54 



QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



moderate and lasting heat. We believe that, in the ab- 

 sence of horse-manure, mixtures of such materials as 

 dry muck, forest-leaves, sods, straw, hen-manure, ashes, 

 bonedust, etc., could be made that would answer quite 

 well for hotbed use. This really is a matter of great im- 

 portance, and we can only wonder that there are no re- 

 liable experiments of this kind on record. Our Experi- 

 ment Stations could make themselves quite useful by 

 taking up this work, and by inaugurating systematic ex- 

 periments, with a view to finding a good, serviceable sub- 

 stitute for horse-manure in hotbed-making. On the other 

 hand, it might be said that hot water, circulating through 

 a system of iron pipes, is about as good a substitute as 

 ever will be found. 



2721. Wintering' Canna-roots. — Canna-roots should 

 be kept warm during winter. If the place is warm and 

 moist, says the American Agriculturist, they will start 

 to grow ; but this will not injure them, as in their native 

 habitat they are evergreen and ever-growing. When 

 they are kept warm and dry, they will shrivel somewhat, 

 but without serious injury, as they are tenacious of life. 

 If frost reaches them they will surely die ; if kept cool 

 and moist they will surely rot ; but if they are kept in 

 any warm situation, they will just as surely live. These 

 conditions are of especial importance with the so-called 

 French hybrids, which should be taken out of the ground 

 before the frost has killed their foliage. 



2719. Watering' Celery Stored in Trenches. — Celery 

 if properly stored in trenches in November or December, 

 needs no attention from the time it is put in until taken 

 out for use or sale, except proper protection to keep it 

 from taking harm by freezing. No watering is required. 

 The trenches should have drainage enough so they will 

 not fill with water, causing the celery to rot. The bot- 

 tom of the well-covered trench cannot be otherwise than 

 moist, and this is all that is required to keep the plants 

 fresh and in a somewhat active state. When celery is 

 stored in boxes, or directly on the floor of a rather dry 

 cellar, the plants may wilt from want of moisture at the 

 roots and rapid evaporation from the leaves. In such 

 case it would be advisable to saturate the ground on 

 which they stand, in the boxes or on the cellar floor, at 

 reasonable intervals as needed. But the foliage should 

 be scrupulously guarded against contact with water, as 

 this would surely lead to rot. 



2694. Garber Pear. — This is a good variety in the 

 southern and middle states. In a general way it par- 

 takes somewhat of the character of the Kieffer, and 

 where the latter can be grown with success and profit 

 the Garber is likely to do still better. At any rate it is 

 worth a trial. Whether it is suited to sections as far north 

 as Canada, we are unable to say. It has not yet been 

 fully tested. 



2693. Pear Trees from Cuttings.— Probably all fruit- 

 trees can be grown from cuttings. With the Kieffer and 

 LeConte pear it is a common method of propagation in 

 Florida, Georgia and other southern states. LeConte 

 cuttings in Florida take root in open ground almost as 

 readily as a willow. Greater difficulty is experienced in 

 northern locations, and we can make a success of rooting 

 such cuttings only in hotbeds or greenhouses. The pro- 

 cedure is about the same as with any other kind of cut- 



tings. Make them six or eight inches long, and insert 

 up to the top bud in a bed with moderate bottom heat. 

 If the cuttings are made in the fall, tied in bundles and 

 kept in moss o»- sand in the cellar over winter, they may 

 be found calloused by spring, and possibly strike root if 

 planted out and treated like grape-cuttings. 



2706. Pears after Apples.— There can be no objec- 

 tion to planting a piece of ground with pears after the 

 apple trees have died out by old age, provided the ground 

 is in fertile condition, or well enriched with the proper 

 manures. Fruit-trees require plenty of food to bring out 

 full crops, as the latter remove a great quantity of fertil- 

 izing materials from the soil. Starvation isonly too often 

 the cause of poor fruits and poor fruit-crops, as also of 

 trees dying out long before their time. If the old apple- 

 orchard is of this kind, it would be far better to select 

 anotlier piece of ground, but if used for a pear-orchard 

 good compost must be used without stint. 



2705. Fertilizer for Plum Trees. — We do not think 

 that you can find anything superior to wood-ashes, alone 

 if leached, with bonedust or superphosphate if unleached. 

 The unleached ashes can be applied in almost unlimited 

 quantities with good results. If the ashes are unleached 

 you may use fifty or sixty, or even more, bushels per acre, 

 and several hundred pounds of bonedust. In place of 

 the unleached ashes in this combination, you may use 

 muriate of potash at the rate of 400 pounds per acre. If 

 you can get neither ashes nor potash salts, use thirty or 

 forty loads of good stable-compost per acre. A reason- 

 able quantity of the latter would probably be of benefit 

 even with bonedust and ashes, especially if the ground 

 should be but scantily supplied with humus. 



2708. Muslin Bags for Bagging Grapes. — The ordi- 

 nary cheap grocery bags answer first rate for bagging 

 grapes, and the labor of pinning them on is not so very 

 formidable as to be feared. Cut the upper corners off in 

 such a way as to allow the two flaps to fold nicely over 

 the cane (with cluster inside the bag), and pin above. 

 A firm in Ohio sells two-pound manilla bags, with a piece 

 of thin wire attached near the upper (open) end, which 

 wire can easily be twisted around the neck of the bag, 

 thus securely enclosing the bunch. These bags are ad- 

 vertised under the name " Ohio grape-protectors." Any 

 one preferring muslin bags can have them made quite 

 easily and cheaply of the very thinnest and cheapest kind 

 of muslin (cheese-cloth). A good seamstress will sew a 

 great many in a day on a good sewing-machine. 



2709. Composting Night-soil.— The sooner Ameri- 

 cans learn to dispense with these dead pits, the deep 

 privy-vaults, and to use instead earth closets, that are 

 entirely above ground, the better for their health and 

 welfare. Dry soil or muck, or sifted coal-ashes, should 

 be used with such liberality that the resulting materi,al 

 is reasonably dry, and entirely without offensive odor. 

 In such condition it is immediately fit for a garden, 

 orchard or field-manure ; but it may be still more im- 

 proved by composting it for a while with fresh horse-ma- 

 nure, or indeed mixing it with any other manurial sub- 

 stances. 



2682. Planting Tree-seeds.— The time for planting 

 different kinds of forest and fruit-tree seeds varies. 

 Some should be sown soon after ripening, others require 



