QUERIE3 AND ANSWERS. 139 



present in the soil before their growth. There is a continuous loss of 

 nitrogen in the soil, not alone through the demand upon it by cultivated 

 plants, but by leeching down, or by natural soil drainage and by evapora- 

 tion. 



858. Q. On my farm are lots of wild parsnip infested at seed time with Web Worm, 

 a web insect. It may get on other plants. How can I destroy it ? 



A, It is almost impossible to destroy this worm. Tlie writer has tried 

 everything to save patches of twenty acres of parsnip at a time and with- 

 out success. Your best plan is to mow off the parsnips before they shoot 

 to seed and thus starve out the insect. 



859. Q. In 1894 I bought from your house 1500 pounds of Jersey encumber 

 pickle cucumber and drilled nearly all of it, getting a crop as fine as^*"**^**"' 

 respects form and productiveness as ever seen in this locality. This Spring 



I drilled what seed I had left over, about 300 pounds, and cannot recog- 

 nize the product as from the same seed, but I know it was, and write for 

 an explanation. 



A. Climatic altogether, the type or strain is just the same, but the con- 

 ditions of growth have been different : more or less rain or drought, cold 

 or heat ; a variation in the degree of vivifying sunshine ; more or less 

 fertility of soil, influenced in both cases by preceding crops ; insect, or 

 fungous ravages above or under ground ; variations in periods of drill- 

 ing — all these and as many more influences determine results. 



860. Q. What manure should I apply to my onion crop ? I can't get Manure 

 stable dung. for Onions. 



A. Previous to drilling the onion seed, broadcast 400 to 500 pounds to 

 the acre of dried blood, dried meat, or flsh, or guano, to give ammonia or 

 nitrogen ; and 500 to 600 pounds wood ashes to the acre, to give potash. 

 Superphosphate is not so necessary as the nitrogen and potash, which 

 makes tissue ; for where grain or other seed is not in view, phosphoric 

 acid is not demanded so much as the other two components of vege- 

 table food. 



861. Q. I have two lots of seed of Zig Zag Adams Early Table corn, corn 



one grown in Pennsylvania, the other, a far better looking sample, grown Variation. 

 in Illinois. Why is this? 



A. Exactly so. The rich soil of the West will always produce the most 

 showy grain, the largest and heaviest ears, the tallest stocks, but all at 

 the sacrifice of earliness. If you want a horse corn get seed off of prairie 

 soil, but if you want an Early Table corn get it off of the older soils of 

 the East. 



862. Q. How big do you grow watermelons in Jersey ? Watermelon 

 A. The writer has seen them of 100 pounds, but such are unsalable. Size. 



No one will take a hundred-pounder as a gift, and anything over fifty 

 pounds sells slowly because the experienced one knows that it is coarse in 

 flesh. The forty-pounder is big enough for any one family. Big things 

 in vegetables are never the best. Don't be influenced by size — look for 

 quality. 



