176 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Starch 

 as Food. 



Celery 

 Preservation 



Weeds. 



Plant 

 Nutrition 



lay for a month. This should not cost over five or six dollars, and will 

 be found quite efficient as a fertilizer, but not so quick in action or so 

 stimulating as barnyard manure, because its valuable parts are not so 

 comminuted, nor is it in so good condition for assimilation by plants as 

 that which has all of it before been within plant systems. 



981. Q. In what does the value of the starch in corn, or in any food, con- 

 sist as a cattle-feeding substance ? 



A. It serves the purpose of a fuel, animals eating it prepare it for 

 oxidation, after which it is in great part returned to the air through their 

 respiratory organs. The oxidation and assimilation of starch imparts 

 warmth to the animal and assists the digestion of all other classes of 

 foods. 



983. Q. How can I lay up my market celery for Winter so it will keep, 

 and so I can get at it as I want to sell ? 



A. "With a plow throw up a two-furrowed ridge and tramp it hard. 

 "With a shovel clean out the furrows, placing the loose earth on top of the 

 ridge, which pack down with the back of the shovel, then on one side of 

 the ridge stretch a line lengthwise and with a spade cut the earth down 

 perpendicularly, opening a clean trench five to six inches below the gen- 

 eral level of the ground, shoveling the loose earth on to the top of the 

 ridge. Make this trench of such a depth that when the celery plants are 

 stood up in it their tops will be even with the top of the ridge. In the 

 trench stand up the celery three or four stalks thick, pack them tightly 

 and fasten them in place with loose soil packed against the root by hand. 

 When the trench is thus filled, run a plow alongside throwing the furrow 

 slice against the celery, and open the new furrow close alongside with a 

 spade, the same as tiie first, and repeat the operation of packing in more 

 celery. On the other side of the original ridge perform the same opera- 

 tion. When this is done throw several furrows on the outside of both 

 sides of the celery bed. Cover the celery with five or six inches of hay 

 and that with four or five inches of long stable manure. 



983. Q. Are weeds multiplying on the farms of the United States ? 



A. Yes ; to such an alarming extent as to clearly demonstrate a want 

 of energy on the part of the American farmer, particularly as the most 

 troublesome weeds are foreigners, as, for example, the wild oat, ox-eye 

 daisy, thistle, burdock and wild mustard. Weeds are objectionable because 

 they extract fertilizing parts from the soil, drawing upon that food which 

 should be used by the cultivated crops. Weeds increase the labor of 

 working crops. They crowd a valuable -crop so that it diminishes pro- 

 duct, and they add to the labor of cleaning the grain crops for market. 

 Few weeds are of any use for either man or beast, generally being bitter 

 or acrid in taste. 



984. Q. Where is conducted the best system of investigation into the 

 subject of plant nutrition ? 



A. At the Dramstadt Experimental Station, where the tests are all 

 made in zinc tubs and pots, thousands of them, the largest about thirty 



