240 



QUESTrONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



nuts may begin to fruit somewhat younger, but usually 

 they also require considerable age before they give full 

 crops. The dwarfish Japanese varieties begin to fruit 

 comparatively young. Plant them, if you want a few 

 nuts as soon as possible, and if you are not particular 

 about their quality. The Paragon also seems to be an 

 early bearer. To start an orchard, the quickest way 

 would be to begin with a chestnut forest, cut down the 

 trees, let sprouts grow up, and graft part of them with 

 the Paragon, cutting down all but the number of grafted 

 trees needed for the orchard. Filberts here are an un- 

 certain crop at best, unless provision is made for proper 

 fertilization, and fruit should not be looked for in four 

 or five years after planting. Hard-shell almonds bear 

 about as young as peach trees, but we do not place much 

 value upon the fruit. 



2784. Remedy for Tree-Cricket.— Gather up the in- 

 fested canes at once and burn them. This " snowy " or 

 tree-cricket also has a natural enemy in a wasp which 

 lays its eggs, each in a separate partition, in hollow stalks 

 of weeds, especially of the wild lettuce, and stores up a 

 number of crickets in each partition for the future larva 

 to live on while undergoing its transformation. The 

 tree-cricket, however, is not altogether an unmixed evil, 

 as it feeds largely on plant-lice 



2859. Coal - Ashes for Grapes and Small Fruits. — 



Coal-ashes have next to no manurial value ; yet they may 

 serve a good purpose as mulch for all kinds of fruit 

 crops. 



2856 Growing and Ripening Early Tomatoes.— Some 

 hints on this subject are given elsewhere in this number. 

 Let us emphasize the necessity of, (i) selecting early va- 

 rieties, like Vaughan's Earliest, Early Ruby or Atlantic 

 Prize ; (2) starting plants early, or buying early-started 

 plants; (3) growing the plants strong and stocky, and 

 hardening them off thoroughly before setting in open 

 ground ; (4) setting plants with plenty of soil adhering to 

 their roots, in warm soil liberally enriched with quickly 

 available manures ; (5) picking the fruit as soon as it 

 shows the first signs of ripening, and finishing off by 

 spreading in single layer upon clean straw under glass. 

 Your six-inch pots will come handy to raise good plants 

 in, and the cold grapery may serve as a place to harden 

 them off in. 



2855. Heating Vegetable-Forcing Houses.— Of all 



plans yet devised the hot-water system will probably 

 give the best satisfsction. Experienced growers generally 

 prefer bottom heat ; still, the question whether this or 

 heat from above gives better results is not yet definitely 

 settled. 



2854. Growing Vegetables on Same Ground. — A vege- 

 table should not be grown on the same soil for many 

 years in succession. A strict system of rotation is al- 

 ways safest. Where a mixed lot of vegetables is grown, 

 the same ground may be planted for an almost indefinite 

 length of time, by changing the location of each kind 

 from year to year. Where cabbages, cauliflowers, rad- 

 ishes, turnips or other members of this same family were 



grown last year, plant tomatoes, egg-plant, peppers, etc., 

 this year, and sweet-corn or vines next. There are so 

 many different vegetables, that it is easy enough to prac- 

 tice a rotation which brings the same vegetable on the 

 same spot only once in four or five years. With judic- 

 ious management there is no need of changing a garden 

 patch in a lifetime. In field culture of cabbages, po- 

 tatoes, etc., and other crops subject to attacks of insects 

 or diseases, I prefer to select an altogether different piece 

 of ground every year, and remote from any spot where 

 the same crop had been grown the year before. 



2852. Codling -Moth Enemies. — What enemies the 

 full-grown insect has to contend with I do not know. 

 Undoubtedly it has some The most powerful foe among 

 living things is probably the pig if confined to the 

 orchard, and in numbers large enough to devour every 

 wormy apple almost as soon as it touches the ground. 



2850. Strawberry Root-Borer. — The enemy which 

 has found lodging in your Lady Rusk plants is the 

 strawberry crown-borer. The larva is about >^-inch 

 long, whitish, boring into the crown of the plant late in 

 the season and remaining over winter. It is possible 

 that the application of tobacco tea or of strong solutions 

 of kainit or muriate of potash will kill the pest. Other- 

 wise there is but one remedy known, and this is, pulling 

 up and burning the infested plants. Any of the plants 

 in that row that are not infested may be used for mak- 

 ing a new plantation. 



2733. Training the Dewberry —There are several 

 methods. One is, setting a stake to each plant and tying 

 the latter to it, cutting it back as needed. Another 

 method is, training to a common grape-trellis of three 

 wires, the canes being tied to the wires in spring of the 

 bearing year by means of wool twine. A third method 

 is, spreading the vines upon a flat rack made of light 

 slats that stands about 18 inches above the ground. 



2832. Value of Sawdust. — Your mixed pine and 

 hardwood sawdust can have so little plant-food that it 

 is hardly worth mentioning. It would not pay to cart it 

 three miles for use on loose soils. If well-rotted, how- 

 ever, it might pay to haul it one mile for use on stiff clay 

 soil. 



2830. Topping Sweet-Corn. — Whether it pays to 

 cut the tops off above the ears after the latter have well 

 set, is a disputed question. We think it does. Cut off 

 the tops of part of the field this year, and compare the 

 yield with the part left with tops on. Thus you can 

 settle the point, at least to your own satisfaction. 



2760. Water-Cress Under Glass. — This is easily grown. 

 In city markets it is much esteemed, and in ready de- 

 mand at fair prices. Although it is really an amphibious 

 plant, says the Practical Farmer, it is a mistake to think 

 that it must grow in water. Indeed, it can be grown in 

 an ordinary frame in winter to advantage and profit, and 

 it is believed that the plant is less hot and more crisp 

 when so grown than when grown outdoors in the usual 

 way in summer. The frost must be kept out, of course ; 



