QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 61 



its culture for salted pickles. Our neighbors over in New Jersey were for 

 years the largest producers of cucumbers for salting, growing annually 

 200,000 bushels, but now, by reason of Western competition, not a quarter 

 part of that quantity is grown. Long Island, in the East, is the largest 

 producing section, the New York crops being estimated at 200,000,000 

 pickles. These pickles bring the farmer from 60 cents to $1.25 per thou- 

 sand. The Ohio Valley is the next important pickle section. After that, 

 the country near the south end of Lake Michigan. These various crops 

 of cucumber sections amount to about 1,500,000 bushels of 300 to the 

 bushel, consequently 450,000,000 cucumbers. Large quantities are ex- 

 ported to Europe. 



354. Q. How many cucumber pickles can be had from an acre ? Cucumber 

 A. A good crop of cucumbers when gathered of pickling size produces ^»ckiestothe 



from 100 to 175 bushels to the acre. A bushel contains about 300 pickles. 

 Some cultivators have claimed to produce over 100,000 pickles to the acre. 

 When pulling pickles the work should be done cautiously, that the 

 vines be disturbed as little as possible, for if they be uninjured they will 

 produce many successive pickings. The pickles should be slipped from 

 the vine by the thumb and finger without raising or disturbing the vine. 



355. Q. Can beet root sugar be made in the United States ? Beet Sugar. 



A. During the past fifty years a hundred efforts have been made to pro- 

 duce beet sugar in the United States, but nothing really practical, cer- 

 tainly nothing profitable, was accomplished till after 1880. During the 

 Summer of 1893 seven beet sugar factories were in operation in the United 



States, one in Virginia, two in Nebraska, one in Utah and three in Call- 

 fornia. The money Invested in these several factories is estimated at 

 $2,500,000. In the Autumn of 1893 and Winter of 1894 the output of 

 sugar from these seven factories was 45,000,000 pounds. 



356. Q. Is the canning of peas increasing ? Pea Canning. 

 A. The quantity of pea seed annually sown has reached vast dimen- 

 sions, quite 250,000 bushels being annually planted. In the Chesapeake 



Bay district alone it is estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 bushels are sown 

 each year on from 20,000 to 25,000 acres from which product 75 per cent. 

 is put into cans. The quantity of product of peas greatly varies under 

 conditions, sometimes 100 bushels of green pods to the acre being har- 

 vested, at other times only thirty or forty. The canning of peas has de- 

 veloped on a par with that of tomatoes, the number of tin cans put up in 

 the United States being estimated at 18.000,000 to 20,000,000. The Balti- 

 more city canners use annually about 400,000 bushels of shelled peas, 

 which they put into 7,000,000 cans. 



357. Q. Is there any machinery made for shelling green peas? Shelling Peas 

 A. Formerly all peas for canning had to be picked from the vines by 



hand and shelled by hand. Some years ago machine shellers or pea 

 hullers were invented for opening the green pods, 100 bushels an hour or 

 1000 bushels a day, and grading the soft peas into three classes according 

 to size. These machines do the work better than when done by hand. 



