6i 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



production ; only been eclipsed by the phenomenal production and ex- 

 tended areas of the newer States ; for instance, Tennessee, which fifty 

 years ago ranked first, now ranks only ninth, though its production of 

 corn is double what it was then. 



366. Q. How much corn is grown in Europe? 



A. The growth of corn in Europe is steadily increasing, now reaching 

 the quantity of 300,000,000 bushels, or say one-seventh of that of the 

 United States. Tlie European countries producing the largest quantity 

 are Austria Hungary, with 100,000,000 bushels, followed by France with 

 80,000,000 bushels. In the Mediterranean countries there are annually 

 sown many million acres in forage corn. The grain there does not reach 

 perfection as in this country, for it is always imperfect in form and gen- 

 erally stained and moldy, for the climatic conditions of the nights there 

 are not at all favorable to the ripening of the grain. The undeveloped 

 and moldy grain when consumed for a length of time develops a disease, 

 to treat which special hospitals have been established. 



367. Q. When was the first vegetable analysis made ? 



A. The first accurate analysis of a vegetable was not made till the year 

 1810, and so late as 1838 the Gottingen Academy offered a prize for a sat- 

 isfactory solution of the question whether the ingredients of the ashes are 

 essential to vegetable growth. The last forty years have placed agricul- 

 ture upon a scientific foundation, and the strides of development have 

 been wonderful. The investigations of all scientific men, in these partic- 

 ular pursuits, have served to dispel ancient theories and develop a knowl- 

 edge of the systems of germination, subsistence and growth. 



368. Q. What are the essentials to plant subsistence? 



A. It is, fortunately, the case that nearly every soil holds more or less of 

 the inorganic parts essential to vegetable growth. They may be briefly 

 enumerated as sulphates, phosphates, nitrates, chlorides and carbonates 

 of potash, lime, magnesia, iron. Where an ingredient is deficient in 

 quantity it can be readily aided by specific application. The time has 

 come when every farmer must possess some knowledge of natural his- 

 tory ; he must prepare himself, if he expects to follow his pursuit success- 

 fully, as much as does the mechanic or the professional man. 



369. Q. After a market gardener purchases or rents his land, how much 

 ready cash must he have per acre to properly work the land ? 



A. From Florida the reports of the necessary capital per acre in land 

 or its rental (not of labor), fertilizers, tools, implements, seed and all the 

 appliances, average ninety-five dollars ; from Texas, forty-five ; from 

 Illinois, seventy dollars ; from the Norfolk district of Virginia the reports 

 vary from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, according 

 to location, and from Long Island, N. Y., the average of estimates at 

 the east end are seventy-five and at the west end one hundred and fifty 

 dollars. 



Market gardeners living five miles out of Philadelphia, on tracts of 

 twenty and thirty acres, devoting all their land and energies to growing 



