QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 47 



productive if not destroyed, for instance, portions of the potato fungus, 

 too small to be seen through a microscope, so small that figures cannot 

 express their minuteness, are so potent with life that every atom will grow 

 under favorable conditions ; and the spores or reproductive parts of the 

 putrefactive fungus of the lettuce plant are so small as to take 1000 to 

 equal the size of the foot of a house fly. 



260. Q. Is a collard a cabbage, and what is its history ? CoUard. 

 A. Certainly it is one of the cabbage family, just as is the cauliflower 



or Brussels sprouts. It has been cultivated in the cotton States for a cen- 

 tury. It may have been derived from a good heading cabbage, or it may, 

 as is most probable, have been one of the Cow cabbages, common in parts 

 of France — possibly brought over by early French settlers. 



261. Q. From whence came most of the cultivated species of plants? Origin of 

 A. From Europe and Western Asia. The United States has furnished i'i»'»*s. 



very few. Maize or Indian corn, the Jerusalem artichoke, and the 

 gourds being the only important ones. 



263. Q. I notice the main stems of my lima bean vines are all twisted. Lima Beans. 

 Is that a healthy condition ? 



A. It is perfectly natural, as all twining plants have their main stems 

 twisted upon the axis of the stem and in the same direction as they turn 

 around supports. The extent of such stem twisting is increased or 

 diminished according as the supporting stock or pole is rough or smooth. 

 The rougher it is the more the new stem twists. Ordinarily, there is 

 one twist of the stem for each spiral turn around a support, but some- 

 times much more. 



263. Q. Can I make good hay out of oats cut when in green condition ? Oats Hay. 

 A. Excellent, if dried properly and got under cover without rain. It 



should be cut before showing the seed, otherwise the growtli becomes so 

 bulky, that cut and laying upon the ground, it cannot be expected to dry, 

 except under such dry and hot conditions as almost impossible to antici- 

 pate. 



264. Q. I am offered at a Roanoke river fishery 100,000 herring. Are Fish Manure. 

 they of value? 



A. Very fertilizing, but very temporary in effect. Only good for one 

 year. On our Jersey farm we have used 250,000 herring a year, and on 

 our Virginia farm we have used 10,000,000 menhaden a year — a similar 

 fish. Thirty to forty thousand broadcasted to the acre and plowed under 

 four inches. Some farmers put two fish to a hill of corn. 



265. Q. What is the best grass for planting on sand hills to prevent sand Grass. 

 blowing? 



A. Arundo Arenaria, a Dutch grass, planted extensively on the sand 

 dunes of Holland. 



266. Q. My beet field is very spotty, that is, uneven in the stand ; the VitaUty. 

 appearance indicating that there was a want of vitality in the seed, that is, 



the germination was very poor ? 

 A. If the seed sown upon your field failed in all parts of it to germi- 



