170 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Source of 



Agricultural 



Advice. 



Peanuts. 945, Q. What is the annual production of peanuts in tlie United States ? 



A. About four million bushels of twenty-two pounds each. For these 

 the consumers pay $10,000,000 annually. Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee 

 and North Carolina are the largest producers in the order named. The 

 African and Indian crop is over eighteen million bushels. Most of the 

 foreign product is used in making oil, the kernels yielding from 30 to 40 

 per cent, of oil, worth at Marseilles about seventy-five cents per gallon. 



The cake from the oil presses in countries where it is pressed is worth 

 thirty dollars per ton as a food for cattle and pigs, and is considered 

 superior to any other form of oil cake. 



946. Q. Is the agricultural chemist a better farmer than the practical 

 field operator, or upon whose advice can I place the most reliance ? 



A. The agricultural chemist's observations into the components of 

 plants may be perfectly accurate, and if he was infallible as respects his 

 conclusions then indeed agriculture would be a science, and the chemist 

 could direct the farmer just how crops should be fed, but plants are not en- 

 tirely developed by chemical combinations or by mechanical measures, 

 for back of all these is a vital principle or force, an irritability and varia- 

 bility and selective capacity which man cannot control or fathom. The 

 agricultural chemist can only suggest foods from which plants can draw 

 according to their powers of selection, advanced or retarded by vital force. 

 Asparagus. 947. Q. When sowing asparagus seed in my garden what course shall 

 I adopt to hasten its sprouting? 



A. Soak the seed for a night in tepid water, the temperature not ex- 

 ceeding 130O F. In the morning thoroughly mix the seed with damp 

 earth, and put the mass into a box or barrel, where let it stand till minute 

 white sprouts appear on the asparagus seed, when at once sow it in rows at 

 ten inches apart, if to produce plants for transplanting, or if to remain 

 permanently, sow it in ifews at five or six feet apart. It is far best to sow 

 in close rows, the young plants when two years old to be removed to 

 permanent locations. 

 Sugar Corn. 948. Q. Which varieties of Sugar corn most rapidly pass beyond the 

 edible condition, that is to say, harden the most quickly ? 



A. The eight-rowed sorts remain the least time in edible condition, as 

 the grains are not compact on the cob. Such loosely covered cobs quickly 

 lose their moisture, and the grains their juice and palatability because of 

 the extraction of their moisture in the drying of the cob. 

 Beet Sugar. 949. Q. What is the annual product of beet sugar in Europe ? 



A. In 1894-'95 the estimate was as follows : Germany, 1850 thousand 

 tons ; Austria, 1050 thousand tons ; France, 790 thousand tons ; Russia, 620 

 thousand tons ; Belgium, 285 thousand tons ; Holland, 90 thousand tons ; 

 other countries, 106 thousand tons ; a total of 4846 thousands. In the 

 United States the approximate manufacture for 1894-'95 was 267 thousand 

 tons. 

 Tomato. 950. Q. How long will a tomato continue to live and produce fruit if 



protected from cold temperature ? 



