QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 89 



A. Quite possible if the season is a damp one. A preventive is to 

 give the seed a bath for an hour or two in Bordeaux mixture just before 

 planting. 



543. Q. What is the right time to remove suckers from sugar corn ? Com Suckers 

 A. Just before coming into blossom, if you must do it ; but let them 



alone and save yourself trouble. The sorts which sucker most are the 

 heaviest yielders. Suckers do not reduce the crop of ears, but the removal 

 of the suckers reduces the bulk of dry forage. 



544. Q. How many bushels of marketable onions can be grown to the Onions, 

 acre? 



A. Five hundred to six hundred bushels is an excellent crop, but eight 

 hundred is common and twice that number have been reported. 



545. Q. Why do early varieties of corn smut more than late sorts ? Corn Smut. 

 A. Because they have less vigor of constitution. 



546. Q. Is Peruvian guano a perfect manure ? Guano. 

 A. That depends upon its grade. When of first quality it certainly is 



an eflFective fertilizer, but is more a stimulant than a perfect manure, as a 

 thoroughly efficient manure continues to supplement itself over a long 

 period ; this the Peruvian guano does not. 



547. Q. Should an asparagus bed be allowed to go to seed '? Asparagus. 

 A. Yes ; that is only natural. The plants if not permitted to develop 



bush and seed would be unhealthy. After frost kills the vines cut them off. 



548. Q. What makes radishes pithy ? Radish. 

 A. Generally a want of proper nutrition ; on fairly rich land, where the 



plants grow quickly, the roots will always be solid. 



549. Q. Why is it that cucumber growers who ship slicing cucumbers cucumbers 

 prefer the White Spine ? for 



A. Because the White Spine is a good producer and because it retains Siwpping. 

 its green color during the period of shipment. That is all, and it is 

 enough. 



550. Q. Can the watermelon be enlarged in size by hybridizing it with ivatermelon. 

 the pumpkin ? 



A. Yes. The market gardeners of New Jersey understood this years 

 ago, and they frequently planted a few Mammoth pumpkins in their 

 watermelon patches that they might produce seed which the following 

 year would produce Mammoth watermelons. This, however, was always 

 done at the expense of quality. 



551. Q. Will squash and pumpkin hybridize ? Hybridiza- 

 A. Yes ; but only occasionally ; not nearly so freely as supposed by *»<"*• 



those who have a smattering of scientific knowledge. When these fami- 

 lies do hybridize the results are wild or unfixed in habit, and sometimes 

 the seed from such hybrids will not germinate. Watermelons will mix 

 very occasionally with pumpkins same as squash. 



552. Q. Is agriculture a science or an art ? Agriculture, 

 A. It is an art, aided and abetted by science ; chemistry, mineralogy, What is it? 



physiology, botany and entomology all being drawn upon to demonstrate 

 the development or retardation of vegetable species. 



