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THE FORCING-BOOK

%it (BartiensCratt femeisf

The Horticulturist's Rulk Book
The Nursery -Book
Plant Breeding
The Forcing -Book
The Pruning -Book
Garden - Making
The Practical Garden -Book
Others m preparation

THE

FORCING-BOOK

A MANUAL

OF THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES

IN GLASS HOUSES

L. H. BAILEY

SIXTH EDITION

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.

1906

AH rights reserved

^13 \ Dn

Set up and electrotyped February, 1897

Reprinted November, 1R9; ; November, 1899

July, 1901, June, 1903, January, 1906

Mount l^itnsnnt PrrBS

J. Horace McFarland Company
Harritburg, Pennsylvania

PREFACE.

One of the most interesting and significant evidences
of the abiding expansion of horticultural business is the
evolution of the glass house within the present century.
It is only within the last one or two generations that
the growing of plants in glass houses for the purpose
of selling the product of bloom or of fruit has come
to be important and widespread. The most recent part
of the expansion, at least in this country, is the com-
mercial growing of winter vegetables. It speaks well
for the prosperity and refinement of our people when
they are willing and able to purchase freely of the
delicacies of the winter garden. This is one of those
branches of agriculture which demands the nicest skill
and the closest fellowship with plants. It is, therefore,
one in which comparatively few people are fitted to
engage, but it must, from the very force of civilization,
be one of those occupations which shall gain impetus
with time. If it is a business which demands much
care and pains, then its promoters must be students.
They will need helps. It is this thought which has
produced this book.

The writer must hasten to say — what the attentive
reader will soon discover — that he cannot consider
himself to be an authority upon the subject. It has
happened that he has been associated with considerable

^ * e: ociir^3

PREFACE.

experimental work in the forcing of vegetables during
the past few years, and he has endeavored to see
much of the forcing industry of the country. In this
time there has been a great accumulation of informa-
tion and of notes which, since there is no adequate
literature upon the subject, he has now set down in
these pages. The book has been written for the com-
mercial grower of winter vegetables, but the writer will
be glad if it shall lead anyone to make the effort to
grow the vegetables for his own table. The very ob-
stacles which one must overcome make the effort all
the more worth the while ; and the satisfaction of
growing a garden when the snow lies deep against the
house is of the keenest and most unselfish kind.

The American writing upon vegetable-forcing is very
recent. I have referred to most of it at various places
in the text. It only remains to say that the basis of
much of this book is the series of publications from
the Cornell Experiment Station ; and it is justice that
I add a list of these papers. This list will also aid
the student in tracing the bibliography of the literature
of the forcing of plants. The Cornell bulletins upon
the forcing of vegetables in glass houses (some of
which are permanently out of print) are these : No. 28,
Experiments in the Forcing of Tomatoes, June, 1891 ;
No. 30, Some Preliminary Studies of the Influence of
the Electric Arc Light upon Greenhouse Plants, August,
1891 ; No. 31, Forcing of English Cucumbers, Septem-
ber, 1 891 ; No. 41, On the Comparative Merits of Steam
and Hot Water for Greenhouse Heating, August, 1892 ;
No. 42, Second Report upon Electro-Horticulture, Sep-
(vi)

PREFACE.

tember, 1892 ; No. 43, Some Troubles of Winter To-
matoes, September, 1892 ; No. 53, CEdema of the To-
mato, May, 1893 ; No. 55, Greenhouse Notes (Third
Report upon Electro-Horticulture, Winter Cauliflowers,
Second Report upon Steam and Hot Water Heating),
July, 1893 ; No. 94, Damping-Off, May, 1895 ; No. 95,
Winter Muskmelons, June, 1895 ; No. 96, Forcing-House
Miscellanies (Remarks upon the Heating of Forcing-
Houses, Lettuce, Celery Under Glass, Cress in Winter,
Forcing Eggplants, Winter Peas, Bees in Greenhouses,
Methods of Controlling Greenhouse Pests by Fumiga-
tion, Treatment of Carnation Rust), June, 1895.

Whilst this manual discusses only the forcing of
kitchen-garden vegetables, the essential principles which
are set forth apply with almost equal directness to the
forcing of plants for their bloom. It should be added,
also, that it is the purpose of the book to treat only
those crops which are raised to maturity in glass houses,
so that the starting of plants for setting in the open,
and all questions of hotbeds and coldframes, ar*
omitted.

Iv. H. BAILEY.

Ithaca, N. Y., January i, 1897^

^,vii)

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Introductory Suggestions i to 15

General Remarks i

Specific Remarks 4

The Category of Forcing Crops 4

Locations for Vegetable Forcing 8

Cost of Heat and Labor 9

CHAPTER II.

Construction of the Forcing-House .... 16 to 48

Types and Forms of Houses 16

Some of the Structural Details 24

The Frame 24

The Sash-bar 29

The Plate 30

The Gutter 33

Walls 33

Ventilators 35

The Glass and Glazing 36

Beds and Benches 40

Heating 40

Steam and Hot Water 40

Piping 43

Flues and Stoves 46

Cost of Forcing-houses 46

(ix)

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

PAGE

Management of the Forcing-House . . . . 49 to 92

Temperatures for the Various Crops 49

Soils for Forced Vegetables 50

The Question of Fertilizers 52

The Connecticut Experiments with Tomatoes . 53
The Connecticut Experiments with Lettuce . . 61

On the Use of Fresh Stable Manure 62

Watering 65

Watering by Sub-irrigation 68

Construction of Beds and Benches for Sub-
irrigation ... 69

Experiments with Lettuce and Other Plants . 72

Conclusions 77

Ventilating and Shading 78

The Electric Light for Forcing-houses . . . . 80

Pollination . 81

Insects and Diseases 83

Methods of Controlling Greenhouse Pests by
Fumigation 86 to 92

CHAPTER IV.

Lettuce 93 to 107

Temperature 94

Light ' 94

Beds and Benches 94

Soils 96

Growing in Pots 99

Sowing and Transplanting loi

A Grower's Remarks 102

Varieties 104

Enemies and Diseases 104

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER V.

PAGE

Cauliflower io8to 114

Unsuccessful Experiments 108

The Successful Crops 109

Subsequent Experience . . .' 114

CHAPTER VI.

Radish 115 to 126

Cornell Experience 115

Sowing 115

Soil 116

General Management 117

Varieties 120

Washington Experience 121

Houses Adapted to Growing Radishes . . . .121

The Soil 122

Planting the Seed 122

Varieties to Plant 124

Preparing the Crop for Market 124

Approximate Yields per Square Foot . . . .125
Temperature, Moisture, Insects and Diseases . 125
Summary 126

CHAPTER VII.

Asparagus and Rhubarb 127 to 134

Asparagus 130

John Gardner's Method 132

Forcing in Hotbeds 132

Rhubarb 134

CHAPTER VIII.

Miscellaneous Cool Plants 135 to 152

Pea 135

Experiments at Cornell 135

5Cli CONTENTS.

