94 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Lettuce. 



Firming 

 the SoU. 



Pearl Sets. 



Cabbage. 



Imported 



Cabbage 



Seed. 



than the previous heredity to form flat open centres. This new habit of 

 forming a rosette-like head became stronger and stronger till a plant was 

 developed in which the heading habit was its chief characteristic. 



574. Q. I have trouble in getting a good head of lettuce. Which is the 

 best way to sow it, and how deep should it be covered ? 



A. If the seed is good, that is vital, there should not be any trouble if 

 it be properly sown. Of course if the seed is put into the ground and 

 covered deeply, only a portion will ever show a sprout above the surface. 

 It should never be put into the earth, only put on to it and slightly 

 scratched with a rake, or better still, patted down with a board, or 

 tramped down lightly by pressing with the foot every square inch of the 

 bed surface. 



575. Q. How can I most rapidly compress seed sown in rows after hav- 

 ing finished drilling it in the field ? 



A. Roll it with a farm roller, or wheel a wheelbarrow with a broad tire 

 both up and down each row and directly upon the top of each drill mark. 

 The seed so compressed will sprout first. 



576. Q. You recommend the Bloomsdale Extra Early Pearl Sets for 

 Autumn planting in the South. Will you advise me what degree of frost 

 they will stand. Here in North Carolina we sometimes have some very 

 severe weather, but it is of short duration. If they need protection, how 

 can I protect them ? 



A. They will stand a zero temperature without injury if it be only for 

 a few hours, and if they be well rooted, that is, if they have taken hold of 

 the soil before their growth was stopped. We have many times had them 

 standing out all Winter on Bloomsdale when the temperature often went 

 below zero. They are full proof against 20° frost, that is when the mer- 

 cury falls to IQO F. They can be protected by hay, straw, pine shatters, 

 but all this kind of covering affords a harbor for mice, squirrel and other 

 vermin to feed upon the bulbs. 



577. Q. What is the reason I have so much trouble in growing good 

 cabbage. I get the very best seed I can purchase, and make my seed bed 

 just as rich ?in^ fertile as possible, yet the plants do not grow or head well 

 when put out in the field ? 



A. Your question, perhaps, answers itself, for you say you grow your 

 plants on a rich and fertile seed bed, and that is wliere the difticulty 

 probably comes in. Plants should never be grown on a richer soil than 

 that to which they are to be removed, otherwise they at once upon trans- 

 plantation become starved and in ill health. Moved from a poor seed bed 

 to a field richer than the bed they at once become invigorated and healthy. 



578. Q. I have been using cabbage seed which I have imported from 

 Europe for several years, and I find that in a moist season I can grow 

 fine cabbage, while in a dry season they are a total failure. What is the 

 reason ? 



A. Because the strain is not acclimated. During a wet season the con- 

 ditions resemble those of Europe, but when an American dry spell sets in 



