QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



of the cherry, plum and other stone fruits, and even of 

 the apples. Burn all infested fruit and leaves in autumn. 

 Before buds expand in spring, spray with sulphate of 

 iron (green copperas). When the flowers are opening, 

 spray again with sulphide of potassium, and repeat this 

 application at intervals of a week or two until the fruit 

 begins to color. 



2818. Early Peas for Market.— Any of the Extra 

 Earlies, or First Earlies offered by seedsmen, or Alaska, 

 may be selected for first early crop. For a wrinkled 

 pea, many gardeners plant American Wonder. We 

 plant McLean's Little Gem. 



2814. Planting Onion-Sets.— Sets grown last year 

 to be planted out in spring, can not be too small for 

 good results. When larger than a marble or walnut, 

 they are apt to send up seed-stalks to the detriment of 

 size and keeping quality. If the "sets" are seedling 

 plants, grown in hotbed or greenhouse in winter, they 

 can hardly be too large. We like them best when the 

 bulb is about 3-16 to ^ inch in diameter. 



2812. Juneberries for Market. — We have reports 

 of growers v/ho find juneberries a profitable market 

 crop. The general grower will do well to go slow, 

 however. There are difficulties and uncertainties. 

 First you must ascertain by careful trial whether 

 your market will take kindly to the fruit. Next you 

 must get improved varieties, and plants of these are 

 rather high-priced. The plants can be propagated from 

 seeds, also from the sprouts that form freely about the 

 old plants. 



2813. Japanese Persimmon for Market.— Grow- 

 ers in the south and on the Pacific coast may have 

 some prospect of making Japanese persimmon cul- 

 ture pay. People in Indiana should turn their attention 

 to something else. The Japanese persimmon is not 

 likely to succeed in that state. 



2811. Cooking- Henderson Bush Lima. — Shell 

 the beans soon after the green pods are picked, wash 

 and put them into boiling water with a little salt ; when 

 tender, draiji off the water. Serve with a cup of sweet 

 cream or milk, with a lump of butter in it. Salt and 

 pepper and let them simmer a few moments. 



2810. Planting- Peach-Pits.— In spring you will 

 probably find the majority of the pits cracked or easily 

 opened. Pick out the meats and plant them in drills in 

 nursery row and cover two or three inches deep, firming 

 the ground well over them. 



2808. Peas and Beans in Succession.— As a rule it 

 is best to follow a strict system of rotation in order to 

 give less encouragement to insects and diseases. Still, 

 there is not much objection to planting peas and beans 

 in succession just as long as they seem to do well. 



2S06. Planting- Dwarf Pears.— The method usually 

 practiced by good growers is to set the trees quite deep 

 so the lower end of graft or bud will be below the sur- 

 face of the ground. This gives the scion a chance to 

 throw out roots, and will gradually transform the dwarf 

 into a standard. The Angouleme does well on quince, 

 however, and it may be a question whether the trans- 

 formation into a standard is desirable. 



2695. Sawdust as a Mulch.— Basswood sawdust is 

 valuable because it decays ; but pine sawdust is so full 

 of pitch as to be practically indestructible. Good au- 



thorities state that it injures rather than benefits the 

 land. When applied as a mulch, the tendency of the 

 sawdust would be to keep back the plants if put on 

 deeply. They might be retarded too much. I would ex- 

 periment in a small way with it at first by putting it on 

 after a soaking rain when the berries are about half- 

 grown. Even then I would not put it on over an inch 

 deep. 



2722. White Grubs in Strawberry-Beds. — Dr_ 

 Lintner stated at. the Oswego Horticultural Institute that 

 white grubs may be kept away from strawberry-plants 

 by turning burdock or quassia tea around the plants. 

 This tea is made by steeping the leaves of burdock or of 

 quassia wood. It is very distasteful to the white grub, 

 and drives him away from the roots. Of course, this is 

 too expensive to try on a large plantation, but with a few 

 expensive plants it may pay, especially if white grubs 

 are known to infest the soil. A better way is not to 

 plant strawberries on infested soil. Land cultivated in 

 hoed crops for three years will be free from them. 



2734. Willows Poisoning- Water.— Willows grov,r- 

 ing in and about a pond do not poison the water. On the 

 contrary they help to purify it. Willows are greatdrink- 

 ers ; we have known them to run over a 100 feet in 

 search of water. They frequently fill up wells with their 

 roots when planted adjacent to dwellings. 



2736. Pine Sawdust as Manure. Mr. Heagerty, 

 who has had much experience, stated at the Oswego 

 County Fruit Growers' meeting, that he had tried pine 

 sawdust as a mulch for pears and they all died. He 

 thinks it induces blight. Another member said if pine 

 sawdust were used the soil would soon produce nothing 

 but sorrel. Straw makes better manure. 



2621. Pruning- Currants.— The bush form is prefera- 

 ble to trimming to asingle stem. Encourage ne iv shoots 

 to grow from the roots each year, and cut out the old 

 ones when two or three years old. Cut back the new 

 growth about two-thirds every year. This induces a 

 short-jointed stocky growth which is necessary for great 

 productiveness. 



2628. Japanese Wineberry.— This is soft, like red 

 raspberry, and about the size of blackcaps. The fruit 

 is wine-colored, very beautiful and attractive. It proba- 

 bly will not be grown much for market, because it is 

 small for a red raspberry. But for home use it is worth 

 trying for an ornamental plant, if for nothing else. It 

 grows like blackcaps. 



2630. Stone Hardy Blackberry.— As the climate 

 of Indiana is about like ours, I think this variety will 

 succeed there. In New York, it is entirely hardy and 

 extremely productive. The fruit is small and belongs 

 to the round blackberry class. It must be rigorously 

 pruned and then the size is quite respectable. The 

 flavor is about like Snyder. In fact, it so closely resem- 

 bles that variety, that it might be appropriately called a 

 Late Snyder. 



2645. Growing- Potted Strawberry-Plants for 

 Market. — The value of potted strawberry-plants is 

 greatly enhanced if they can be grown to marketable 

 size early in July. Spring-set plants do notbegin to run 

 much till then, and it is hard to get good potted plants 

 from them before August i to 15. I should set the plants 



