96 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Weeds. 



Winter 

 Cabbage. 



Weevil. 



Bean 

 Weevil. 



584. Q. Why do most weeds grow faster than the cultivated plants of 

 a garden ? 



A. Bad stocks of all created life, both animal and vegetable, seem to be 

 endowed with special reproductive and sustaining powers. The common 

 weeds of the field are generally annuals, and, sprouting after the intended 

 crop is put in, frequently after it has received its first and second cultiva- 

 tion, the weeds must of necessity be of exceedingly rapid growth to ma- 

 ture their seed by the time the regular crop is ready for harvesting. Few 

 slow- growing weeds ever arrive at a stage to develop vital seeds, but the 

 quick-growing ones do, and it is with the seeds of such that the soil is 

 charged, Weed seeds seem to have greater power of retention of germin- 

 ating qualities than seeds of cultivated plants. It is those of very strong 

 germination which are most common. Few seeds of garden vegetables 

 will sprout when but quarter of the age of the seeds of common weeds. 



585. Q. If I sow my cabbage seed in September, broadcast, and get 

 them three inches high by hard frost, can I protect them over Winter by 

 covering with straw ? 



A. This has been tried frequently, but is generally a failure ; the straw 

 is pressed down by snow and the cabbage rots off. Poles placed flat on 

 the ground throughout the cabbage would support the snow-covered 

 straw and probably be found of advantage. 



586. Q. What is the hardiest cabbage for sowing in September to keep 

 over Winter ? 



A. Bloomsdale Early Dwarf Flat Dutch is the hardiest. It is a flat 

 header, not so early as Jersey Wakefield by three weeks, but a better cold 

 resister. A hardy sort, maturing between these two, is the Bloomsdale 

 Large York, forming a head similar in shape to the Wakefield but twice 

 as large. 



587. Q. My barn is full of wheat weevil. How can I get rid of them? 

 A. There are four or five insects which, in unscientific language, are 



referred to as wheat and corn weevil. One is a moth and exceedingly 

 destructive to stored grain, the caterpillar of which is white and about 

 two-fifths of an inch in length. Two other grain insects are small red 

 beetles, but of distinct species, and a fourth is the black or true granary 

 weevil, about one-eighth of an inch long. All these can be partially de- 

 stroyed by subjecting the grain to the fumes of carbon bisulphide. When 

 the mature insects are found harboring in the cracks and crevices of 

 barns they can be destroyed by copious soakings with kerosene oil. 



588. Q. When I lived in Pennsylvania I grew large quantities of gro- 

 cery beans, but cannot down here in Carolina as they become full of bugs. 

 Is there any remedy ? 



A. No ; you will have to turn to other crops. The mature female 

 insect of the bean weevil deposits her eggs in a slit which she makes 

 on the pods when the bean pods are very small. The eggs hatch and the 

 grubs strike for the dark, eating their way through the pod and into the 

 soft green beans, where they transform to winged insects. As the bean 



