VEGETABLE GROWING 31 



make much of their growth above ground so you can easily harvest 

 them for stock. Sugar or other small beets cost too much to handle for 

 stock. 



Transplanted Beets and Onions. 



Would it be advisable to transplant in September after sweet potatoes 

 had been dug from a sandy, decomposed-granite soilf I have trouble 

 getting them up in hot weather. And would September be too late to 

 set onions to use dry? 



All kinds of beets are transplanted readily during the rainy sea- 

 son, by growing the seedings in light soil, from which they could be 

 easily lifted without much loss of roots. If they are then planted with 

 a dibble, or otherwise, so the long thread-like roots will hang deep in 

 the moist soil, they catch on very easily. This can be done on the 

 Coast in September if rains are early or if the soil is well wet down by 

 irrigation. In the interior it will depend upon how fierce the September 

 heat and drouth are. If you start the seeds with partial shade and 

 then harden them to the sun and moisten the land well after the po- 

 tatoes are dug you ought to get a better stand by transplanting than 

 from the seed at that season. You can turn about the same trick with 

 onions and in about the same way; that is, by transplanting seedlings 

 started in August in a partially shaded seed bed. You ought to get a 

 mature early onion, like the Red Wethersfield, if you can keep the soil 

 moist enough to grow the plant and then dry enough to mature it. You 

 need to learn whether this is possible in your locality or not by trying it. 



The Corn Ear Worm. 



/ would like to know what to do for the grub that craivls in through 

 silk of corn and bores a path on outside of cob. 



Though much effort has been put forth to save the corn from the 

 "ear worm," no satisfactory prescription was announced. If the corn 

 is silking when the moths are flying the ears will be more or less affected. 

 Corn planted very early or late, which does not come into condition 

 while the moth is active is likely to have little trouble. But in 1915 two 

 treatments were confidently announced. M. L. Germain of Los Angeles 

 secured 90 per cent of sound ears by powdering them with arsenate of 

 lead powder just when tasseling out. Samuel Haigh of San Jose saved 

 all but one ear on a full row by spraying, as soon as the silk appeared, 

 with one tablespoonful of creolin to one gallon of water. The adjacent 

 row, not sprayed, was all wormy. 



Onion Growing. 



Is it desirable to soak onion seed in water before planting? I have 

 tried three packages so far, but they wither away and die. 



Onion seed must be fresh and good. Soaking the seed in water is 

 desirable especially if you are sowing in a dry soil or late in the sea- 

 son when the soil is likely to become dry, but there is a great deal of 



