LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. 
CABBAGE MAGGOTS. 
Marietta, Pa., May 27, 1884. 
Mr. I. F. Tillinghast: Dear Sir, We planted, 
this spring, a large lot of cabbage, and for the 
past week or two the maggots have been destroy¬ 
ing them by the hundred. Is there any remedy f 
Can anything be done to destroy them at this 
time ? An early reply will greatly oblige, 
Yours Truly, H. M. Engle & Son. 
Answer: As you may know, from reading 
our “Manual of Vegetable Plants,” we have 
much more faith in preventives than in remedies. 
For reasons fully explained in that work, we are 
now seldom troubled v*ith this pest. If we had 
plants upon which they were working, we sh uld 
try a handful of the strongest wood ashes around 
the stem of each plant. We believe it. wili de¬ 
stroy the worms and help the plant. 
BRIGHT PROSPECTS. 
Greenwood, N. Y., May 19 1884. 
Mr. Tillinghast: Dear Sir, I received the seeds 
you sent me on May 2d, and I sowed them the 
next day. My plants are up and are doing fine. 
I will have good sale for seeds here next season, 
for the seeds I got of you all grew, while the 
seeds at the stores nearly all failed. I am thank¬ 
ful for that book you sent me on plant growing, 
and also for the privilege of being your agent in 
this town. I will do the best I can for you. 
Yours Respectfully, W. Vanscoter. 
IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETIES. 
Ann Arbor, Mich., May 19, 1884. 
Isaac F. Tillinghast: Dear Sir, I am making 
something of a study of the causes of improve¬ 
ment in cultivated plants, thinking that if the 
circumstances of the origin of improved varieties 
were gathered and compared, they might aid in 
further improvements. If you can give me any 
items on the following points, or any others you 
have in mind, I shall be greatly obliged. 
1. What do you think of crossing as a means 
of improving varieties? 
2. Are sports or chance improvements gener¬ 
ally as permanent as those derived from contin¬ 
ued selection ? 
3. Do you consider a change of soil or climate 
in itself beneficial ? 
4. Any facts on the origin of any variety. 
5. The influence of climate. Are changes 
produced by climate permanent uuder former 
conditions ? For example: Corn in a cold cli¬ 
mate becomes dwarf and early. Can such seed 
be used farther south as well as early sorts de¬ 
veloped there ? 
6. Would you like me to write again on this 
subject ? Yours Respectfully, 
A. A. Crozier. 
PERSEVERANCE WILL WIN. 
Isaac F. Tillinghast: Sir, The seeds sent to 
Agent No. 56, came to hand too late for early 
Cabbage, though I went immedately to work and 
sowed some of the “Winnigstadt,” as much for 
experimenting as any thing else, for it was then 
time they were up, and several of my neighbors 
had plants under canvass ready to set out. 
However mine are ready now, and every one 
remarks “Aren’t they nice plants! how do you 
manage to keep the bugs off?” I sold 300 plants 
yesterday and have others engaged, which is 
much better than I expected to do with the early 
plants. I think I will find ready sale for late 
ones. Am having the circulars posted which 
were received last week. My friends all tell me 
I am “bound to be successful.” If I con make 
enough this season to get a drill, I will feel amply 
repaid for my work, and begin work in earnest 
next ytar. But to business! How shall I ar¬ 
range plants so as to be carried safely by mail, 
also .on horseback, ten, twelve, or twenty miles? 
Please answer soon as possible. My seeds came 
so late I thought it best to devote my time to 
cabbage plants only; it was also too late to send 
any orders for seeds. Hope to do better in the 
future. Am I not entitled to a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion to Seed-Time and Harvest? 
Respectfully, Mrs. Flintoff. 
Answer: The postage is so heavy on good 
large stocky plants that there is but little profit 
in mailing them. We pack them in light wood¬ 
en boxes m damp moss, and can send safely for 
very long distances. Hope your local sales will 
enable you to get the drill. If they will not, you 
must be in a poorer country for selling than we 
imagine. It is our intention to send Seed-Time 
and HARVE&t to every customer who buy over 
One Dollar’s worth of seeds of us during the 
year. 
Answer; 1. This depends upon the character 
of the improvement desired. For example: The 
Egyptian sweet corn is a most excellent variety 
in many respects, but is very late. We have no 
doubt that many of its good features may be re¬ 
tained, and an improvement made in its earliness 
by crossing it with some good very early variety. 
To do this without trouble we should plant a 
small square plot of Egyptian as early as possi¬ 
ble, leaving one row through the middle vacant. 
In this vacant row w T e should plant the early 
variety, beginning a week after planting the 
Egyptian, and planting a few hills at intervals 
