146 QUERIES AXD ANSWERS. 



A. "In this country the turnip and the ruta baga, or ' Swede,' as it is 

 familiarly called, is more generally cultivated for stock-food than any 

 other root — not that it is the best, but because it can be so readily grown, 

 and at small cost. While beets, mangolds, carrots, kohl rabbi and parsnip 

 demand an entire season to mature, the turnip is of so quick growth in 

 our climate, that within a few weeks only after sowing abundant supplies 

 may be in hand. 



"The writer cannot, however, but maintain that, though at some 

 increase of labor in the production, no expenditure on the farm may, in 

 the long run, pay better than an annual crop of mangolds and carrots, 

 even if raised only in sufficient quantity to alternate with the ruta baga, 

 and thus the food be varied ; a change which the milch cow, the stall-fed 



ox and the sheep crave equally with man 



" Nothing we know of is so efficient, considering the small cost of time 

 and money. Seventy to eighty days will malvc the crop, and at a cost 

 not exceeding three dollars per acre. The preparation of the soil and 

 climatic adaptation of the locality is an important prerequisite to success, 

 both as respects the productiveness of the crop, and its cost, for it is mani- 

 fest that, however valuable and desirable may be any object we seek, the 

 cost of obtaining it may be disproportionate to its value ; such is especially 

 the case with all products of the soil." — Landreth Farm Notes. 



Hay Meas- 887. Q. Give me a rule by which I can measure or estimate the weight 



urement. ofhayinamow? 



A. Hay in a mow ten feet drop, put in in good order, and not too ripe 

 when cut, ought to average one ton to each 525 cubic feet. The com- 

 pression increases rapidly as the height increases, and a mow of the same 

 hay, fifteen feet drop, would probably turn out a ton to 475 cubic feet, if 

 not even to 435 feet. All such guessing, however, is very hazardous, and 

 it is always safer to buy or sell only by actual weight. 



Horse-Badish 888. Q. To get horseradish must I SOW seed or get roots? 



A. This plant, seldom producing seed, is propagated from sets cut from 

 old roots, and in market garden culture nearly always planted as a suc- 

 cession to a Spring crop which by time of removal leaves the horse-radish 

 well established. The sets are planted in rows of about two feet by eighr- 

 teen inches frequently among Spring cabbage. Holes are made with a long 

 planting stick into which are dropped the horse-radish sets to a depth that 

 the crown will be three inches under the surface. It will only succeed in 

 highly fertilized land, and each year should be i)lanted afresh. In garden 

 culture the sets are sometimes planted in the upper end of round drain 

 tiles sunk into the ground and filled with earth, the radish roots being thus 

 directed straight downwards. Yield about 150 bushels to the acre. Sets, 

 per doz., 15 cts. ; per 100, 50 cts ; per 1000, $4. 

 Cheap Seeds. 889. Q. "What do you mean by cheap seeds ? What are they ? 



A. Sometimes they may be passable, but nine times out of ten they are 

 worthless. They are cheap because grown purely as speculative crops, 

 grown generally from seed stocks, cheap and bad to commence with, and 



