QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 69 



and sunset, as they can then be found sitting quite torpidly on top of the 

 leaves. 



389. Q. Are there plants which eat insects ? Carnivorous 

 A. Yes. Not exactly as animals eat their food, but certain plants are"^^****** 



possessed of an irritability which gives power of seizing upon such insects 

 as come within reach of the flowers, which possess digestive powers 

 which chemically and functionally are somewhat parallel to the powers 

 possessed by animals. 



390. Q. Is there in any of the States a quarantine against insects, the insect 

 same as the European nations raised against certain American insects, as Quarantine. 

 the potato bug, for example ? 



A. Only in California ; but there ought to be in every State, for we are 

 not only disseminating all the insects of our American climates, but im- 

 porting and distributing among ourselves all the insects and fungous dis- 

 eases of the world, 



391. Q. Do growing crops alone diminish the nitrogen of the soil to Nitrogen, 

 the extent of their nitrogenous composition ? 



A. No. Nitrogen disappears more rapidly than the crops alone remove 

 it. It leaches away by drainage, and as the humus of the soil diminishes 

 so does the nitrogen. It increases in a marked degree when the land is 

 put down in clover or plants of that class. The principal loss of nitrates 

 takes place in Autumn, and this can be partially provided against by the 

 Summer and Autumn cultivation of nitrate crops, as clover. Southern 

 cow peas, mustard, rape — green manures for plowing under after frost. 



392. Q. What shall I do to make my truck farm pay a better profit? Trucking 

 A. Stop the cultivation of crops not clearly profitable. Cease making "^^ *' 



experiments on a large scale. Reduce the wages expended. Use the best 

 labor-saving machinery and plant only the best seeds — and they are 

 Landreths'. 



393. Q. Why do garden seeds kept throughout the Summer months in i-pss of 

 the cotton States so generally lose their vitality? ** ^ 



A. Because they are subjected to an amount of moisture in the air 

 which causes the germs to partly start into growth, weakening them for 

 future effort. 



394. Q. Last year I got from you ten pounds Boss watermelon seed and irregular 

 planted about half of it, the crop resulting being phenomenally fine re- Oermlnation. 

 specting quantity, size and quality. This year I planted the remaining 



half on adjoining field and it is just as inferior as it was last year superior. 

 How is this ? 



A. It is all due to surrounding circumstances, as respects soil, rainfall, 

 temperature, time of planting, kind of fertilizer and the influence of the 

 previous crop. Every practical gardener has had this same experience. 



395. Q. In what way do crops feed upon the organic compounds applied Plant Food. 

 to or native to the soil? 



A. They do not feed upon them as they are, but only after they have 

 been reduced to their more simple component parts. These transforma- 



