70 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Drought. 



Paris Green. 



Crops on 

 Sand. 



Bean Rust. 



Cauliflower 

 Sou. 



Color in 

 Plants. 



Weevil 

 in Beans. 



Pea Bug. 



tions are largely effected by inferior organisms which inhabit all soils. 

 There is accordingly much study applied to soil microbes, cryptogamic 

 plants, many of which have power to an unusual degree of seizing upon 

 and fixing the nitrogen of the air as well as that in the soil. 



396. Q. Why do some crops resist drought better than others ? 



A. Because of difference in length in the descending roots. Wheat, 

 for instance, resists drought better than grass because it roots deeper. All 

 plants root more deeply than generally believed, for they have vertically 

 descending filaments which escape the notice of the ordinary observer. 



397. Q. How can I prevent Paris green from burning the foliage of 

 plants ? 



A. A chemical change can be brought about which reduces the burning 

 quality by adding one pound of lime to every twenty gallons of the Paris 

 green solution. 



398. Q. Can crops be grown on perfectly pure sand by the aid of arti- 

 ficial manures ? 



A. Yes ; Prof. Ville, of France, demonstrated that on washed sands 

 he could grow good crops by adding to it component parts of plant foods, 

 the product varying according to the component parts applied, as potash, 

 lime, nitrogen, or phosphoric acid. These singly, or in twos, or in threes, 

 or altogether ; 3-inch culture, however, would not be profitable. 



399. Q. Can the bean rust be prevented ? 



A. It can be reduced by soaking the seed for one hour before planting 

 in some of the copper baths, as copper carbonate or copper sulphate. 



400. Q. What is the best soil for cauliflower ? 



A. The soil is not so important a matter as the subsoil and the atmos- 

 phere. Cauliflower to be of first quality should be grown quickly, and 

 a quick growth is advanced by a copious supply of water which the roots 

 can draw upon ; consequently the plants do best where water occurs at a 

 short depth beneath the surface. As to the location, the plant does best 

 in a salt atmosphere. 



401. Q. Is not the variability in the color, form, odor and secretions of 

 flowers a provision of Nature to please the eye of man ? 



A. It appears not to be that alone, but to be essential to the plants' ex- 

 istence, as all these qualities referred to aid in the work of insect pollina- 

 tion and result from insect pollination. 



402. Q. How can I kill weevil in my beans? 



A. If you can put them into a large glass bottle or a tin-lined chest or 

 in a tin-lined chamber or room, you can then subject them to the fumes of 

 bisulphide of carbon, deadly to animal life. One quart of the liquid 

 allowed to volatilize, which it does quickly, is enough to kill the bugs 

 in fifty bushels of seed exposed twenty-four hours to its influence. 



403. Q. Will seed peas which have been cut by the pea bug germinate 

 as freely and produce as well as peas which have not been effected by the 

 bug? 



A. Take one hundred peas and it will be observed they have not all 



