QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 115 



fresh from the stalls, and mixing in a fourth part of good friable loam, 

 piling it up for a week, then turning it over, and, if fermenting too 

 strongly, adding more loam. 



A third grower takes his manure from an ordinary barnyard pile, and 

 mixes in a fourth part of loam. Other growers will not use manure 

 which has been fermenting, claiming that it will not produce mushrooms 

 or a continuous crop. Another system is to take any good stable manure, 

 and, removing sticks, stones, very long straw, or otlier coarse material, 

 thoroughly mix and pile it in beds two feet high, thoroughly wet with 

 water and stamp down. After a week or ten days, by which time it is 

 quite hot, the pile is reworked and left for another ten days, then it is in 

 condition to be made into beds of the proper form and seeded. Some- 

 times four to six weeks are taken in the preparation of the manure, a 

 leading object with most cultivators being to have it half decomposed, 

 completely mixed, but not wet. 



Possibly the best system for the amateur to pursue is to prepare his 

 manure pile under cover, as in a shed or cellar, making his pile one-fourth 

 loam and three-fourths of the best stable manure he can get, horse dung 

 predominating, which should be piled first, to allow it to lose its fiercest 

 heat, the loam helping to solidify the mixture. At spawning time the 

 heat in the beds sliould range from 60° to 80°, never above 85°. The 

 heat of a bed may be reduced by opening holes with a crowbar, forcing 

 it down to the very bottom. One bushel of spawn broken into lumps of 

 an inch in size is sufficient for 100 square feet of bed surface. The beds 

 can be made on the floors of cellars, sheds, or under the benches of a 

 greenhouse, or on raised benches like shelves in a closet. 



717. Q. Why is the Lima bean so called? UmaBean. 

 A. It is supposed to have been first found at Lima. Certainly as a 



novelty it was introduced as from there. It may have been a native of 

 Peru or an original production in its present form, or it may have been 

 developed from some other bean as a consequence of some peculiar condi- 

 tion of climate in Peru. At the present day both white, black and spotted 

 Limas are cultivated in that country. 



718. Q. What was the color of the first variety of tomato cultivated ? First 

 A. It was red, and was first cultivated in Europe in 1596. The first Tomato. 



catalogue reference to the yellow tomato was by Landreth, in 1820. The 

 yellow sorts are generally of the best flavor. 



719. Q. Do some plant bugs eat up other plant bugs? insectivorona 

 A. Yes ; the lice on cucumber vines and on melons are eaten up in ^"S^. 



large numbers by a species of lady bug, and some species of flies eat the 

 larvae of the asparagus beetle. There are many insects which feed on 

 each other. 



720. Q. Is it true that the sugar corn grown in the State of Maine is Sugar Com. 

 sweeter than the same variety of corn grown in Virginia? 



A. Undoubtedly; and a consequence of the long days of July and 

 August. In Maine, the evening twilight lasts till 9 and 10 o'clock, and 



