Part III. Grains and Forage Crops (continued 2)

Variation in Russian Sunflowers.

In an acre of mammoth Russian sunflowers there seems to be three varieties, some of the plants bear but one large flower; others bear a flower at the top with many other smaller ones circling it, while others have long stalks just above the leaf stems from the ground level all the way up to the largest flower, which appears at the very top. Are all these varieties true mammoth Russian sunflowers? What explanation is there for these variations? Will the seed from the variety carrying but one natural head produce seed that will reproduce true to the parent?

Your sunflowers are probably only playing the pranks their grandfathers enjoyed. If seed is gathered indiscriminately from all the heads which appear in the crop, succeeding generations will keep reverting until they return to the wild type, or something near it. If there is a clear idea of what is the best type (one great head or several heads, placed in a certain way) and seed is continually taken from such plants only for planting, more and more plants will be of this kind until the type becomes fixed and reversions will only rarely appear. No seed should be kept for planting without selecting it from what you consider the best type of plant; no field should be grown for commercial seed without rogue-ing out the plants which show reversions or bad variations. If you find sunflowers profitable as a crop in your locality, rigid selection of seed should be practiced by all growers, after careful comparison of views and a decision as to the best characters to select for.

Sacaline.

My attention has been brought to a plant called Sacaline by an Eastern plant dealer. He states that this plant will grow in any kind of soil and needs practically no water.

The plant Sacaline (Polygonum saghalience) was introduced to California as a dry-land forage plant about 1893, and has never demonstrated any particular forage value. It is a browsing shrub, making woody stem, and cattle will eat it readily when not provided with better food. It has possible value on waste land, but probably is in no sense superior to the native shrubs of California which serve that purpose. It is a handsome ornamental plant for gardens or parks.

Mossy Lawns.

What will destroy patches of moss which are spreading over our lawns and apparently destroying the grass?

More sunlight would have a tendency to discourage the growth of moss on a lawn. If this is not feasible, irrigation less frequently but a more thorough soaking each time will give the surface a better chance to dry off, and moss will not grow on a dry surface. The frequent spraying of a lawn with just enough water to keep the surface moist and not enough water to penetrate deeply will tend to the growing of moss and to less vigor in the growth of the grass, A good soaking of the soil once a week is better than daily sprinkling, but, of course, very much more water must be used when you only sprinkle at long intervals. The drying of the surface may be assisted by sprinkling with air-slaked lime and this will discourage the growth of moss, but of course lime must not be used in excess or it will also injure the grass.

Scattering Grass Seeds.

We live on the west side of Sonoma valley, and want to seed some of our fields with a good wild grass. We want to carry bags of it in our pockets to scatter when we ride. Timothy we should like, but this is not its habitat, is it? Can you suggest a grass or grasses that would do well here?

There are really wild grasses worthy of multiplication, but no one makes a business of collecting the seed for sale, so that such seeds are not available for such purpose as you describe. Of the introduced grasses, those which are most likely to catch from early scattered seed are Australian and Italian rye grasses, orchard grass, wild oat grass and red top. You can get seed of all these from dealers in any quantity which you desire at from 15 to 30 cents a pound, according to the variety, and make a mixture of equal parts of each grass, which you can carry and scatter as you propose. Some of them will catch somewhere, particularly in spots where the shade modifies the summer heat and where seepage moisture reduces soil drought. You are right about timothy; it is good farther up the coast and in the mountain valleys, but not in your district.

Poultry Forage.

I have light sandy loam on which I desire to grow forage for chickens. It lies too high for irrigation.

You could probably grow alfalfa to advantage if the soil still deep and loose, getting less, of course, than by irrigation, but still an amount that would be very helpful in your chicken business. Otherwise, as the land lies higher and perhaps out of sharp frosts, you could grow winter crops of vetches and peas and thus improve the land while furnishing you additional poultry pasture. The latter purpose could also be served by growing beets, cabbage or other hardy vegetables during the rainy season. This is prescribed because of the apprehension that the soil may not contain moisture enough for summer cropping without irrigation.

No Grain Elevators in California.

Is California wheat shipped in bulk or in bags at the present time?

There are no elevators in this State, owing to the fact that hitherto grain cargoes have been acceptable to ship only as sacked grain, because of claimed danger of shifting cargo and disaster during the long voyage around the Horn. A novel by Frank Norris, entitled the "Octopus," describes a man being killed by smothering in a grain elevator at Port Costa, but there never was an elevator at that point, and consequently there never was a man killed by getting under the spout thereof. Answering specifically your question, California grain is shipped in bags and not in bulk. It is handled in sacks from the separator to roadside or riverside storage, to the loading point into the ships and out of the ships on the other side - still in bags.

New Zealand Flax.

Give information about Phormiun tenax (New Zealand flax), which I see is imported to San Francisco in large quantities yearly for making cordage and binder twine, and is said also to be the best of bee pasture. Can I get the plants on the coast, and is California soil and climate adapted to the culture?

