QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 109 



677. Q. Why is it that two tomato patches, both grown from the same Tomat«*9. 

 seed, develop fruit so distinct? 



A. Frequently the case when the periods of sowing the seed or setting 

 out the plants have been wide apart ; the conditions of growth being 

 very diflFerent, to say nothing of a possible difference in soil. 



678. Q. How many days does it take from germination for a good type Sorghum, 

 of sorghum to reach as high as 11 per cent, of sugar? 



A. About 140 days, and about 145 days to reach 70 per cent, of purity. 



679. Q. Is there any difference in period of maturity in a crop of corn, Com. 

 one-third part of each grown respectively from grains taken from the 

 butt, middle and end of ear? 



A. No, not the first year ; but the practice continued would result in a 

 marked variability in forms of grains and value. 



680. Q. Comparing the two systems of agricultural operations — that of Market 

 ordinary farming, as the raising of grain, potatoes, hay, cattle and dairy- Gardening. 

 ing, with truck farming, as in the raising of vegetables for market — which 



aflfords the greatest possibilities of profit, and which opens to the highly 

 educated operator the widest field for action and intelligent, if not scien- 

 tific application ? 



A. The laborious eflfbrts of the farmer producing wheat and other small 

 grains, corn, potatoes, hay and dairy products, cannot be exceeded by 

 the labors of any soil cultivator, but the mental details of such labors are 

 insignificant compared with the operations of truck farming on a large area, 

 as on the large vegetable farms near some of our large cities. On such 

 farms the ceaseless round of Spring, Midsummer and Winter crops of vege- 

 tables from the fields, and others from cold frames, hotbeds and hot-houses ; 

 the packing, shipping, correspondence; the details of appropriate fertilizers 

 and special mechanical appliances ; a large pay roll to be provided for every 

 Saturday night, necessitates great responsibilities and demands technical 

 and business qualifications such as are not looked for in the ordinary 

 farmer. The operations of the two are so wide apart as not to be considered 

 the same moment. One is humdrum, the other unceasing activity and de- 

 manding, if success is to be attained, qualities not required in a grain farmer, 

 though his wheat fields may be ten times as big as the vegetable farm. 

 No man wishing to turn to an agricultural pursuit is too intelligent or too 

 scientific to adopt that of vegetable farming ; for it is the most intense, the 

 most interesting, the most technical, the most paying of all soil cultural 

 operations. It is also the most uncertain, but this adds to the possibilities 

 of profit as well as loss. 



681. Q. In what part of the world was the garden bean first cultivated ? Bean. 

 A. In Western Asia. It was cultivated at Rome nearly two thousand 



years ago. It appears to have existed also in South America long before 

 the Western Continent was known. 



682. Q. Whence came the first cucumbers ? Cucumber. 

 A. Not positively known, but thought to be from Cabal, in Northwest 



India. It has been cultivated in India for three thousand years. 



