92 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Tomato 

 Fungus. 



Popcorn. 



Egg Plants. 



Mustard. 



Corn 

 Quality. 



millet as hay on account of the belief that the small, hard, dry seeds are 

 swallowed by horses without mastication and cause inflammation of the 

 bowels, but millet intended for hay should never be allowed to harden its 

 seed before cutting, as at that period its foliage has lost much of its value 

 for hay. 



563. Q. What is the cause of the black spot on the fruit of my tomato 

 plants ? 



A. Fungous growth which develops at the blossom end of the fruit, 

 located there probably because the skin is more tender there. The attack 

 is most generally in wet or damp seasons. The disease once established 

 on a fruit extends its area of surface and eats deep in the fruit, soon ren- 

 dering it worthless. Bordeaux mixture is efficient at first to prevent or 

 arrest the disease, but it can only be used early in the life of the crop, 

 and as a precaution against the disease, for being a poison it cannot be 

 used on plants bearing fruit ready for consumption. 



564. Q. What makes popcorn pop ? 



A. Take a grain of popcorn, or any corn, and cut it down through the 

 middle, exposing the broad surface from top to bottom, and there will be 

 observed at the small end, the chit, or germinating part, and surrounding 

 it to a greater or less extent and extending up to the centre of the grain, 

 sometimes to the top will be observed more or less white starchy matter, 

 and on both sides and sometimes above it a deposit of oily matter. Now 

 it is this oily matter which when heated explodes and turns the grain in- 

 side out. Popcorn in proportion to its size develops more oily matter 

 than ordinary field corn, and consequently explodes more violently. Any 

 other corn with as much oil in it as pop would do as well. 



565. Q. Last year my egg plants were borne down with fruit, but this 

 year they don't average two fruit to a bush. How is this? 



A. Most likely due to imperfect pollination. In the egg plant the sexes 

 are both found in the same flower, but sometimes pollination does not 

 occur so freely as at others due to conditions of rain-fall, or fog, or low 

 temperature. In some cases, or in small patches, it would pay to pol- 

 linize by hand, which work can be done quickly with the point of a knife. 



56'j. Q. Among my turnips on a large three-acre field there appears to 

 be ibout twenty per cent, of mustard. One of my neighbors says it is 

 frjm a crop which went to seed on the same land five years ago. Can 

 tais be so? 



A. Certainly, and the seed may continue to come up for five years more. 

 Mustard being very retentive in vitality many seeds plowed down six and 

 seven inches by the plow will not sprout in years till brought to the sur- 

 face by a plowing deep enough to reach them and expose them to the in- 

 fluence of the atmosphere. 



567. Q. What constitutes a good type of corn ? 



A. Adaptability to location, productiveness, a small cob to dry out 

 quickly, length of ear resulting in diminished labor in husking and 

 shelling, depth of kernel, and closeness of packing upon the grain, sal- 

 able color and weight. 



