QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



1^1 



we cannot see what you would gain by grafting, asstoclo 

 must be either imported, or grown from seeds or cut- 

 tings. Cuttings of two or three-year-old wood, with or 

 without a heel, usually strike root quite readily. Some 

 varieties only, on some soils, are slow to take root, and 

 these may be propagated by layering, or by root-grafting, 

 as you suggest. 



3128. Plum Stocks. — The horse-plum, a variety of 

 Prunus domestica, makes one of the best of stocks. 

 Myrobolan is largely used, especially on the Pacific 

 coast, but in the east it rather dwarfs the tree. Mari- 

 anna has now become quite popular as a stock for any of 

 our plums. 



3129. Plum Curculio. — The culprit, undoubtedly, is 

 the curculio. The simplest way of fighting it is by jar- 

 ring the trees every morning during the curculio season, 

 in spring, gathering the insects in sheets spread under 

 the trees, and killing them. Spraying in early spring, 

 with Paris-green water, in which a little lime has been 

 dissolved, will kill at least a portion of them. 



3133. Root-Grafting Fruit-Trees. — There is nothing 

 that we know of to prevent the success of cleft-grafting 

 when the stocks used are large enough. Whip-grafting, 

 however, is the usual method employed in making apple 

 and pear root-grafts. Plums and cherries are usually 

 propagated by budding into one-year-old seedlings in 

 August, but root-grafting, by the ordinary "whip" method 

 is also practiced. 



3134. Pruning Pear Trees.— Prune apple and pear 

 trees whenever your saw and chisel are sharp, whether 

 in fall or spring. — J. O. Bronson, Ncxc York. 



3134. Pruning Pear Trees.— If the trees were started 

 right, and no more branches than enough to form a good 

 head were allowed to grow from the beginning, little 

 pruning will be required afterward. Diseased or injured 

 limbs and twigs, of course, must be removed promptly. 

 Ordinary pruning, so far as required, may be done after 

 the leaves have fallen. 



3135. Juneberry for Local Market. — This fruit has 

 not yet outgrown the experimental stage. Varieties are 

 not freely offered. Try " Success. " 



3136. Huckleberry-Plants. — We are not 'aware that 

 they are offered by any nurseryman. 



3138. Composting Stable-Manure. — Dry muck is one 

 of the best materials you can use as an absorbent. The 

 compost will be all the better if you can keep it under 

 shelter. If kept in open air, pile it up in square heaps, 

 3 or 4 feet deep, so that rains cannot leach through. It 

 will then be all right, but don't expose it to washes from 

 the eaves. 



3139. Tarragon Culture. — The plant is perfectly 

 hardy and need not be housed during winter. 



3139. Tarragon Culture. — Tarragon will winter quite 

 well outdoors in the latitude of New York. We have 

 cultivated it for ten years here in Dutchess County, and 

 find it perfectly hardy.— J. O. B. 



3143. Crops in Shade.— If the trees are large enough, 

 or stand close enough to give a dense shade, it will be 

 best to let them have sole possession of the ground. It 

 will be better for the fruit, and save you much labor of 



planting which ordinarily gives only indifferent results- 

 Among young trees, and in half shade, you can plant 

 currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, black- 

 berries, etc. There are but few of our vegetables which 

 will give a fair crop in a shady position. Try cabbage, 

 cauliflower, lettuce, turnips, perhaps cucumbers. As to 

 flowers, plant early spring bulbs, pansies, violets, or any 

 of our woodland beauties. 



3144. Canning Sweet-Corn.— The process is simple. 

 Cut the corn from the cob, fill the cans as full as you can 

 crowd them, and screw the tops on tight. Then wrap 

 towels or cloths around the cans, put them into a boiler 

 containing water enough to cover them, and boil them 

 from 3 to 5 hours. Then take them out, tighten the tops 

 where needed, and set the cans away in a dark place. 



3146. Celery Fertilizer.— Any of the high-grade com- 

 plete fertilizers offered under various names as special 

 potato, special fruit-tree, special vegetable manures, etc., 

 will answer as a celery-fertilizer. The latter should con- 

 tain from 4 to 5 per cent, of nitrogen, 8 to 10 per cent, 

 of phosphoric acid, and 6 to 8 per cent, of potash. 



3147. Home-Made Hose for Irrigating. — The follow- 

 ing directions were given us by Mr. H. A. Marsh, of 

 Washington ; " Take a piece of 12-ounce duck and cut 

 it lengthwise into three pieces ; this makes 90 feet of hose 

 about 2;/2 inches in diameter. Place the edges together, 

 double them once over, and with a sewing-machine sew 

 through the four thicknesses twice. This makes a hose 

 that will stand a 6 or 8-foot pressure. To make it water- 

 proof, we use five gallons of boiled linseed oil and half a 

 gallon of pine-tar melted together. Place the hose in a 

 wash-tub, turn on the oil hot (say 160°), and saturate the 

 cloth well with the mixture. Now run the hose through 

 a clothes-wringer screwed down rather tight and it is 

 ready to be hung up to dry. Blow through it to keep it 

 from sticking together as it dries. For this purpose I use 

 an elder-sprout about a foot long with the pith punched 

 out. Tie la string around one end of the hose, gather the 

 other end around the tube and fill it with wind. Then 

 hang the hose on a line, and it will dry in a few days and 

 be ready for use. It will last 5 or 6 years." 



3148. Soil for Garden Vegetables. — If the "mixture 

 of clay and sand " is rich enough, we can see no reason 

 why it should not be suitable for growing garden stuff. 

 Have the land well drained, put in plenty of good ma- 

 nure, and you will have all chances of success. 



3149. Drying Blood. — Blood is usually dried over 

 steam-heat in shallow pans. W. S. Powell & Co., whom 

 we asked about the process some time ago, replied that 

 they hardly know how to give directions for farmer's use. 

 It might do to make a tight, shallow, wooden box and 

 pour the blood about an inch deep in this, exposing it to 

 the rays of the sun. After it has thickened to the con- 

 sistency of heavy molasses, or what is known as caramel, 

 build a platform about two feet high, covering the same 

 with fiat stones closely fitted together, and put the blood 

 on these, building a hot fire underneath and keeping the 

 blood stirred until it turns to a granular or powdered 

 form. Better still, have sheet-iron pans made, and use 

 them in place of the wood or stone. 