PAGE

Celery 139

Salads, Pot-herbs, and Mints 141

Water-cress 141

Garden Cress 142

Parsley . . . • 142

Spinach 142

Dandelion 143

Mustard 143

Mints 143

Onion 144

Beets, Carrots and Turnips 145

Potato 145

Pepino 146

History and Description of the Pepino . . . 147

CHAPTER IX.

Tomato 153 to 183

The House 153

Soil and Fertilizers 154

Raising the Plants, and Bearing Age 155

Beds, Benches and Boxes 157

Training 160

Watering ^. ...... 161

Pollination 162

Second Crop 166

Yields and Prices 169

Varieties 172

Marketing 174

Animal Parasites 175

Diseases i77

CHAPTER X.

Cucumber 184 to 203

The English Forcing Type of Cucumber 184

General Requirements 186

CONTENTS. Xlll

Cucumber — page

Training i88

Bearing Age 189

Varieties 190

Origin of this Type of Cucumber 192

Pollination — Ill-shaped Fruits 195

Crosses ... 199

Enemies 200

The White Spine Type of Cucumber 201

CHAPTER XL

MUSKMELON 204 to 224

The House 205

The Soil 207

Sowing and Transplanting ... 210

Training 211

Pollinating 214

Varieties 215

Yields and Markets 220

Insects and Diseases 221

CHAPTER XII.

Miscellaneous Warm Plants 225 to 244

Bean 225

Eggplant . 228

Pepper, or Capsicum 238

Cyphomandra 241

CHAPTER XIII.

Summaries of the Management of the Various
Crops 245 to 259

Index . . . . » 260

THE FORCING-BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

GENERAL REMARKS.

The growing of vegetables under glass for the winter
market is one of the most special and difficult of all horti-
cultural operations. It is a more uncertain and perplexing
business than the growing of cut-flowers, because it is newer,
less understood, there are comparatively few varieties of
vegetables particularly adapted to winter forcing, and the
markets are less extensive and more unstable. To succeed
with forced vegetables requires great skill in the manage-
ment of glass houses, close attention to every detail, and
the complete control of all the conditions of plant growth.
To these requirements must be added a thorough knowl-
edge of the markets, and the ability to have the crop
ready at any given time.

No amount of reading or study can make one a success-
ful grower of plants under glass. He must first of all pos-
sess a love for the business, a determination to surmount
all difficulties, and especially the ability and desire to give
personal attention to all the details day by day. Having
these requisites, reading and study will afford him most
efficient aid by way of direction and suggestion. One who
reads horticultural literature should bear in mind the fact
that its value depends very much upon the reader. Instruc-

2 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

tions should suggest lines of work, and should explain and
enforce the fundamental reasons for the various operations ;
but the directions are not to be rigidly and perfunctorily
applied to the particular work in hand. The reader must
check up the printed instructions with his own experiences.

Persons who succeed in the growing of fruits and vege-
tables in the field do not necessarily succeed with crops
under glass. Success out of doors is often the result of
favorable conditions of soil and weather ; but under glass
the grower must not only know the conditions which the
plants require, but he must actually create those conditions.
The skill of the horticulturist lies in his ability to override
difficulties. Leonard Coates, a well-known horticulturist
of California, has recently put this truth into an aphorism :
"Let the conditions be adverse, and his measure of suc-
cess will prove the man."

The person who desires to grow vegetables under glass
for market must, first of all, count up the costs and the risks.
Glass houses are expensive, and they demand constant
attention to repairs. They are short-lived. The humid at-
mosphere and the high temperature engender decay. The
heating is the largest single item of outlay in maintaining
the establishment. Moreover, it is an item upon which it is
impossible to economize by means of reducing the tem-
perature, for a reduction of temperature means delayed
maturity of the crop and, in the case of warmth-loving
plants — like cucumbers, melons and tomatoes — it invites
debility and disease. Labor is the second great item of
expense in maintaining a forcing establishment. This,
however, may be economized if the proprietor is willing
to lengthen his own hours ; but economy which proceeds
so far that each one of the plants does not receive the
very best of care, is ruinous in the end.

The risks in the forcing of vegetables are great. In the
first place, there are risks of accidents, as fire, frosts and
hail. There are risks of serious insect and fungous inva-
sions. But, above all, there are risks arising from lack of

PACKING AND MARKETING. 3

experience and knowledge. One must discover the knack
of ventilating, watering, heating and training adapted to
every crop, and this can be learned only by patient work
and study. Every failure should stimulate inquiry, and the
operator should not rest until he has ascertained its cause.

It is imperative that the person who desires to grow
vegetables under glass should begin in a small way. Let
him begin with a small house — say 20 by 60 feet — and
gradually feel his way, both in the growing of the plants
and in the marketing of the product. If he is successful in
a small house, he need have no hesitation in extending his
area, for it is easier to control the conditions of temper-
ature and moisture in a large establishment than in a
small one.

As a rule, in all those industries in which a very supe-
rior product is to be obtained, and in which the risks are
great, the rewards are good to those who succeed. Good
winter vegetables, placed attractively upon the market at
timely occasions, are sure of ready sales. Quite as many
persons fail to market their products successfully as to
grow them well. A forced vegetable is a luxury. It is a
special product. Its sale depends, therefore, very much
upon its beauty and attractiveness. Every tomato and
melon should be neatly wrapped in clean, thin paper, and
if each wrapper bear the name and address of the grower,
so much the better. Great care must be taken to pack the
product so that it shall not wilt, nor be touched by frost,
nor bruised or soiled in transit. In short, the product must
be dainty.

In general, it may be said that the common open market
is rarely profitable for winter-forced vegetables, unless they
are grown upon such a large scale that the grower controls
the market, rather than the market the grower. The person
who desires to make money from these crops should secure
special markets for them, either by placing them directly in
the families of the consumers, or consigning them to dealers
who have a particular or fancy trade in such products. The

4 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

choicer and rarer the product, the greater should be the
care in finding a market for it. Common things are not
worth great effort in the marketing, but uncommon things
are worth nothing less than such effort.

A dealer in hothouse vegetables in New York writes that
"most all forced vegetables bring good prices in winter,
but they must be packed and shipped in first-class order.
A good many people raise fine vegetables in winter, but
they do not understand the packing, and the products are
spoiled in shipping." The average prices of forced vege-
tables in the New York market for the winter of 1895-6
are given me by this dealer, as follows :

Dec. Jan. Feb,

Lettuce per doz. . Jo 63 $0 50 $0 50

Cucumbers (forcing

type) per doz. . i 50 2 00 2 50

Peppers . . . per crate (i bus.) . |2 00 to 3 00 3 50 2 50

Beans .... per crate (i bus.) . 2 00 $3 00 to 5 00 4 50

Tomatoes per lb. . 15 to 20 25 20 to 30

Beans, in bundles of 40 10 to 20 through the winter.

"Chicory, escarole and romain salads generally bring
good prices in winter."*

SPECIFIC REMARKS. •

The category of forcing crops.— The vegetables which
are forced to edible maturity under glass are conveniently
distributed into two groups, — the "cool" plants, and the
"warm" plants.

