QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 39 



226. Q. What are the agricultural statistics of tobacco ? Tobacco. 

 A. Nearly 600,000,000 pounds grown on about 750,000 acres, valued 



at $50,000,000. 



227. Q. What are the statistics as to farm live stock in the United i-ive stock. 

 States ? 



A. The number of animals taken from the last report of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture placed horses at 14.000,000, mules 2,300,000, milch 

 cows at 16,000,000, oxen and beeves at 37,000,000, sheep 45,000,000, and 

 hogs 52,000,000, valued at $2,420,000,000. 



228. Q. What is the principal cause of fluctuations in prices of agricul- Fluctuations 

 tural productions? 



A. The varying meteorological conditions of the season of growth in 

 each of the 8000 counties of the Union. No legitimate pursuit of man is 

 so great a lottery as agriculture. 



229. Q. What plants are used as salads ? Salads. 

 A. Very little beyond lettuce, endive, corn salad, cress and mustard, is 



known by American gardeners of the wide variety of foliage-bearing 

 plants used in Europe as salads, served uncooked and boiled. Beet tops, 

 succeeding spinach, are a favorite dish in England. 



Radish seed pods, succeeding the pithy roots, are, when small, very 

 delicate, and used to a large extent in France. 



Cardoon, chicory, dandelion, nasturtium, scurvy grass, sorrel, sea- 

 kale, Swiss chard, turnip tops, are all favorites, and their extended use, 

 adds much to the profit of a. garden and the enjoyment of a family in the 

 country. 



230. Q. How is cauliflower cultivated ? CauUflower. 

 A. This delicious plant, like broccoli and French artichoke, is distin- 

 guished from other table vegetables by producing edible flower heads. By 



long years of selection and culture of some accidental natural variation of 

 this plant of the cabbage family discovered in the Middle Ages, the 

 flowers of the cauliflower have been, to a large extent, rendered abor- 

 tive, and the flower stems multiplied, shortened and thickened till they 

 have been bred to form a half- globular compact crown or head which, 

 when cooked, is tender as marrow, and the choicest of all esculent vege- 

 tables. Varying with climatic and soil conditions, the seed is sown at all 

 seasons. In hotbeds at close of Winter, out of doors when the apple is in 

 bloom, again when the oak is in full leaf, again at Midsummer, and 

 again during Winter under glass. The young plants are treated 

 the same as cabbage, and the larger plants require the same rich fer- 

 tilization and culture — indeed more intense culture, as only those cauli- 

 flowers are good which are grown quickly. We ofier only seed of the 

 highest quality. The early varieties are most likely to succeed in the 

 hands of inexperienced growers. Sow the early sorts in seed-beds 

 beginning of Autumn, keep them in a "cold frame," protected by sash 

 from severe frost during the Winter, and transplant into deep and very 

 rich ground as soon as frost ceases. Handglasses or boxes placed over 



