168 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Resistant 

 Grass. 



Origrin of 



Early 



Com. 



The Xiocust. 



Shallots. 



Onion Seed 

 Sowing. 



937. Q. I am Secretary of our State Fair Association and want to put 

 down twenty acres in permanent grass within tlie grounds. What do 

 you recommend ? 



A. That combination of grass seeds known as Landreths' Mixture for 

 Athletic Grounds, it being composed of grasses whicli will resist tramping. 



938. Q. Are the extra early varieties of corn of northern or southern 

 origin ? 



A. Everything in their habit points to a southern origin. They no 

 doubt were developed by persistent planting of early-harvested or half- 

 ripened seed. Plants of Southern habit do not shoot into growth so early 

 in the Spring relatively as Northern plants of the same genera. The 

 Southern plants not being so quick to respond to small elevations of 

 temperature. The long season of Southern latitudes develop an heredity 

 of long drawn out growth, while the quick, sharp, well-defined seasons of 

 the North shorten the periods of growtli. Southern plants removed to the 

 North and brought under the influences of Northern seasons thus become 

 earlier to sprout, quicker to grow and earlier to mature. 



939. Q. How does the singing locust make its noise ? 



A. In the old Middle States no Summer insect, except the mosquito, is 

 more in evidence than the Cicadae or dog-day locust, its song being 

 continuous from sunrise to sunset, consequent upon taking up of the 

 refrain by one insect as soon as dropped by another. The song is an 

 accompaniment of hot weather. The insect does not make its noise 

 through its mouth, but by the action of powerful muscles upon drums 

 located upon its body and abdomen. It may be often noticed the song of 

 the locust is suddenly terminated by a discordant note ; this is caused by 

 the attack and sting of the locust wasp — its deadly enemy — a great hor- 

 net which lives in holes in the ground into which it takes the dead 

 locusts. 



940. Q. Are there two types of shallots ? 



A. Yes. There is the true shallot, the oblong bulbs of which are gen- 

 erally encased in a silvery, filmy envelope and there is the false shallot, 

 the bulbs of which are not so encased and which are less oblong, quite 

 oval, sometimes nearly round, very solid and a coppery red, the outer 

 skins very delicate and easily torn off. 



941. Q. At what time should onion seed be sown in the latitude of 

 Washington or south of it to produce early market onions for shipping in 

 the Spring? 



A. Sow the seed in a seed-bed between August 15 and September 1 

 and when the young plants are three inches high transplant them. In 

 the removal from the seed-bed, the first operation is to loosen the earth 

 beneath them so as not to tear off any of the root fibres. In setting the 

 seedlings, place them in rows at eighteen inches apart and two or three 

 inches apart in the rows. The seedlings should only be put into good 

 soil, should be well fastened in, and the operation performed imme- 

 diately after a rain. 