The cool plants are such as thrive best in a night tem-

* These three plants are not properly forced vegetables in the sense of
being grown in glasshouses, and are, therefore, not included in this book.
They are grown in late fall, and are bleached in cellars or in frames ; or,
in the case of chicory, the roots (raised from spring-sown seeds) are dug
in the fall and stored in a dark cellar, where the leaves soon start. The
chicory may also be grown under benches much like asparagus, if it is kept
dark in order to bleach it. Escarole is bleached endive. Romain salad is
winter Cos lettuce. Sea-kale is often forced in frames after the manner of
asparagus, and it might be managed in the forcing-house if necessary.

LIST OF FORCING CROPS. 5

perature of 55° or below, and a day temperature of 65° to
70°. The plants of this category are :

Lettuce,

Asparagus,

Rhubarb,

CauHflower,

Pea,

Carrot,

Beet,

Radish,

Cress, mustard, mints, parsley,

Onion,

Spinach,

Celery, ,

Pepino.

The warm plants demand a night temperature above 55°,
and the day temperature may run above 75° when the
weather is clear and bright. They are :

Tomato,

Eggplant,

Pepper,

Cucumber,

Muskmelon,

Bean,

Cyphomandra.

The above categories comprise about all the species of
vegetables which are actually forced for market in this
country, and even of this short list there are a number for
which the market is so limited, or the methods of grow-
ing them so little understood, that they really have no
place in the staple demands of the market. Vegetables of
very minor importance as a forced crop are peas, carrots,
beets, cress, celery, eggplant, and pepper. In fact, there
are only three staple commercial forced vegetables, and
these, in the order of their commercial importance, are
lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

O INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

It is possible to grow any vegetable under glass, but it
is only those products of a perishable nature which can be
expected to yield any degree of profit. Those, also, which
require a very long season in which to mature, and which
yield a small amount of product — such as beets, car-
rots, spinach, peas — are of little importance for forcing.
The Lima beans require a too long season, and they
are chiefly consumed in the dry state ; but the com-
mon "string" beans are a good forcing crop. There
are special reasons why some other vegetables are not
forced with profit. Cauliflower, for example, is a most
satisfactory crop to grow under glass, but the best heads
of the late fall crop are so easily kept through the winter in
cold storage as to almost despoil the market for the forced
product. Spinach was once forced in cheap houses and in
hotbeds and coldframes, but the southern-grown spinach
now reaches the market in perfect condition from the holi-
days until spring. Radishes are more popular in spring
than in midwinter but the demand for them in early
spring is met more by hotbed-grown roots than by a house-
grown product. The forcing of celery is practically un-
known, having been made a success, apparently, only in
an experimental way. Eggplants require a long season
and much heat and care, and the demand for them is slight
in winter. The regular season of the vegetable is long,
beginning with those from the Gulf states and ending with
the October and even November fruits of the north. The
pepino is little known, either to growers or to the market.
Winter peppers — used for the making of "stuffed pep-
pers"— are in limited demand, and they are readily shipped
in from the south. Winter muskmelons are an exceed-
ingly fancy product, and very difficult to grow with good
flavor, so the price must be very high to enable them to
yield a profit. Squashes and marrows can be grown in
glass houses, but the plants require much room, and the
product has small commercial value.

The near future will no doubt see many new departures

DEMAND FOR FORCED VEGETABLES. 7

in the forcing of vegetables. The demand for forced beans
is already fairly good, and is undoubtedly destined to in-
crease. The other minor forcing crops which are probably
destined to receive greater attention are celery, asparagus,
rhubarb, muskmelon ; and there may be others which we do
not now conceive of as forcing crops. With the increase
of population and the augmentation of the appetite for
luxuries in the dietary, the forcing of vegetables is bound
to become an industry of great importance. It is yet in its
merest infancy. It has practically all arisen, in this country,
in twenty years, yet the demand for information respecting
it, in the Eastern states, is even now very earnest and wide-
spread. There is a constant tendency for consumers to
prefer a forced home-grown product to a transported and
exotic one. The forced tomatoes generally sell well in
the very presence of the cheaper product shipped in from
Florida. The best consumers desire the product at first
hand from the plant, and they enjoy the sentiment which
is attached to the forcing of a plant into the pink of perfec-
tion in the very teeth of blizzards. Whilst the author does
not desire to urge anyone into the forcing of vegetables,
he is nevertheless convinced that the business is bound to
open up great possibilities in the future.

It is generally best to devote an entire house to one kind
of crop, for every crop demands a particular treatment to
insure the most profitable results. Yet it is often advisable
to grow an alternation or rotation of crops, in order to
employ the house to best advantage, and to meet the re-
quirements of the markets. Houses which are too cold for
winter crops of tomatoes or cucumbers may be devoted to
lettuce or other cool crops during the cold months, and to
the warm crops in early spring and summer. Two crops of
lettuce during the winter may be followed by the White
Spine type of cucumber for spring and early summer.
Winter tomatoes may often be followed advantageously by
cucumbers or preceded by late fall melons. Vegetables are
often alternated with flowers or with plant stock. In the

8 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

famous "carnation belt" of Chester county, Pennsylvania,
tomatoes are largely grown as an early spring crop, fol-
lowing the crops of carnation cuttings.

Locations for vegetable forcing. — The items which
chiefly enter into the choice of an ideal location for the
forcing of vegetables are the transportation facilities and
the price of fuel. The operator makes his climate, and
mixes his soils to order. Yet a sunny climate is always to
be preferred, for it is essential to quick and sure results in
midwinter that there be an abundance of direct sunlight.
The severity of the climate as respects cold is a very minor
factor, for the operator is able, in the construction and pro-
tection of his house, to make himself very largely indepen-
dent of the outside temperature without great additional
consumption of fuel. Whilst the gardener manufactures
his soil, so to speak, yet in certain crops (as in heading
lettuce) it is very important that the soil of the neighbor-
hood should be free of hard clay.

The transportation facilities are all-important. The pro-
duct must reach the market expeditiously, and there should
be direct access to several good markets. The product
is not bulky, and the expense of shipping it is not heavy.
Distance from market, therefore, is a less important factor
than frequent and expeditious means of shipping. If one
has a large product to ship, the actual distance from market
is of still less moment, for the gardener can secure con-
cessions on transportation rates ; but it is nevertheless
important that the market be directly accessible. Many
of the large vegetable forcers ship their products two and
three hundred miles. All winter products are shipped
by express.

The vegetable forcing establishments are widely scat-
tered. The larger part of them are in the environs of the
large cities of the east, but many of them are in small cities
or villages several hours removed from the markets. They
can often be established with profit upon farms which are
near one or more good railway stations, and when the

EXPENSE OF HEATING AND LABOR. Q

farmer desires employment for the winter months. Many
of the smaller cities — even of twenty thousand and less —
afford a ready market for a considerable quantity of lettuce,
tomatoes and cucumbers, making it necessary to ship only
a comparatively small surplus to distant markets. A
home and personal market is always to be preferred to a
distant or metropolitan one.

