Vegetable Growing 83 



Topping Mangel Wurzels. 



Docs it harm the mangel zvurzcls if their tops arc cut off once a 

 month? 



Removing leaves will decrease the size and harden the tissues 

 of the beet root. If you wish to grow the plant for the top, the 

 root will continue to put out leaves for you for a time; if you grow 

 it for the size and quality of the root, you need all the leaf-action 

 you can get, therefore do not reduce the foliage. 



Blooming Brussels Sprouts. 



Are Brussels sprouts male and female? Some of my plants are 

 flowering and show no signs of sprouts, while those that are not, shozv 

 some small eyes at stem that look like young sprouts. 



Brussels sprouts ought to form the sprouts without flowering, 

 just as a cabbage heads without flowering. Those plants which show 

 flowers have been stopped by drought or otherwise, and have taken 

 on prematurely the second stage of growth which is productive of 

 seed and is undesirable from the point of view of growing heads. 



Blanching Celery. 



/ desire to know the different methods by which the celery is bleached, 

 and particularly whether boards or other material other than earth is 

 used for this purpose. 



There is some blanching of celery with boards, cloth wrappings, 

 boot-legs, old tiles, sewer pipes, etc., in market gardens in different 

 parts of the State, but the great commercial product of celery for 

 export is blanched wholly by piling the light, dry earth against the 

 growing plant. As we do not have rains during the growing season 

 and as the soil on which celery is chiefly grown is particularly coarse 

 in its texture, there is no rusting or staining from this method of 

 blanching. It shakes out clean and bright. Conditions which make 

 earth-blanching undesirable in the humid region do not exist here. 



Corn in the Sacramento Valley. 



Is it practical to raise corn in the Sacramento valley? Are the soil 

 and climatic conditions suitable? 



The success of corn on plains and uplands in the Sacramento 

 valley has not yet been fully demonstrated, although good corn is 

 grown on river bottom lands, and it is possible that much more may 

 be done with this grain in the future than in the past. Corn does 

 not enjoy the dry heat of the plains, and even when irrigated seems 

 to be dissatisfied with it. How far we shall succeed in getting varie- 

 ties which will endure dry heat and still be large and productive will 

 ere long be determined by the experiments which are in progress. 

 The old Sacramento valley farmer has been justified to some degree 

 in his conclusion that his is not a corn country. Still it may appear 

 so later. 



