138 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Barnyard. 



Cockle. 



Germination 

 Cause. 



Clover Seed. 



Watermelon s 



Nitrogen 

 Source. 



and so much of value depends on costs of freight. In your locality the 

 best is that one which produces the most telling effect for the least outlay 

 of cash, and that information you can best get by conferring with your 

 neighbors, for their experience is far more practical than anything the 

 writer can suggest without a knowledge of your soil conditions. 



852. Q. How many loads of barnyard manure should I put on my gar- 

 den of one acre, and when should I apply it ? 



A. Seven to ten tons to the acre broadcasted in the Spring and plowed 

 under as soon as spread. Barnyard manure so old and rotten as to be 

 short like compost is already reduced to half its value, and on the other 

 hand when so long as to be like straw is but of half value. 



853. Q. How can I prevent cockle in wheat? 



A. Sow clean seed, or if you cannot purchase absolutely clean seed 

 make it so by sieving, riddling, or hand picking. Of the crop grown 

 from this seed take a portion of a field, one to twenty acres, as may be re- 

 quired, and pull out by hand every cockle plant, and cut; off every head 

 of rye till the stock is uniformly pure. 



854. Q. What causes seeds to germinate ? 



A. Moisture and temperature supplemented by oxygen. Of moisture 

 various amounts are required, most seeds requiring an absorption of over 

 their weight in water. Some must be completely soaked in water, and 

 others only have the smallest quantity. Moisture penetrates the seed, 

 swells the albumen, dissolves dextrine, and is the vehicle which conveys 

 nutrition to the young plant in the seed. Of temperature there is an 

 equal variation. Wheat will sprout 45^ F., but the most favorable range 

 of vegetable seeds is from 75° to 90°. Peas and onion seed will sprout at 

 a moderate temperature. Beans and melon seeds require a high tempera- 

 ture. Low temperature retards the formation of lateral rootlets, buds 

 and leaves. A high temperature causes their rapid development. Oxygen 

 appears to be necessary to sprouting seeds to change the starch into dex- 

 trine and then into sugar. The oxygen is obtained both from the air and 

 the water. 



855. Q. How much clover seed is annually saved in the United States? 

 A. The late Census report gives the clover crop as 2,753,000 bushels 



annually, and the grass seed crop in the aggregate as 3,000,000 bushels. 



856. Q. My watermelons all have big round brown spots on top, most 

 seriously injuring their salable qualities. What is the cause ? 



A. Sunburn. Next year broadcast buckwheat before the vines come 

 into bloom. By the time the melons are ripe the buckwheat will have 

 risen above them, partially protecting from the sun. 



857. Q. How do soils obtain nitrogen from the air? 



A. It is theorized — really believed — that a part of the free nitrogen of the 

 air enters into the cycle of plant growth through the agency of bacteroids, 

 the product of miscroscopic organisms. The cryptogamic plants on or 

 near the surfoce of the soil, flourishing more on damp soils than on dry, 

 collect and assimilate ammonia to an extent about equal to the amount 