Cost of heat and labor. — The two important items of
expense in the management of a forcing structure, as al-
ready said, are the heating and the labor. It is impossible
to give any exact estimates of the necessary outlay for
these items, because these expenses are most intimately
associated with the exposure, tightness, efficiency of the
heating apparatus, and handiness of each particular house.
A single glass house, standing alone, is more expensive to
heat than the same house in a range or nest of houses.
In central New York, where the winters are long and
severe, a detached house, 20 x 100 ft. in ground area,
will generally require, for a tomato-forcing temperature,
from 15 to 20 tons of coal for the year, whether heated by
steam or hot water. For a lettuce-forcing temperature,
one-third less coal is usually sufficient.

A good workman, who is acquainted with the business,
should be able to do all the work of growing tomatoes,
except the firing, in two houses 20 x100 ft. of ground sur-
face. In lettuce-forcing, one man will handle four times as
great an area after the plants are transplanted. These
estimates assume that the houses are convenient, with
facilities for watering with a hose. The larger the estab-
lishment, the less proportionate help does it require, if the
houses are so arranged that the workmen are not required
to walk more than 50 or 60 feet from any given point to
reach an opening into another house, and if they are not
obliged to pass back and forth out of doors while at their
work. It is, therefore, evident that for economy in both
heating and labor, a range of two or more parallel houses
is more satisfactory than a single house or than several

10 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

detached houses. When, however, each house is large
enough to completely employ the labor of one or two men,
the advantages of the nesting of the houses is not so great ;
and it may even be better, in such cases, to have the houses
entirely separate, in order to facilitate the hauling of earth
and other supplies into them.

Aside from the labor required to grow the plants, the
operator must figure on the cost of the h-^ating. It is imper-
ative that the temperatures be kept fairly uniform during the
night. In fact, variations of temperature are usually more
hurtful at night than at day. For the best results, every
forcing establishment should have a night man ; but such a
man can not be afforded for a small house. In this case,
the gardener must place his dependence upon the self-regu-
lating devices of the modern heaters ; but even then he will
need to give some attention to his house on very severe
nights. Very much depends upon the faithfulness and
efficiency of the night man. Very often the owner will find
the temperature of the houses to be ideal at bed-time and
at 6 in the morning, while, if he had been astir at 4 o'clock,
he would have found it ten degrees too low. He would, if
he knew the circumstances, cease to wonder why his crops
were slow in growth and always attacked by mildew.

In order to arrive at .actual expenditures for heat and
labor, I have asked a few of my friends and correspon-
dents— all wide-awake commercial growers — to give me
their judgment upon the quantity of coal required to heat
for one year a rose house of modern construction, 20 x 100
feet ground surface, even span, 10 ft. high at the ridge. I
also asked, "About how large an establishment does it
require, in roses or winter tomatoes, to keep one good
workman busy during the forcing season, in watering, ven-
tilating, training, picking the product, etc. (not attending
to the firing)?" The answers to these questions are
given below. Where the size of the house is not speci-
fied, it is understood to be 20 x 100 ft., as stated in the
problem.

expenses for heat and labor. ii

Ontario —

1. I have two tomato houses, each 20x200 ft., 13 ft.
high at the ridge, heated with steam, I used last year no
tons of anthracite coal.

One good man will attend to one house 20 x200 ft., in
the spring. In the winter, the man and a boy can thor-
oughly care for two such houses.

Massachusetts —

2. For roses, using hot water, it takes about 18 tons of
coal for the year.

One man will care for two to three houses, if he is
active and thorough, and keeps them clean and in first-
class order.

New York —

3. I am heating 500 lineal feet of rose house, 20 ft. wide
and II ft. high, at a cost (last year) of I333. This is about
65 cents per lineal foot. The system is hot water in small
pipes.

For roses, a good man should manage 400 lineal feet
of a house 20 ft. wide.

4. I should estimate 12 tons of coal. This is about my
actual outlay in the winter of 1895-6.

A man should handle 8,000 or 10,000 sq. ft. of glass,
in roses.

5. I have about 15,000 square feet of glass, in ten
houses. I grow roses, carnations, violets, plants, etc.
Four of my own family, including myself, work in the
houses, and I usually keep one man besides. Outside of
my own family, it costs me about $2,000 a year to run
my place, — for coal, help, repairs, water rent, taxes, bulbs,
insurance, lumber for boxes, and all other incidentals.
My houses are in good condition, and I keep the place in
first-class order.

6. I judge that a single rose house 20x100 ft., in this
climate (Mohawk Valley), kept at rose-forcing tempera-
ture, would take about 25 tons of anthracite coal a year.

12 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

In a nest or block of several houses, the heating could
probably be done with 20 tons.

In rose-forcing, a careful and industrious man can take
care of about 10,000 sq. ft. of glass. With a smart boy
for weeding and cleaning up, he could handle 5,000 ft.
more.

7. To keep an average temperature of 60°, for roses, by
steam, would require about 18 tons of hard coal. Much
will depend upon the boiler, the placing of the radiating
surface, and the carefulness of the fireman.

With things conveniently arranged, one smart man
could care for a rose house 20 ft. wide and 250 to 300 ft.
long.

8. I grow violets, and heat with water. I use 60 to 70
tons of hard coal for 15,000 sq. ft. of glass.

Michigan —

9. With coal at I2.75 per ton, and including fireman's
wages, it will cost anywhere from ^75 to I125 per year,
depending upon the efficiency of the boiler and the sever-
ity of the season.

Much depends upon the handiness of the place, and how
neat the proprietor wants to keep his house. For the
most thorough care, one man can manage, of roses, 5,000
to 6,000 sq. ft. of glass.

10. Last season, I used 8^ tons of Hocking Valley
lump coal per 1,000 sq. ft. of glass for roses, and 6% tons
for carnations and violets mixed. I use steam.

If a man is not bothered by visitors he can care for
two rose houses 20 x 125 ft. If this amount of glass were
in four houses, he could not care for it well.

11. If built in a range of say ten houses, heated with
steam, it would require for each house about 18 tons of
soft (lump) coal. In a smaller range, the heating would
cost more.

One good man can care for two such houses ; or if
help is furnished occasionally and no propagating is
done, more glass can be cared for.

expenses for heat and labor. i3

Minnesota—

12. In one season I used 470 tons of Illinois coal (cost-
ing 11,424) in four houses 16x200 ft., four houses 16 x 100
ft., and nine houses 20x90 ft. The next season I added
two houses 35 X 200 ft. each, and then used 850 tons,
costing $3,238. By rearranging the steam pipes, I heated
these same houses the following two winters with 649
tons and 608 tons respectively.

Indiana —

13. I use natural gas, and cannot give figures.

One good man should attend to four such houses, if he
has help for four weeks in planting, etc.

14. A three-fourths span house, 20 ft. wide and 11 ft.
high, in an exposed place, cost us in 1895-6 at the rate of
I89.04 for a house 100 ft. long (coal $2 per ton). We can
reduce this figure somewhat by careful management. An
equal span, 20 ft. wide and 10 ft. high, cost us about
I35.20 per 100 ft. This house is on the sheltered side of
the range. (This correspondent is on the Ohio river.)

One good workman should attend to about five such
houses, in roses.

