QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



■79 



of paulownia, and filled them with hay. Will this save last year's 

 growth ?-W. H. R,, /owa. 



3S10. Planting Peach-Pits. Pits are packed in damp soil 

 exposed to the weather. How shall I plant and treat them in the 

 spring?— E. H. D. 



2811. Cooking' Henderson Bush Liimas. We sliced 

 and boiled them in the usual manner, but they were not fit to eat. 

 How should they be prepared ?— B. G. 



2812. Juneberries for Market. Will it pay to plant them 

 for this purpose? What kinds are best, and how are they propa- 

 gated?— J. S. L., /nd. 



2813. Japanese Persimmons. Will it pay to plant them for 

 market? — J. S. L., Indiana. 



2814. Planting Onion-Sets. How large sets of this year's 

 growth may be safely used in order to get a good crop of large 

 onions?— M. L. R. 



2815. Growing' Lettuce Under Glass. How long will in 

 take to get a crop from sowing seed ?— J. W. O., Ills. 



2816. Red-Spider in Hotbed. How can I destroy them ?— 

 I. R., Ohio. 



2817. Root-Knot on Veg'etables and Flo-wers. How 



can I prevent its ravages 



2818. Early Peas for Market. What kind is best?— W. S., 

 Wisconsin. 



2819. Paradise Apple-Seed. Where can I get the seed ?— 

 N. L. C. M., R. I. 



2820. Hotbed and Greenhouse Arrangrement. Will 

 Mr. Kirby please describe arrangement of hotbeds heated with 

 hot-water pipes, also construction of greenhouses in use by Boston 

 market -gardeners ?—Sud. 



2763. Nursery Stock from Different Sections.— 

 On general principles we always advise people to pro- 

 cure their trees and shrubs and plants as near home as 

 they can be got as good and cheap as elsewhere. On the 

 other hand, there is no objection to planting in any part 

 of Ohio, or any other state, nursery stock grown in Dela- 

 ware or New Jersey, provided such stock is sound and 

 well-grown. Of course, it will in any case be safer to 

 trust your eyes than the conscientiousness orpromises of 

 dealers. 



2756. Wood-Ashes for Pear Trees.— The fertilizing 

 value of a bushel of ashes depends on the quality of the 

 article, and this varies greatly. A bushel of dry hard- 

 wood ashes will probably weigh about 45 pounds, and 

 contain in the neighborhood of 3 or 3K pounds of potash 

 and % pounds of phosphoric acid. The former is worth 

 five cents per pound, the latter eight cents per pound. 

 Consequently we can well afford to pay 20 cents or so for 

 a bushel of such ashes. If they have been leached, or 

 are from soft wood, etc., they may not be worth one half 

 the sum named. We have a high opinion of wood-ashes 

 as an orchard fertilizer, and in fact believe that it can 

 hardly be used too freely. If the ashes are leached, sev- 

 eral hundred bushels might be used per acre, applied 

 broadcast, and without additional manures. The un- 

 leached article has a great excess of potash over phos- 

 phoric acid, and consequently, bonedust or superphos- 

 phate should be used in addition. Fifty bushels of un- 

 leached ashes or upwards, and several hundred pounds 

 of the phosphatic manure, evenly spread over an acre of 

 orchard, will be found a most excellent and effective 

 dressing. 



2753. Pears for Kentucky.— Kieffer, Le Conte, 

 Garber and perhaps Idaho will prove profitable in favor- 

 able locations of the state. All of these, we believe, are 



of o.'iental origin. Le Conte is the one most largely 

 grown from cuttings in the south. Probably the Kitfler 

 is also propagated in the same way to some extent. We 

 would not combine a pear orchard and vineyard in the 

 way proposed. Each one will do better if planted by 

 itself, and then can be more easily and cheaply managed. 



2751. Black Hansel! Raspberry.— We are only ac- 

 quainted with a red variety under the name " Hansell." 



2748. Fruits for the Family.— The following is a 

 list that can be relied on in this (Niagara) fruit district : 

 Strawberries, Haverland, Wilson, Bubach ; red rasp- 

 berries, Thompson's Early, Cuthbert, Shaffer, Golden 

 Queen; blackcaps, Ohio, Gregg; blackberries. Ancient 

 Breton, Snyder, Kittatinny; currants, Red and White 

 Dutch, Fay ; .g-ra/>i?i,Winchell(Green Mountain), Worden, 

 Concord, Brighton, Eldorado, Delaware, Niagara ; cher- 

 ries, Coe's Transparent, Early Richmond, English Mor- 

 ello, Montmorency Ordinaire, Black Tartarian; peaches, 

 Hyne's Surprise, Mountain Rose, Early and Late Craw- 

 ford ; plums, Botan, German Prune, Lombard, Rtine 

 Claude, Purple Egg; pears, Gifford, Tyson, Bartlett, 

 Flemish Beauty, Louise Bonne, Duchess, Anjou ; apples. 

 Yellow Transparent, Gravenstein, Oldenburg, Fameuse, 

 R. I. Greening, Northern Spy, Golden Russet, Esopus 

 Spitzenberg, etc. 



2651. Strawberries in Louisiana.— In your reply to 

 this query in December number you state that there 

 should be no difficulty in growing strawberrries, no mat- 

 ter how hot the climate. Any one trying togrow them in 

 southern Louisiana will find that there is a good deal of 

 difficulty attached to the business in several ways. First, 

 that of climate. The winter is very mild, and this 

 causes many varieties — especially the early-flowering 

 kinds — to waste their vitality in flowering before the in- 

 clement weather is fairly passed, thus rendering many, 

 often all, the earlier blossoms unproductive. During the 

 exceedingly warm and long summer, the strawberry does 

 not grow, but when the summer rains come, gen- 

 erally about the latter part of August, then the straw- 

 berry finds new life and beginsto grow vigorously . Many 

 varieties will die out during the summer, even if planted 

 every year; others will produce a small crop and then 

 become exhausted. Where irrigation is employed, of 

 course results will be different. The advice to plant in 

 the shade of buildings could hardly be followed, for it is 

 difficult to find shade on the north side of a building 

 during the middle of summer in Louisiana. Strawber- 

 ries could be grown in a vineyard, but I think they 

 would be out of place among fruit-trees, as it is essential 

 that the treesbe cultivated both ways so as tokeep down 

 the coco, crab-grass, Bermuda, coffee-weed, and the pig- 

 weed. These weeds grow in the south with great rapid- 

 ity. To grow strawberries among cane would, I think, 

 be about the worst method to adopt. If cane did not 

 take up so much room, if the stalks had no crooks, and 

 if it did not need the ground for a whole year, or if its 

 root could be got rid of during the winter, the case 

 might be different. Cane is growing nearly the whole of 

 the year, and when the topis not active the roots are. I 

 have often tried to arrive at the best plan, and I once 

 thought of trying the following : Plant on shallow 

 ridges three feet apart, running east and west, making 

 the lands wide enough for five rows. Plant the two 