New Zealand flax grows admirably in the coast region of California. You will find it in nearly all the public parks and in private gardens, for it is a very ornamental perennial. Plants can be had in any quantity from the California nurserymen and florists. It produces plenty of leaves, but we should doubt whether it is floriferous enough for bee pasturage except where it occurs wild over a large acreage. You could get vastly more honey from other plants grown for that purpose.

No Home-made Beet Sugar.

Is there any simple process of making sugar from beets so that I could make my own sugar at home from my own beets while sugar is so very expensive to buy?

There is no simple way of making beet sugar. It can only be economically done in factories costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Don't Get Crazy About Special Crops.

I want information about flax as a crop. I have been having some land graded for alfalfa and I have had to wait so long I am now doubting the advisability of seeding it all under these conditions until fall, as hot weather will soon come. I want some good crop to plant in the checks and give two good irrigations. What would you think about rye for straw for horse collars? I do not wish to consider corn, as the stalks would be troublesome. Potatoes would necessitate disarranging the land too much and would require more attention than I am in shape to give just flow. Everybody grows wheat, barley and oats. I want something that I can get a special market for.

To succeed with flax, the seed ought to be sown in the fall, or early winter, in California, and the plant will make satisfactory growth under about the same conditions that suit barley or wheat. Spring sowing would not give you anything worth while except on moist bottom land. Rye is also a winter-growing grain. To grow rye straw for horse collars would be unprofitable unless you could find some local saddler who could use a little, and it is probable you could not get a summer growth of rye which would give good straw, even if you had a market for it. You could get a growth of stock beets, field squashes, or pumpkins for stock feeding. In fact, the latter would give you most satisfaction if you have stock to which they can be fed to advantage. Sorghum is our chief dry-season crop, but that makes stalks like corn and would, therefore, be open to the same objections. Has it never occurred to you that people grow the common crops, not because they are stupid, but because those are the things for which there is a constant demand and the best chance for profitable sale? Efforts to supply special markets are worth thinking of, but seldom worth making unless you know just who is going to buy the product and at what price.

California Insect Powder.

What part of the plant is used in making insect powder and how is it prepared? Is the plant a perennial? What soil suits it best?

The plant is Pyrethrum cinerariaefolium and has a white blossom resembling the common marguerite. The powder is made of the petals and the seed capsules or heads are thoroughly dried in the sun and ground with a run of stone such as was formerly used for making flour. The powder must be finely ground, and only good powder can be made in a mill suitably equipped for that purpose. The plant is a perennial, beginning to bloom the second year from seed. It will grow in any good soil with ordinary cultivation. Twenty-five years ago it was thought that a great California industry might be established on that basis, but there is at the present time but one establishment, which grows about all the material it can use on its own ranch in Merced county, on a fine, deep loam which the plant seems to enjoy.

Rotations for California.

I wish to work out a practical system of crop rotation suitable to the climate and conditions obtaining in southern California. Would you recommend different systems for grain lands and irrigated lands?

General schemes of rotation are hard to work out in California. They must be locally revised according to the local temperature conditions and the local market also. We should endeavor to find out what has been successfully grown on similar lands to those which you have in mind and arrange the rotation on that basis, from what we knew of the relation of the different plants to soil fertility, etc. You cannot make out a satisfactory local scheme for the seven counties in southern California, because of the widely different behavior of the separate plants in the different parts of the district. You can hardly work on the basis of soil character: moisture supply and temperatures are more determinative. Surely you should make a scheme for irrigated land different from that for dry land, and it could not only be a longer rotation, but many more plants would be available for its service.

Berseem?

Berseem has been introduced into this country from Egypt, and would like to know if it has been used in California, and if it has came up to expectations.

Berseem is an annual clover supposed to grow only during the summer time. It has been tried widely in California, but practically abandoned because it will not grow during the rainy season. It is in no way comparable to alfalfa, which is a deep rooted perennial plant, nor would it be comparable with burr clover as a winter grower on lands which have a moderate amount of water.

Heating and Fermentation.

Please explain why dampness will cause anything like hay, Egyptian corn or other like products to heat.

Heating is due to fermentation, which means the action upon the vegetable substance of germs which begin to grow and multiply after their kind whenever conditions favor them. The earlier stages of this action is called "sweating," and it is beneficial as in the case of hay, tobacco, dried fruits, etc., as is commonly recognized - resulting in what is known as curing - and it is the art of the handler of such products not to allow the action to go beyond what may be called the normal "sweating." If not checked by proper handling, which involves drying, cooling, etc., fermentation will continue, and other germs will find conditions suitable for them to take up their work of destruction, and this new action produces higher temperature still, and if not checked by cooling or drying or otherwise making the substance inhospitable to them, "heating" will result, and thence onward rapidly to decay, if they have everything their own way.

Moonshine Farming.

What influence, if any, has the moon on plant growth? Are there any reliable data of experiments available?

Very prolonged investigation by the Weather Bureau determined that no difference was found in planting in different phases of the moon. If we paid any attention to it, we should plant in the dark of the moon, so as to get the plants up so that they could use the little more light which the moon gives. It is, however, more important to have the soil right than the moon.