Illinois-
is. It cost me last winter (1895-6) lor coal, for rose
house 20x100 ft., — as nearly as I can figure the propor-
tion,— $50, with soft coal at $2.30 per ton, and the use of
some slack at 75 cents and $1 per ton. This house is
three-fourths span and 12 ft. high.

In my place, where cut flowers and pot plants are both
handled, and with a retail trade to wait on, it requires
about one man to a house 20 x 100 ft. If I were growing
only roses, I should not need so much help.

Pennsylvania —

16. Such a house in roses here (Philadelphia) would
require about 12 tons of pea coal at I3.25, or 9 tons of
larger size' at $5.50.

An experienced rose grower ought to manage 5,000

14 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS.

sq. ft. of glass. If a variety of stuff is grown, twice the
help is necessary.

17. With hot water, 15 tons egg hard coal.

One good man should give good results in two houses
20 X TOO ft.

18. I burn on an average 200 tons of hard coal per
year to heat ten houses 9X 100 ft., 8 ft. to ridge, and four
houses 21 X 140 ft., 10 ft. to ridge. Temperature at
night, 50° to 60°.

I w^ant one man to each 5,000 sq. ft., if there is little
potting to do.

19. In tomato growing, it costs me about I50 per year
for such a house, with coal at $3.30 per ton.

One spry workman should do the work in two tomato
houses 20 X 100 ft.

20. Two houses 20 x 100 ft. of tomatoes will keep one
man occupied. As usually heated hereabouts ["Carna-
tion belt," Chester county], the firing could be done by
the same person if he is an interested participant in the
crop returns. The tomato ranges are usually two or four
houses heated with hot water circulation, and seldom
require re-coaling during the night.

21. I have had no experience with growing roses. With
carnations I find that it takes about 5 tons (long) coal for
1,000 feet of glass. Some winters rather more, but mostly
less. I find it takes about this, no matter what system of
heating is used (flue or hot water), if used with all care
in both cases. But by using pea coal in our horizontal
tubular boiler we effect a saving in cost, as it takes little
or no more pea coal than it does broken or egg.

In our business it takes about one man to 5,000 sq. ft.
of glass, during the forcing season.
New Jersey —

22. My rose house, 20x80 ft., consumes about 9 or 10
tons of coal yearly.

Two houses, 20 x 100 ft., are enough for one man in rose
growing, and he should have a boy to assist him in busy

EXPENSES FOR HEAT AND LABOR. 15

times. In large establishments, two men working to-
gether can turn off as much as three men working alone
in small establishments.
Kentucky—

23. For ordinary winters (southwestern Kentucky), 250
bus. coal at 10 cents. For severe winters, 350 bus.

One man will care for three such houses.
Washington —

24. To heat a 20 x 150 ft. house, three-fourths span, 10 ft.
high, for tomatoes, will cost here (Seattle) about $50 per
year with 4-ft. fire wood at |i per cord. I use steam.

Two men will take care of the crops and do the firing
for two houses 20x112 ft., one house 52x150 ft., one
house 20x150 ft., and three houses 20x80 ft.

Note.— The reader will find tables for computing the radiating and
grate surfaces in the heating of glasshouses, and other greenhouse
matter, in the last edition of The Horticulturist's Rule-Book.

CHAPTER II.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

It is of the greatest importance that the most particu-
lar attention be given to the construction of the forcing-
house, for it is by means of this structure that the gar-
dener is to make and maintain the climate in which his
crops are to be grown. It is not the purpose of this book,
however, to give a manual of instructions for the building
of glass houses, but it may be advisable to make a few
summary statements respecting some of the features which
are particularly useful to forcing-houses, and then refer the
reader to other treatises for more detailed instruction.*

TYPES AND FORMS OF HOUSES.

Forcing-houses should be of the simplest possible con-
struction. Every feature in their make-up should be char-
acterized by directness. The walks and benches should be
straight and of uniform width. The greatest possible
amount of space should be reserved for the actual grow-
ing of the plants, by making the walks narrow (not more
than two feet in most commercial houses) and by carrying
the heating pipes and construction timbers out of the reach
of the plants to be grown. The side walls of forcing-houses

*The best current American text upon the subject is Taft's "Green-
house Construction," published by the Orange Judd Co. The reader
may also find some suggestions upon these and similar topics in Wink-
ler's "Vegetable Forcing," Columbus, O., 1896; and also in Dreer's
"Vegetables Under Glass," which comes to hand just as these pages
are going through the press.

(16)

REQUIREMENTS OF A FORCING-HOUSE. I?

are only high enough to allow of room for the plants to be
grown under the glass, or, in the case of shed-houses, to
give a proper slope to the roof. It is a common practice to
secure head room in the forcing-house by sinking the walks
below the ground level. In this way, the house is kept low,
thus saving in cost of construction and "in exposure to winds.
Such sunken walks are shown in Figs, i and 3 (pages 17 and
18). It is always handier, however, to have the main walks
on a level with the surface, thus avoiding steps in passing to
and from the establishment. In wet or springy ground it is

I. A simple even-span, 10 feet wide.

important to avoid sinking the house. The roof of the
forcing-house should be as flat as is consistent with the
ready shedding of rain and snow, in order that all the
plants may grow close under the roof; for it should be
said that plants are usually more stocky and productive
and healthy when grown near the glass. The house should
be of the lightest possible construction in order to gain
sunlight, particularly if tomatoes, melons, cauliflowers and
other sun-loving plants are to be grown.

There are three general types or shapes of houses in
common use for the forcing of vegetables. These are : Th^

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

2. A simple two-walk even-span house,
20 feet wide.

roof with an even span, those with a lean-to or true shed

roof, and those with an
uneven or broken roof.
These various types of
houses are illustrated in
the accompanying dia-
grams. Figs. I and 2
show the ordinary types
of an even-span house,
Figs. 3 and 4 (page 19)
forms of an uneven or
broken span, and Figs. 5, 6 and 7 (pages 20, 21 and 22), of
a lean-to or shed house. The older type of forcing-house
was rather narrow in proportion to its width ; that is, it
was rarely more than 20 feet wide, whilst the length might
vary from 50 to 300 feet. A house of this width is propor-
tionately more difficult to heat and to manage than one of
greater width, and the tendency at the present time is to-
wards much wider houses, especially in establishments
where a large product is expected to be grown. The wide
house, however, when built with a gable roof, becomes too

3. A broken or uneven span, 20 feet wide, 07i a side hill.

high to admit of economical construction and heating, and
the plants are also too far removed from the glass for
best results. It is necessary, therefore, in these very

NESTING OF HOUSES.

wide houses, to treat the building as a shed, and to take
extra care in making the roof strong and tight.

A single house, standing by itself, is always more difficult
and expensive to heat and to manage than a range of houses.
Tt is, therefore, very important that houses should not only
be heated, so far as possible, from one central system,' but
also that the houses should lie alongside of each other so
that the interior walls may answer for two houses, and that
one house may protect another from sweeping winds. For

4. A broken roof on the level, 18 feet wide, with sloping
center bench.

purposes of convenience in repairing the roof, and to avoid
injury by snow, it is better to have these parallel houses
separated from each other by a space or alley of two or
three feet ; but inasmuch as this doubles the number of
walls and exposes every wall to the weather, this method
of construction is rarely used for small houses in this
country. Two contiguous houses are allowed to rest upon
a common wall, but the gutter between the two is made
deep and wide so that the water may be carried off quickly,
and a workman may walk through it when repairing or
painting the roof. In the case of very large houses, how-
ever (say those 35 ft. or more wide and 200 ft. or more_.

