QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 51 



they flourish out of doors like grape vines. Many annual plants become 

 biennial in the tropics, for example, the pepper and egg plant. 



288. Q. What is the relative proportion of male and female blossoms Squash, 

 on the bush squash ? 



A. About five males to one female. The flowers of the male are larger 

 and borne on long fool stalks and after fully distending fall ofl", leaving 

 the fool stalks behind. 



289. Q. I fear I have given too big a dose of fertilizer to my pea crop, over- 



as the foliage is turning yellow. What do you advise me to do to rectify manuring, 

 my mistake ? 



A. Constant cultivation is the only ameliorative course you can adopt — 

 its object being to keep the soil friable so that not only rain but dew, fog 

 and atmospheric moisture can more fully enter the soil to solve the fertil- 

 izer, and the more it is diluted the less burning its results. Commercial 

 fertilizers seldom burn in a rainy season, but always are likely to do so in 

 a dry one. 



290. Q. My tomato plants are wilting and curling and turning brown. Tomato 

 Am I going to lose my crop ? Diseases. 



A. Your plants are evidently sufiering from a fungus growth — a micro- 

 scopic vegetation which is eating up the fleshy matter of the leaves 

 and arresting all development. Spraying with fungicides is effective 

 •when you can reach the under side of the leaves, but otherwise it is only 

 half done. 



291. Q. I find that seeds bearing the same name, that is, sold under Names 

 the same label, differ very widely. Why are not particular seeds the °^ Seed. 

 same the world over ? Why don't one seed merchant sell the same stock 



as another? 



A. They differ because some are grown in Germany, some in France, 

 some in England or Scotland, or if American, some are produced in the 

 Eastern, others in the Central, and others in the Western or Pacific 

 States. All these localities possess different soils and climates, and conse- 

 quently there is naturally developed a variation in size, color, flower and 

 desirability, and yet they all are issued under a given name — for instance, 

 the seed of Evergreen corn grown in Pennsylvania or New England will 

 produce a plant of distinct characteristics from plants grown from Illinois 

 stock, Kansas or Michigan stock, and yet it is all sold as Evergreen. 



292. Q. What shall I do to rid my garden of earth worms ? Earth 

 A. The common earth worm does no harm, in fact is rather an advan- Worms. 



tage, as it bores air passages throughout the soil. It can be destroyed by 

 the application of lime. 



293. Q. Why are round-podded beans preferred to flat pods ? Roimd-pod 

 A. Round pods are generally solid or meaty and free or comparatively Beans. 



free from string, but flat pods are often more or less hollow or windy, 

 generally stringy and nearly always thin, and when examined closely 

 possess sides more or less like muslin. 



