QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



3151. Sawdust as a Mulch. — We prefer marsh-hay to 

 all other materials for mulching strawberry-beds. It is 

 clean, affords no harboring places for insect and other 

 foes, and lies loosely enough upon the plants to keep them 

 from choking out, yet snugly enough to protect them from 

 heaving. Sawdust can be used when you have nothing 

 else ; but, if possible, use it previously for bedding in the 

 stables, and let it get as well rotted as possible. 



3152. Ginseng Culture.— The plant is found growing 

 wild in mountainous regions over a large part of the 

 United States. It thrives in shady places and loamy soil 

 or woods earth. It does not seem to be so very particu- 

 lar as to climatic conditions, or easily adapts itself to them. 

 On the other hand, it is not a grateful subject for culti- 

 vation. The roots of wild ginseng, when dug up and 

 planted, or seed of it when sown, usually refuse to come 

 up or grow. Further trial should be made to find the con- 

 ditions that promise success in cultivating this crop ; 

 but we would not advise anyone to pay much money for 

 the " secrets" of the business, nor for seed or plants. 



3153. Growing Mangels.— Beets of all kinds can bear 

 light frost, but should not be exposed to a severe one. 



3154. Russian Mulberry. — The fruit of all the Rus- 

 sian mulberries we have ever seen is not desirable for 

 market. Of course, being seedlings, the trees vary 

 greatly ; but the berries are almost always of small size 

 and inferior flavor. 



3155. Blackberries for Northern Ohio. — Try Kittat- 

 tiny, Snyder and Taylor. 



3157. Alpine Strawberry. — For plants address EU- 

 wanger & Barry, Rochester, New York. 



3158. Grape-Vine Leaf-Hopper.— This insect makes 

 its first appearance on the leaves in June, being then in 

 the larva state. The little hoppers insert their beaks 

 into the leaves, sucking the juices, and remain perfectly 

 quiet most of the time. When disturbed they leap from 

 one leaf to another. They arrive at maturity during 

 August, and are then provided with wings, flying and 

 hopping about when disturbed. The infested leaves at 

 len.gth turn yellow, sickly, and dry up prematurely. 

 The leaf-hoppers hibernate beneath fallen leaves, among 

 tufts and roots of grass, etc. The pest may be effect- 

 ually fought early in the season by dusting the vines 

 with insect-powder of tobacco-dust. They may also be 

 caught on a sheet saturated with kerosene and stretched 

 on a frame which is carried along on one side of the row, 

 while somebody goes along the other side frightening the 

 insects toward the sheet. 



3159. Moyer Grape. — This is early, and is sweet just 

 as soon as it begins to color. But both berry and bunch 

 are unreasonably small, and the vine is quite weak in 

 growth. It cannot take the place of Delaware, which it 

 somewhat resembles. 



3160. Bowood Muscat and Muscat of Alexandria. — 

 See page 7>8. 



3162. Salt for Fruit-Trees.— We would put very 

 little dependence in ordinary salt as a fertilizer for fruit- 

 trees or any other crop. It may help to render insolu- 

 able plant-foods in the soil available, but it will do this 



only in a limited way at best. Use wood-ashes, or wood- 

 ashes and bone-meal. Such applications are trust- 

 worthy and effective. 



3164. Dwarf Pears for Profit.— To growers in this 

 vicinity we would say plant mostly standard Bartletts 

 and dwarf trees of Duchess. We would not take the 

 risk of advising growers in sections having climatic 

 and soil conditions with which we are not familiar, 



3166. Gooseberry-Fruit Worm.— The adult of this 

 worm is a spotted, pale gray moth, which deposits its egg 

 on the small green fruit. Soon after hatching the larva 

 bores into the berry and feeds upon the pulp. After it 

 has eaten one berry, it fastens another to it by silken 

 threads, and devours its contents, continuing the process 

 until by the time it is fully grown it has formed a cluster 

 of 6 or 8 injured berries. At this time it is a pale green 

 caterpillar % of an inch long, with a small, brown, 

 horny-looking head. Shortly before the fruit ripens it 

 descends to the ground by a silken thread and, concealed 

 among the fallen leaves and rubbish, spins a thin silken 

 cocoon, within which it changes to a brown chrysalis. It 

 remains in this condition until the following spring, when 

 it comes forth as a moth. Consequently there is only 

 one brood of the larva each year. The fruit injured by 

 these caterpillars is so conspicuous that hand-picking is 

 a practical remedy. This must be done rapidly, as the 

 larvae wriggle out of the cases and drop to the ground 

 quickly when disturbed. If chickens are allowed to run 

 over the ground after the fruit is gathered, they will 

 scratch up and devour many of the pupae. So also, will 

 many be destroyed if the fallen leaves and rubbish are 

 raked together and burned in autumn. — Clarence M. 

 Weed, in Insects and Insecticides. 



3168. Sowing Huckleberry-Seeds. — Huckleberry- 

 seeds are small and somewhat difficult to grow. They 

 should be washed from the fruit and stored in sand in a 

 cool place until late in winter. They are then sown in 

 pans or flats on the surface of a soil made of equal parts 

 of sand and loam. Cover with fine sphagnum and keep 

 in a coolhouse or frame, always keeping the seeds moist. 

 Seeds treated in this way may be expected to germinate 

 in a month or two, although they may lie dormant a 

 year. Transplant the young plants frequently, and keep 

 them shaded until they are large enough to shift for 

 themselves. — L. II. Bailey, in the N^m-sery-Booh. 



3170. Verbenas and Zonals at the South.— Mulch 

 the soil around the verbenas with a good coat of manure, 

 and as the weather grows cold, lay evergreen boughs over 

 the bed. In spring cut back the old tops to within a few in- 

 ches of the root, and they will soon break into fine growth. 

 Zonal geraniums, although they are the finest of bed- 

 ding plants north of the Potomac, are about the poorest 

 and most unsatisfactory of bedding plants in this climate. 

 Our deluges of rain, when it rains at all, spoil their 

 bloom, and our suns burn their foliage off. We have 

 bedded them outdoors this year we think for the las't 

 time. As pot-plants on stands in sheltered porticos they 

 grow and blossom finely, but don't bed them out in the 

 southern Atlantic states.— W.m. F. Massey. 



