112 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Soil Fertility 

 and Farm 

 Practice. 



Coflfee. 



Systems 

 of Heating:. 



"Wire Grass. 



for five years — abandoned because of being poor soil. Is it lilcely to have 

 improved by the rest during that period ? 



A. Most decidedly ; especially if in clover or grass, particularly clover; 

 but even an annual crop of weeds, not removed for five successive sea- 

 sons, protecting the surface for five successive Winters, will have done it 

 much good, the weeds collecting, but to a far less degree than clover, fer- 

 tilizing constituents from the air, the deeji-rooted ones drawing more from 

 the soil below plow depth and their covering of the surface in a green 

 form in Summer and dry, dead form in Winter promoting the accumula- 

 tion of plant foods, especially potash. 



700. Q. Which are the most fertile, the farm lands of the United States 

 or those of England ? 



A. The soils of this country, being newer, are naturally more fully 

 charged with natural plant food, but here they are not cultivated under 

 the intelligent and intense systems and processes of the English and 

 Scotch, where the farmers are more thoroughly grounded in the princi- 

 ples of agriculture. This agricultural intelligence and the moister cli- 

 mate of England result in the growth of larger crops of potatoes, oats, 

 wheat, barley, flax, and cattle roots. American farmers, while more 

 intelligent upon the whole range of general subjects, more self-reliant 

 and better able to meet unexpected difliculties, are, as a rule, only 

 veneered with agricultural information. Just the same as the Ameri- 

 can people are veneered with scientific and literary information, or 

 as our politicians are with statecraft, compared with the more thor- 

 oughly educated men of Europe. Educated farmers, that is, men hav- 

 ing a fully practical and partly a scientific knowledge of agriculture 

 and all its processes, are able, on comparatively worked-out soils, to 

 reap a better return than the happy-go-lucky farmers of portions of our 

 own country, even be they located on soil of virgin fertility. Farmers 

 satisfied to drag day after day over the miserable public roads of this 

 country, do not show much of those qualities possessed by the farmers of 

 England ; and their willingness to rest satisfied with the road conditions 

 illustrates the condition of their farms and their systems of culture. 



701. Q. Can a good substitute for coflee be made from dandelion root? 

 A. Quite a good imitation ; but better from chlckory, and in greater 



quantity, as chickory produces a larger root. It is grown like carrots, 

 plowed out after frost, washed, sliced and dried. By some preferred to 

 coffee ; is an excellent adulterant. 



702. Q. Which is the best system of heating forcing houses ? 



A. This is a question which has been under discussion for years, and 

 probably will continue to be discussed for a long time. The arguments 

 are so conclusive as put forth by the partisans of each system, that when 

 listening to the advocates of one system no room seems to be left to doubt 

 till the opposite side is heard. The writer, personally, favors hot water. 



703. Q. My grass plot is completely taken possession of by wire grass. 

 Whatshallldo? 



