QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 185 



A. There is no fixed weight, and there could not be, for they are con- 

 stantly decreasing in density by evaporation of moisture. Two bushels 

 measured and stored away in September will not measure more than one 

 bushel in March. On October 1, the Bloomsdale Farm sets weighed forty- 

 four pounds to the bushel, as measured, but they are not sold by weight, 

 but by measure. 



There are all sorts of ways of selling sets — some people give thirty-two 

 pounds, others a stroke bushel, others a heaped bushel, and prices vary 

 accordingly. As an example, $3.25 for a bushel of thirty-two pounds is 

 no cheaper than $3 for a bushel of forty-two pounds. By reason of 

 shrinkage they increase in value quite twenty to twenty-five cents per 

 month per bushel. 



1015. Q. What is the annual quantity of potatoes imported? Potatoes 

 A. For the year ending June, 1894, the quantity was over three million ^^po^ted. 



bushels, valued at over one and a quarter millions of dollars, Scotland 

 sending over one-half of the total quantity. 



1016. Q. Will it pay me as a market gardener to devote one of my glass Market 

 houses to the Winter culture of tomatoes ? Gardening 



A, It will if you are an expert in such work, or are quick to learn. ^^•^•^'' 

 The house should be separated from others, as they might be sometimes 

 too high in temperature, and other times too low. The mercury in a 

 tomato house may vary from seventy to ninety degrees during the day, 

 should not fall below sixty-five to seventy-five degrees during the night. 

 There should be head room of quite five feet between the soil of the 

 benches and the glass to admit of space for the extension of the vines. 

 The plants should be set about fifteen inches apart and trimmed to single 

 stalks, these trained to sticks or cords. Early sorts should ripen fruit in 

 about 110 days from the germination of the seed. Natural pollination 

 of tomatoes under the conditions of glass-house culture is not sufiicient to 

 give a full crop, hence the pollination must be assisted by artificial means. 

 This can be done by jarring the pollen from the flowers into a spoon, and 

 thrusting into the spoon the stigma of the flower to be fertilized. It is 

 important that this be done thoroughly, as imperfect pollination results 

 in imperfect fruit and a small crop. When the fruit becomes heavy the 

 strain should be taken ofi" the plant by artificial support given to the 

 fruit. A plant should give about three pounds of fruit. For under-glass 

 culture try the three Landreth Cross-Bred Varieties, the Red Cross, the 

 Purple Cross and the Two-Celled Cross, all entirely distinct from any of 

 the standard sorts. Very early, very prolific, very deep in shape, very 

 solid and smooth. 



1017. Q. Is the nutritive or feeding value of all turnips or all beets the reeding 



same ? Talue 



A. Very different ; not only between the families of turnips and beets, of 

 but between the sorts of each family, and still again between the crops of'^"^**'P* 

 the same sort grown on fields of different quality, or different manuring, Beets. 

 or grown after different periods of drilling, or under varying conditions of 



