naturally does better as the soil improves. Its effect is most 

 noticeable on worn-out fields and we specially recommend it to the own- 

 ers of such in cotton and tobacco sections. 



North of the Potomac and the Ohio rivers it should be sown between 

 1st July and 15th August. South of that latitude it can be sown in Sep- 

 tember and October according to latitude. Fifteen pounds should be 

 broadcasted to the acre ; the laud well-plowed and harrowed before and 

 after seeding. It should be very lightly covered. It does not do well 

 sown with grain, as it cannot be cut green nor pastured when among 

 grain, while for plowing under it needs to be turned down before the 

 grain is ripe. It can be sown to great advantage in apple, pear and peach 

 orchards after the tillage has ceased. Its manurial effect upon peach 

 trees is very remarkable. It can also be broadcasted with buckwheat or 

 sown among fields of tomatoes, melons, corn and cabbage, or any crop 

 where the culture is over by the first of September, the clover to remain 

 after the named crops are removed. Growing more rapidly than Red 

 clover, it develops before Winter a mat-like covering over the ground, 

 protecting it from the injurious effects of exposure to wind and sun during 

 Winter. In this respect it is better than rye, because it is equally quick 

 and more fertilizing, being a potash plant. Sown in such places as indi- 

 cated, it can be plowed down any time in the Spring to a profit four times 

 its cost. 



The cost of seed to sow an acre is about $1.00 to $1.50. The expenses 

 of preparing the land to sow and plowing the clover under can be calcu- 

 lated by any farmer. The estimated value to the acre of Scarlet clover as 

 a green manure is thirty dollars. An experiment conducted with a corn 

 crop following a crop of Crimson clover, the seed of which costs one dol- 

 lar to the acre, and the various operations of plowing and harrowing 

 four dollars — a total of five dollars — gave as much corn to the acre as an 

 application of twenty dollars' worth of nitrate of soda. 



107. Q. Should wheat, rye and oats be cut before fully ripe ? 



A. Yes, as by such course the straw is of a better quality, there is an 

 extended opportunity to secure the crop, there is a saving in the crop by 

 securing it all, and the nutritive powers of the grain are greater than when 

 longer exposed to the action of the sun. 



108. Q. Does the outward appearance of plants indicate the character 

 of manuring and system of tillage necessary to be pursued? 



A. Decidedly so. Beans and peas show by their foliage that they derive 

 most nutrition from the air, and wheat and rye from the spareness of 

 their foliage show they receive the least. 



109. Q. What is dodder? 



A. It is a parasitic creeper, leafless, twining, the stems twisting con- 

 trary to the sun's course and attaching themselves to the supporting 

 plant by numerous air roots which, extracting the sap of the plant, kill 

 it by starvation. The seeds of dodder at first germinate and vegetate upon 

 the earth till the plant reaches a height of two or three inches, by which 