3 FORC.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

long), which are large
enough to make and control
Iheir own temperature and
to employ all the time of a
man, it is probably better,
for the sake of the conve-
nience of hauling to and from
them and the ease of repair-
ing the roofs, to have them
separated from other houses
by a space two or three rods,
or more, wide.

It is probably true that
the best direction or expos-
ure for an even-span house
is from north to south, be-
cause both sides of the struc-
ture then receive an equal
amount of sunlight during
the twenty-four hours. It is
not always practicable, how-
ever, to run the houses north
and south, and when it is
not, it is better to run them
directly east and west, and
to break the roof into un-
even spans. Just which span
should face the south, whether
the long one or the short
one, is a matter of dispute.
It probably depends very
largely upon the kind of
plants to be grown, and
the slope of the land, and
upon the exact exposure ;
but it is, no doubt, true that,
for general conditions, the

THE SHED ROOF HOUSE.

22 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

"t^

HOUSES TO BE RECOMMENDED.

long span should face the
sun. The short-span-to-the-
south greenhouse, of which
much has been said in recent
years, is built with a very
steep, short south roof, with
the purpose of intercepting
nearly all the sun's rays and
carrying them directly back
into the farthermost corners
of the house. Where high
plants are to be grown near
the front of the house, how-
ever, so much shade is cast
upon the rear plants as to
seriously interfere with their
growth. These houses have
not yet come into general
use for vegetable forcing,
and they need not be fur-
ther considered in this sum-
mary account.

Of the various houses
which are represented in the
accompanying illustrations,
Fig. I is the least satisfac-
tory for forcing purposes, be-
cause of its narrowness. In
such slim houses there is
not a sufficient body of air
to guard against rapid fluc-
tuations of temperature.
They cool off quickly ; and
with variations in temper-
ature there arise serious
difficulties with insects and
fungi. Fig. 2 is an excellent

24 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

house for a small or ordinary establishment, and is a good
type for the beginner. The same remarks may be made for
Fig. 3, except that the unequal elevations of the walks and
beds make it unhandy. Such a side-hill house, however,
brings the glass very close to the greatest number of
plants, — a result which is sometimes sought by elevat-
ing the benches in the center of even-span houses, but
this raises the beds so high as to make them awkward.
Fig. 4 is an excellent type of house. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are
probably the best types for very large establishments.
Fig. 7 (page 22) covers the entire back yard of a city lot.
These shed roofs are most easy to build and to keep in
repair. The absence of gutters is a most important feature,
for the gutter is the part of the frame which is most difficult
to properly construct and which generally soonest gives out.
It is advisable, in cases where an entire range or nest of
houses is to be permanently used for one given crop, to omit
entirely the side walls, and to simply place the plates and
gutters on the tops of posts or pillars, allowing the spaces
between the posts to remain open. This construction results
in throwing the whole range into practically a single house,
keeping the structure low, with considerable economy of
heat and labor. Such a construction is never admissible,
however, when it is expected that the different houses of
the range are to be used for the growing of plants re-
quiring different degrees of heat and moisture. The
range of nine houses shown at the left in Fig. 8 (page
23) are open beneath the gutters in this way, and Fig. 9
(page 25) is a crosswise view in them. The reader sees
a gutter near the top of the picture, with a steam pipe
running along the plate, and the man is sitting under the
second gutter.

SOME OF THE STRUCTURAL DETAILS.

The frame. — The framing of a forcing-house is well
explained by Figs. 10 and ir (pages 26 and 27). These
pictures represent the common rafter-and-sash-bar house.

PROPERTY OF
^ El. COUUEOtt

THE PARTITION WALLS OMITTED.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

In Fig. lo the rafters are in place, and on the further
half the sash-bars have been put in between them, being
toe-nailed at the upper end to headers cut in between
the rafters. The space above these headers is to be cov-
ered by the ventilator sash.

It is very doubtful, however, if it is ever necessary to use

10 Putting up a ra/ter-and'Sash-bar house.

rafters in the construction of a forcing-house. The entire
roof should be built wholly of sash-bars, which run from the
sill or the plate to the peak, as shown in Figs. 12 and 13
(pages 28 and 29). This construction admits the greatest
amount of light to the house, and is also less expensive.
If purlines of steam pipe are freely used upon which to rest

THE FRAMEWORK,

the sash-bars, each bar being secured to the purUne by a
loop of strap iron, the house may be made as stiff as
the old-time rafter-built frame. Fig. 14 (page 31) shows the
interior of Figs. 12 and 13. The house (used for tomatoes)
is 24 feet wide, 1 1 feet high at the ridge and 4 feet at the
eaves, with sash-bars 13 feet long. These bars have a body
measure of i%xi}4, inches, and carry glass 14x24 inches.
They are supported in the center by a i)^-inch pipe. A

//. Construction of a rafter-and-sash bar frame.

row of these pipe supports upon either side of the house is
the only intermediate support which the roof receives ; yet
this house stands in an exposed place and has withstood
several severe gales without the slightest injury. A similar
sash-bar construction is shown in Fig. 15 (page 32). Another
is seen in Fig. 16 (page 34), but in this case the bars are
nailed to wooden plates which rest upon pipe supports.

28 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

THE DETAILS OF THE SASH-BAR.

The sash-bar.— There is much diversity of opinion re-
specting the best form of sash-bar. Common types are
shown, half natural size, in Fig. 17 (page 35). The shoul-
ders at the top are to receive the edges of the panes of
glass. The cap upon the sample at the right is to hold
the glass in place when the panes are butted, a matter to
be explained shortly. The grooves in the sides of the
bars are designed to catch the water which condenses on
the glass, carrying it down to the plate, and thereby
preventing the "drip."

For myself, after long study of glass houses, I am con-
vinced that this groove has little if any value. It weakens
the bar and adds to its cost. It rarely catches all or even
most of the water, for the condensation flows downwards
off the pane, and not sidewise. It is said that the condensa-
tion may be carried into the grooves by taking care to lay

13. Houses with sash-bar frames.

the crowning side of the pane up, thereby having the hollow
side underneath ; but good glass should have very little or
no crown, and it is rarely possible to make sufficient slant
towards the bar to carry the water to it. But I should con-

30 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORClNG-HOUSE.

sider the draining of the water into the groove to be the
very thing to be avoided, for it is then discharged at the
bottom of the bar into the joint with the plate, and hastens
decay in one of the very weakest points in the frame. I now
use entirely a perfectly plain sash-bar, which is " run " from
white pine at the home mill. Its form is shown in Fig. i8
(page 35). For ordinary roofs, and glass not more than 12
inches wide, these bars may beixi><or i^xi^ inches in
body measure. The illustration shows a cross-section of a
heavy bar, at one-half natural size. In lots of 1,000 lineal
feet, this bar costs us the price of the lumber plus $4 for
"running." If the grooves were added, the cost of "run-
ning " would be about $6. In large quantities, these prices
could be much reduced. In very wide roofs of little slope,
and especially when very large glass (18 to 20 inches wide)
is used, a bar 2x3 inches is safest and best. Such bars will
hold a man's weight. If the house is properly glazed,
there will be no "drip" of consequence.

