QUERIES AND ANSWERS. Ill 



693. Q. Will burning straw on the surface of ray garden kill weed Weed Seeds, 

 seeds and insects ? 



A. Only partially ; as no heat which a surface-burning would make 

 would heat the soil over two inches in depth. A deep plowing or digging 

 will bring to the surface seeds and insects not injured by the heat. 



694. Q. When should I manure ray lawn ? i-awn 

 A. Better spread stable manure in January, twenty-five cartloads to the ^^aJ^i^re. 



acre, and rake off the remnant in March. Or, in February or March, 

 broadcast to the acre 800 to 1000 pounds of superphosphate of lime and 

 200 to 300 pounds of nitrate of soda. 



695. Q. What are the cheapest and quickest green crops I can grow in Green Crops. 

 Delaware after September 1, to remain on the ground all Winter as a 



covering and to be plowed down in March? 



A. Rye, living all Winter and forming a mat of roots and strong top 

 growth. Indian corn, making a strong top growth by frost and then 

 drying up — a good covering to the soil, preventing blowing. In Dela- 

 ware, September 1 is too late to sow Scarlet clover to do any good by 

 March, and late also for Cow peas whicli, w^hen left to dry on the field, 

 are very hard to plow under in Spring on account of the vines being like 

 so many wires. 



696. Q. Will it pay financially to suspend an electric light over a vege- Electric 

 table forcing house to hasten the development of market vegetables? ^ * 



A. Not in all cases ; for while some plants are benefited, others are 

 retarded. The vegetable most advanced by electric light is lettuce, 

 which, it is estimated, is forced ahead quite a week by the use of electric 

 light. 



697. Q. Why do people in hot Southern climates, as the West and East Pungent 

 Indies, Mexico and Brazil, consume so many hot vegetables, as peppers. Vegetables. 

 leeks, and Spanish radishes? 



A. As tonics to the system. In such countries the liver becomes torpid, 

 the stomach weak, and foods flavored with peppers and other burning 

 ingredients tone up the system to resist the evil effect of the climate. 



698. Q. How is the percentage of sugar in vegetables influenced by Sugar in 

 locations of latitude ? Vegetables. 



A. All vegetable garden products, as peas, beans, corn, parsnip, carrot, 

 beets and melons, become more palatable as their cultivation approaches 

 more nearly the northern limit of their successful growing. This may be 

 attributed to the longer daylight in Summer of Northern latitudes. Good 

 form and rich color do not always accompany palatability ; quite the con- 

 trary, as some of the most exquisitely flavored apples and melons of 

 Nova Scotia do not compare in appearance with those produced in local- 

 ities much further South. The use of the electric light at night in gar- 

 dens will some day, no doubt, become quite general where facilities for 

 its use exist, as by its use can be obtained all the advantages, and more, 

 afibrded by the long twilight of a more Northern latitude. 



699. Q. Adjoining me is a twenty-acre field which has been out of use Soil Recu- 



peration. 



