999 QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



. . SELECTED FROM • . 



Landreths' Inquiry Book, 



Many of the inquiries made of the Seed Merchant by amateurs and 

 practical gardeners are very difficult to answer, as they arise from the 

 varied thought and experience of the inquirers, the outgrowth of 

 every physical diversity of soil, climate and condition, as well as from 

 the temperament and mood of the writers. 



Out of the many thousands of queries made of us there may be 

 selected a few from our Inquiry Book which it may be practical to 

 repeat, with the responses made, as they may meet a need for similar 

 information for some of the readers of this volume. They might be 

 better grouped or classified, but are printed just as they have been 

 recorded. 



Keaders of this book may not in all things agree with the answers 

 made ; that is their privilege, as many queries are subject to different 

 interpretations. The book is not published for the scientific, nor for 

 those who already know it all before they read it. 



1. Query. What is the distinction between a fruit and a vegetable? pruit or 

 Answer. In a physiological sense a fruit is borne upon a flower stem vegetable. 



and is a growth following the development of a flower, and, except under 

 abortive conditions or failing of pollination, containing within itself or 

 upon itself the seeds for the perpetuation of its species. Perhaps, to meet 

 a popular understanding, a ready definition of a fruit might be an edible 

 growth upon a tree or bush, containing seeds and having a sweet or sour 

 flavor. 



2. Q. If a fruit is a consequential development of inflorescence and con- Nuts, 

 tains a seed, is a nut a fruit ? 



A. A nut or hard-shelled seed, if contained within a pulpy envelope, 

 is, with its covering, a fruit under the previous definition ; but under the 

 usual understanding a fruit must be an accumulation of soft, pulpy 

 tissue. Some nuts — as the cocoanut, the walnut and the hickory — are 



