76 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Plant 

 Degeneracy. 



Cheat. 



Transplant- 

 ing. 



Fences. 



Cloche. 



Insects or 

 Fungi. 



Clover or 

 Peas. 



440. Q. Do plants run out or degenerate ? 



A. Families seldom run out, but varieties frequently do. For instance, 

 the potato as a family was never equally developed in all good qualities, 

 as at present, but there have been hundreds of instances of particular 

 sorts of superlative merit which are now forgotten varieties which degen- 

 erated and passed out of use. Such degeneracy applies more particularly 

 to those specific sorts of plants as are propagated by grafts, buds or tubers, 

 as in those cases the collective diseases of more or less remote parents, 

 scions or buds are often passed down through a long line of progeny. Not 

 so with other plants produced from true seed, as either through the male 

 or female flower the blood by impregnation is changed and the product 

 generally strengthened physically. 



441. Q. Does wheat turn to cheat? 



A. No. Seed of cheat, a hardy grass, botanically known as Bromtis 

 sicalinus, is often sold in imperfectly cleaned seed wheat, and being more 

 hardy than wheat survives wheat in severe Winters. The ignorant 

 farmer then jumps to the idea that his wheat has turned to cheat. 



442. Q. Why are root crops intended for seed nearly always trans- 

 planted ? 



A. To induce a degree of debility of constitution — to check the luxuri- 

 ance of growth, all of which induces a disposition to shoot to seed and 

 helps to maintain a standard quality. 



443. Q. What is the cost of supporting the fences in the State of Penn- 

 sylvania ? 



A. The official report places the annual repairs at about ten millions of 

 dollars. 



444. Q. What is a cloche ? 



A. A large bell glass about sixteen inches high and broad, used in 

 France to force vegetables. A gardener with 100 of these can surpass all 

 his neighbors in forcing early vegetables. Particularly valuable in the 

 forcing of salads, radish, and in the protection of vines from cucumber 

 bugs. 



445. Q. Which is most to be dreaded by the gardener — destructive in- 

 sects or fungi? 



A. Fungi most decidedly, as it works so insidiously. Insects can be 

 seen and partially understood, picked off, frightened oflF, killed ofi ; but 

 parasitic fungi may be present for weeks without it being recognized. 

 There are many forms of fungi feeding upon the leaves and roots of 

 garden vegetables, most of them fortunately too trivial to deserve notice. 



446. Q. What advantage has Scarlet clover over Red clover for plow- 

 ing under as a green manure, and has one or either any advantage over 

 Southern cow pea ? 



A. No advantage, except that the Scarlet clover is very rapid in devel- 

 opment, attaining in a season, from August to June, as much development 

 as Red clover would arrive at in twice the time. Cow peas sown in July 

 can be plowed under in September and October, and are very good ferlil- 