The plate. — Perhaps the shortest lived part of the frame
of the ordinary glass house is the plate at the eaves. Much
of the condensation upon the glass finds its way to the plate,
and if the glass is butted, all the condensation strikes it
which does not fjill in "drip." In the very wide shed roof or
broken-roof houses, the front plate (upon the lower wall)
receives nearly all the roof drainage, and this is the one,
therefore, to be chiefly protected. The plate, therefore,
soon decays unless the greatest care is taken to give it a
bold slant, and to keep it well painted. Fig. 19 (page 36)
shows an excellent plate, half-size, cut from a pine or cy-
press stick. A plate with half the slope of the side A B will
still hold the water in globules and miniature pools, partic-
ularly after the paint has begun to blister. In order to
prevent the water from following back on the plate and
keeping the wall wet, a groove like that at a, a, in Figs.
20 and 25 (pages 37 and 39), is useful. A similar one on
the outside of the plate will keep the rain from following
down the wall. If the drip from the inner edge of the plate

FRAMEWORK OF A TOMATO HOUSE.

32 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

THE PLATE AND THE GUTTER. 33

is annoying, it may be caught in a little trough and carried
away. The best trough for this purpose is made from a pine
strip i^ inches thick and 2 inches deep, with a V-shaped
groove sawed in the top. This trough, freshly painted on
the back, is nailed to the wall in such position that the
bottom of the groove lies directly beneath the corner of
the plate.

All tenons or mortises should be avoided upon the plate,
or in any other place where the wood is likely to remain
moist. The simplest and most efficient union of sash-bar
and plate is shown in Fig. 20 (page 37), in which the bar is
nailed on top of the outward slope of the plate. Figs. 24
and 25 (page 39) show a similar construction, except that
the rafter is used and is toe-nailed to the inward slope of the
plate. If much water is likely to follow down the sash-bar,
it is a good practice to place a tin shoe or trough under-
neath the foot of the bar (between it and the plate) to
carry off the water, as illustrated in Fig. 21 (page 37).
Where the sash-bar strikes the ridge-pole, a notch or half-
mortise may be used, as in Fig. 22 (page 38), but even here
it is usually preferable to simply toe-nail the bars on, as in
Fig. 23 (page 38).

The gutter is ordinarily built of lumber, a heavy plank
forming its bottom, as in Figs. 24 and 25 (page 39). In
order to keep this plank from warping, it is advisable to
saw a slit across each end and to drive a bar of iron into it,
as seen in Fig. 26 (page 40). The life of the gutter may be
much prolonged by tinning it. A sharp fall will also add
to its life and to the ease of keeping it clean. In some
cases, the entire house is built upon a pitch in order to give
a proper fall to the gutter, but in general it is best to
build the house level and to give the gutter an indepen-
dent slope. Upon masonry walls, a good gutter is made
by leaving a trough on top and plastering it thoroughly
with Portland cement.

Walls. — The best side walls, in point of durability, are

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

WALLS AND VENTILATORS.

ly. Two types of sash-bars.

made of brick or stone, but unless they are very thick or are
hollow they are likely to be colder than a well built board
wall upon posts. The space represented by the thickness of
the posts affords an admirable
dead air space. Nearly all com-
mercial forcing-houses are upon
posts, and it is commonly said r---'
that such walls will last as long \
as the plate will. This is proba- \
bly true, but the plates, as usually ^
made, are unnecessarily short
lived. A forcing-house should t
stand fifteen or twenty years
without extensive repairs, if well
built ; and if the side walls are

of masonry (stone or cement), the plates well made, the
roof so well supported that it cannot sag, and the whole
freshly painted every year or two, the structure should
stand nearly a life time. Good board walls are shown in
Figs. 20 and 25. In each, there is an air-
space between the posts. In Fig. 20, there
are two air-spaces. The sheathings cover-
ing the posts are shown at b b, the post
at p, and the siding at c. This wall, if
well built, is no doubt as warm as a 12-
inch solid brick wall.*

Ventilators. — The house should have
. ample provision for ventilating it, yet it is
*• '^^/^ *" easy to get the openings so large that the
18. A plain sash- temperature of the interior may be lowered
• too suddenly and too far when the sash are

lifted. In windy days, it is impossible to open very large
sash at all without letting in too much cold air to the
plants immediately underneath. Many small sash are pref-

J5 J=.

* Experiments with greenhouse walls have been made at the Minne-
sota Station (Bull. 7) and the Massachusetts Station (Bull. 4).

4 FORC.

36 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

erable to a few very large ones. The house shown in
Figs. 12 and 13, which is unusually light and fully exposed
to the sun, is ventilated by a continuous double row of
sash a foot wide, and this width is sufficient for all narrow
even-span houses. Uneven spans may require ventilators
a foot and a half in width, and I should think that two
feet would be the utmost desirable width for any ordinary
purpose. It is generally unnecessary to have side venti-
lators in forcing-houses whose side walls are under four
feet in height. In general, it is best to hang the ventilators
at the bottom, thereby allowing the heated air to pass
out at the very peak. If a row of sash is placed upon
either side, and each row is operated by a separate mech-

Line B C to face outside
of house and Sash Bars
to nail to it

Ideal Plate, made from a 4 x 6 stick
The inner edge at (A) dressed down to 1 inch thick

19. A good forcing-house plate.

anism, the most perfect means of ventilation will be
secured. In the very wide shed houses, ventilators upon
the sides ma}^ be necessary.

The glass and glazing.— Glass for forcing-houses should
always be double-thick, not single-thick. The double-thick
glass may be expected to save its extra cost within a year
or two in the less breakage, and it makes better joints
and ai warmer house than the single-thick. The difference
in cost between the two grades may be indicated by stat-

GLASS AND GLAZING.

ing that when the price per box (of 22 lights) of single-
thick glass, 14x24, \vas|2.25,
the cost of double-thick was
$2.85.

