One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 28

Licorice Growing in California.

I have for some time been seeking far some information as to the method of preparation for market and sale of licorice roots. I have a lot of them and have never been able to find a market, and do not know how they are prepared for market.

Licorice was first planted in California about 1880 by the late Isaac Lea, of Florin, Sacramento county. Mr. Lea grew a considerable amount of licorice roots and gave much effort to finding a market for it. He found that the local consumption of licorice root was too small to warrant growing it as a crop; that the high price of labor in digging the roots, and the high cost of transportation of the roots to Eastern markets would make it impossible for him to undertake compet.i.tion in the Eastern markets with the Sicilian producers, unless, perhaps, he could build an extracting factory and market licorice extract, the black solid which is sold by the druggist, and which the Sicilians produce in large quant.i.ties. The preparation of licorice root is simply digging and drying, but the preparation of the extract requires steam extractors and condensers. California could produce licorice, for we have a good climate for it. If it is grown on light, sandy loams, it could be pulled from the ground by the yard at rather small expense, and yet, one should not undertake the production unless he wished to put in much time and money in working up economical production and marketing in compet.i.tion with the foreign product, produced by cheap labor and with the advantage of processes well known and established by long usage. Experiments should be circ.u.mspectly undertaken, for licorice is one of the worst weeds in the world, and extremely difficult of eradication probably.

Growing Lentils.

Give information regarding the planting and raising of lentils. Can they be grown in the Sacramento valley in the vicinity of Colusa, and at a profit?

Lentils are as easily grown in California as common peas, and will do well as a field crop if started during the rainy season, as they are hardy enough to survive our ordinary valley frosts. With respect to lentils, it may be said that excellent as these legumes are for many purposes, they do not seem to be well known to American consumers, and therefore the amount to be grown is limited, until you know who will buy larger quant.i.ties of them at a good price.

Canada Peas for Seed.

I want to raise Canada peas for the seed. In what month of the year is the best time to plant them; also how many pounds to the acre to be sowed broadcast on rolling land in Napa?

Broadcast from 80 to 100 pounds of seed per acre as soon as you can get the ground into good condition. What you get will depend much upon how late spring rains hold this year. We should only try a small area this year to see what happens, for you probably should have started earlier in the season. On uplands it will always be a question whether your soil will hold moisture enough to mature a good seed crop.

Growing Niles Peas.

How shall I plant and handle a crop of Niles peas?

Niles peas are hardy and will make a good crop on any good soil, if planted early in the season so as to make the main part of their growth before the heat of the summer comes on. Under garden conditions they can, of course, be grown all summer.

Transplanting Lettuce.

I have lettuce plants that have been transplanted to head. Occasionally I find a head that has withered away and upon examining it find it rotted away at the stem. Can you suggest a remedy for it?

Your lettuce plants are destroyed by the "damping, off" fungus. It would be preventable by reducing the amount of moisture until the transplanted plant had opportunity to re-establish itself in the soil and thus come into condition to take water. The chance of it could also be reduced by using a certain amount of sand in connection with the soil, unless it is already very sandy, and by a shallow covering of sand on the surface around the plants after they are reset, in order to prevent too great acc.u.mulation of moisture.

Handling Winter Melons.

Give particulars regarding harvesting, storaging, and s.h.i.+pment of winter melons. How do you harvest and pack them for distant market?

There is no particular system in the handling of winter melons. They are gathered into piles on ground where water will not gather and covered with the trash of the vines on which they grow. They will keep for months in this way, as our autumn temperatures do not freeze them. Other growers collect them in open sheds shaded from sun and rain, and still others put them into barns or shallow cellars under buildings, etc. The melons are very durable and seem disposed to keep in any old way. The melons are s.h.i.+pped in large packing cases with slat sides, or in the smaller slat crates that are used for summer cantaloupes. No packing is used, generally. If it seemed necessary, a little clean straw would be sufficient.

Ripe Melons.

How can I tell when a watermelon is fully ripe? What is the method used by growers in picking for commercial s.h.i.+pping?

Gently press the sides of a melon and if it crackles a little bit, all right; if it makes no sound then go to another. Commercial pickers look at the little spiral between the melon and the nearest leaf. If it is withered they pick the melon, if fresh, pa.s.s it until next picking.

Growing Onion Seed and Sets.

Will you give localities of the leading production of onion seed or dry sets in your State?

Onion seed is grown in several parts of the State, largely in the Santa Clara valley adjacent to the city of San Jose. Onion sets are largely produced in Orange county, near Los Angeles, for eastern s.h.i.+pment, for which purpose they are grown under contract.

Ripening Onions.

I am raising some onions from bottom sets and as they are growing nicely and are beginning to swell at the bulb some advise me to cut the tops off and some advise me to bend them over or tramp them down.

Do not cut off the tops of the onions. If they seem to be overgrowing and not disposed to ripen the bulb, the top can be broken down, thus partly arresting the vegetative energy of the plant and causing maturity.

Onions from Sets.

Will onion sets planted in July grow and mature in the fall months?

Good onion sets grown during the winter and spring should be mature by July and if planted after drying would proceed to make a full growth of large onions if growing conditions should be right for them; that is, the soil moist and the temperature not too high.