QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 189 



Squas?i. — Extra Early Bush, Golden Summer. 



Tomato.— ^xtrsi Early Richmond, Acme, T.T.T. 



Turnip. — Early Dutch, Amher Globe, Bloomsdale Swede. 



1025. Q. Are the original wild types of our cultivated plants generally Original 



to be found ? Types. 



A- Very few of them. The wild cabbage, celery and beet are met with 

 in Europe, the potato and tomato in South America, and a few others 

 elsewhere representative of our garden plants, but very few. Still less of 

 the cultivated products of the field, as there is no wild rye, wheat, oats or 

 barley, nor Indian corn in its original condition. Of the origin of plants 

 in general hardly anything is known, and very little to be surmised. 

 This much is known, however, strange to relate, that the United States 

 has furnished comparatively nothing of value among cultivated plants of 

 vegetables or cereals, the principal nutritious plants being the Jerusalem 

 artichoke and the gourds, both of little value, and among the cereals the 

 Wild Rice. The United States is not an exception in this particular, for 

 not a useful original plant has ever been obtained in Australia, or New 

 Zealand, or the Cape of Good Hope, nor from South America, south of the 

 Platte. These countries produce plants useful to savage man, but they 

 have never been improved by selection, as have the plants of Europe, 

 Asia, Mexico, Central America, Chili and Peru, plants probably no better 

 originally, but a clear demonstration that it was only among the higher 

 civilized people of early times that improvement by selection took place. 



1036. Q. As in a late letter you urged me to adopt market gardening Lettuce. 

 under glass, let me ask you to what special crop would you advise me to 

 give special attention ? 



A. To lettuce. It is in demand for fifty-two weeks in the year, and 

 always, when in fresh condition, will bring a good price. In Philadel- 

 phia, during the months of December, January, February and March, 

 good lettuce is sold by the commission men to the city storekeepers at from 

 $5 to $10 per hundred heads. It is generally highest in January and Feb- 

 ruary, and assuming that its average price then is $7 per 100 and the 

 freights and commission $2, it leaves $5 to the producer. When lettuce is 

 well grown sixty to seventy-five heads will fill a barrel. In growing let- 

 tuce it is important to get seed true to name and of strong vitality, and of 

 habits of uniform development, that sections of the forcing house may be 

 entirely cleared of crop, that the space may be promptly recropped with 

 a fresh setting of lettuce or radish. Two good sorts for forcing are the 

 Virginia Solid Header and Forcing, the latter the New York experimen- 

 tal Station has pronounced of high merit for under-glass culture. 



1027. Q. Is ensilage a good food for horses ? EnsUage. 



A. No ; it is likely to produce colic, and weaken them generally. The 

 digestive organs of horses are different from those of cattle, which are cud- 

 chewing animals. Indeed, ensilage for cattle is not always the best food, 

 as it sometimes has the same effect as brew-house swill, causing cows, 

 especially when fed too long upon it, and too exclusively, to become 

 unhealthy, to grow languid and to lose their hair. 



