QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 181 



that one which is the oldest and most extensively practiced was free. 

 Agriculture and horticulture must be content to bear their shares, 

 for like in the treatment of weeds, cast out as many as we will, 

 some germs remain, and like weeds with the warm of returning Spring, 

 the humbugs are reanimated and spring up with smiling faces. Many 

 of the State Experimental Stations have for some years been engaged 

 in analyzing commercial fertilizers and publishing the results, all of 

 which has been very beneficial as indicating to the farmer fraudu- 

 lent brands, consequently fewer of such are now made than for- 

 merly. It is quite within the scope of the work of experimental 

 stations to take up the question of seeds and to publish sworn reports 

 of vitality tests of seeds obtained from various seedsmen, and the 

 results of microscopic examinations in search of weeds, imperfect and 

 moldy seeds ; and -subsequently reports of quality as shown in the 

 experimental garden. Such Seed Control Stations, as they are termed 

 in Europe, will certainly be established in this country as well as 

 abroad, as the work there is much appreciated, particularly in Germany 

 and Austria. No farmers, no market gardeners, or private gardeners, 

 as the Americans, sow so large a proportion of poor seeds, because 

 there are so many of such imported. Many European seedsmen seem 

 to think anything is good enough for the American market, some of 

 them sending here what they would not sell under their own names 

 in their own countries. The ordinary farmer or gardener purchases 

 the lowest price seed he can get, and consequently he gets lots of 

 weed seeds in his grass and clover, and the vegetable market gardener 

 often gets stocks much doctored. A low price for seed nowadays con- 

 demns it in the estimation of those who know, for if it is good it cannot 

 be priced below the normal value. 



1000. Q. What is the object of bleaching celery ? Celery 



A. Celery is bleached to get rid of the acrid quality which is always Bleaching^ 

 present in the green chlorophyll situated in the leaves between the upper 

 and lower epidermis. The chlorophyll when green contains iron, an 

 essential to all green plants, and is acrid and bitter, but bleached it loses 

 the iron and its objectionable flavor with it, and becomes mild and sweet. 



1001. Q. How late in Summer can I plant garden seeds so that I may 



have a fair expectation of a crop reaching edible condition before frost? Seeding 

 A. 1. Average, and note down, the date of the first killing frost in your **"*****• 

 neighborhood. 



2. Calculate, and note down, the number of days required from date of 

 germination to obtain edible condition required by Spring-sown garden 

 crops in your district. 



3. As Summer and Autumn crops generally grow slower than Spring 

 crops, add ten or fifteen days to the usual number of days required for 

 Spring-sown crops and you have the number of days preceding the day 

 of frost required by an Autumn crop to develop into edible condition 



4. In Pennsylvania the periods usually required for quickly developing 