There are two styles or
methods of laying glass, — the old-
time or common method of lap-
ping it, and the butting it end to
end. The advantages of the but-
ting method are supposed to be
the greater ease and speed of lay-
ing the roof, a tighter roof, one
which admits more light because
of the absence of laps, and econ-
omy of glass. The style of bar
to be used for butting is one with
a very shallow muntin or projec-
tion on top, as in
that shown on the"''- ^^<^lt, plate, and sash-bar.

right in Fig. 17. The glass is not laid in
putty*, but it is advisable to have the bar
freshly painted in order to close the joint
with the glass. The panes are laid end to
end, and are held in place, when an entire
run has been laid, by screwing down a cap,
as shown in the illustration. It is often
advised to cover the ends of

the panes with a thin film of

white lead, in order to cement
the panes together and thus
close the joints. All the lead

■ which is squeezed out of the

Tin gutter at foot of the joint is afterwards scraped off,
sash-bar. so as to make a clean and

*A durable putty for glazing purposes is made by mixing pure whit-
ing in oil, and then using about three parts of this, by weight, to one of
pure white lead, mixing the ingredients thoroughly.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

22. Mortice-joint at the ridge

smooth job. After considerable experience with butted
glass, the writer has abandoned it. It is practically im-
possible, with any ordinary grade of
^lass, to make a perfectly smooth joint
between the panes, and at
every irregularity or rough-
ness at the joints the water
will collect and drip off.
This difficulty is particu-
larly liable to occur if panes
are used which are over
twelve or fourteen inches wide. It is rare, also, that the
panes are squarely enough cut to make perfectly tight
joints possible. Another serious objection to butted glass
is the fact that all the water of condensation which does
not fall as drip is carried down upon the plate, keeping it
constantly wet and tending to make it decay. The drip
from the plate is often a serious nuisance, particularly if
there are heating pipes directly beneath from which a con-
stant shower of vapor arises. In lapped glass, the con-
densed water follows down the pane and passes out through
the lap onto the roof. If glass is to be butted, only the
double-thick should be used. The single-thick grade is
too irregular and uneven in thickness and curvature to allow
of making good joints ; and
its very thinness makes it
impossible to secure suffi-
cient contact to
make a tight job.
In the lapping
of glass, the panes
are bedded in soft
putty, and are
then held from
slipping down by
a straight shoe-
nail at each lower ^^. piain joints at the ridge.

GLASS AND GLAZING.

corner (a a, Fig. 27, page 41 ), and are held firmly to the bar
by glaziers' points (ee, Fig. 27). The panes are
seen edgwise, in cross-section, at b in Fig. 27. It is
important, to avoid breakage, that no nail or point
be placed on the middle of the pane. No putty
is placed over the glass, for, in the nearly hori-
zontal or inclined position in which the panes lie,
the water would collect underneath any such putty
and would crack it off by freezing. If the panes
are well bedded, and if the bars and the edges of
the glass are given a coat of paint, the job will
be perfectly tight. It is imperative that the lap on
the panes should be very short. A long lap col-
lects dirt and thereby obstructs the light, and it
also holds so much water that the freezing of it ter.and rafter
snaps the corners of the panes. A lap of a quarter ^"^ sash-bar.
of an inch, or at most of three-eighths inch, is ample. In this
narrow lap the water of condensation collects and makes a
warm joint.

There has been a tendency in recent years towards the
use of very large glass. Panes as large as 20 x 36 inches
have been used. These seem to be too wide for economy,
and they impose severe strains upon the sash-bars, and

weaken the
rigidity of the
house. The
glass bears too
great a pro-
portion to the
s t ructural
frame of the roof. It is
doubtful if it is wise to use
jilass above 14 or 16 inches
wide, and, through inquiry
and experience, the writer

,^^ „ ^^ !,"!' .. has now settled upon 14 X 18
IVall, gutter, plates, rajters, . , , , , .

and sash-bars. mches as about the best size

i5'

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

Iron cleat in a gutter-board.

for all purposes. Indeed, I should prefer glass 12 inches
wide to that which is 18 inches wide.
Beds and benches. — Those plants
which thrive best without bottom heat,
as lettuce generally does, are most
commonly grown in solid
is, on the earth. Those
crops requiring bottom
heat must be grown on
benches. The height of
these benches above the
ground must be deter-
mined wholly by circumstances. The first thing to con-
sider is to secure sufficient head room for the plants, or, in
the instance of low plants, to get them near to the glass.
Benches will run from a foot to three feet above the ground.
They are handiest when the extreme height is about two feet
and the width not over three and a half or four feet. The
depth of the bed (that is, of the soil) varies with different
operators from 5 to 10 inches. As a rule, with good soil,
6 or 7 inches of earth is sufficient. A greater body of
earth is likely to make a too continuous growth, with
consequent loss of earliness, and it requires more care
in the watering if it should become hard or somewhat
impervious to water. Benches are ordinarily built of
common lumber. One-inch hemlock boards, in single
thickness, will last about three winters if the soil is removed
in the summer. Cracks of a half inch or a little more
should be left between the boards, and it is then not neces-
sary to place drainage material — as broken crocks or
clinkers — on the bottoms of the beds. With shiftless
watering, however, no amount of drainage material can
insure safe results.

HEATING.

steam and hot water. — Modern forcing-houses are
heated by either steam or hot water in wrought-iron pipes.

STEAM VS. HOT WATER.

The old method of heating by means of the large cast iron
pipes is not adapted to the forcing business. The com-
parative merits of steam and water as media for conveying
heat have been much discussed in recent years, with the
result that neither system has gained a complete victory. In
other words, each system has peculiar merits. Our own
experience emphasizes the greater value of steam, but we
do not condemn hot water. We believe that steam is
superior for very large houses where the fall is slight, for

The laying of lapped glass.

most forcing-houses, and for all establishments which are
likely to be often modified and extended. It is particularly
desirable in the forcing of such "warm" plants as tomatoes
and melons. For conservatory purposes, for straight runs
and small and cool houses, it is equaled — probably sur-
passed in many instances — by water. Steam overcomes

42 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

obstacles, as elbows and angles and obstructions, better than
hot water. It travels faster and farther. Crooked runs with
little fall are great difficulties in hot water heating. Steam
can be varied more quickly than hot water. On the other
hand, steam is as steady as hot water under proper manage-
ment, and it requires but little more attention. Practically
the same treatment is required by both water and steam
heaters. Plants thrive as well under steam heat as under
hot water heat. The opinion that steam heat is a "dry
heat" is erroneous. Hot water heating demands from a half
to twice more piping than steam heating, and the original
cost is, therefore, greater. This additional piping has a cer-
tain advantage, however, inasmuch as each pipe is less hot
than in steam systems and is less likely to injure plants
which stand close to it. This advantage is not great, how-
ever, especially in forcing establishments, where no injury
need ever come from hot steam pipes. There is no uniform
advantage in consumption of fuel in either system. Theo-
retically, hot water is probably more economical than steam,
but in practice the cost is determined largely by the particu-
lar pattern of heater and the general efficiency of the sys-
tem. Some tests show water to be the more economical,
and other tests give the advantage to steam. In other
words, the fuel consumption is largely a local question.

The summary results of various experiments upon the
comparative merits of steam and water for heating plant
houses, made at Cornell University (and reported in Bulle-
tins 41, 55 and 96), are as follows :*

1. The temperatures of steam pipes average higher than
those of hot water pipes, under common conditions.

2. When the risers or flow pipes are overhead, the steam
spends relatively more of its heat in the returns, as bottom
heat, than the water does.

* Other studies in glass house heating will be found in Bulletins 4, 6, 8
and 15 of the Massachusetts Hatch Station (by S. T. Maynard), and in
Bulletin 63 of the Michigan Station (by L. R. Taft). In these experi-
ments, water gave the better results.

STEAM VS. HOT WATER. 43

3. The heat from steam distributes itself over a great
length of pipe more readily than that from hot water, and
steam, therefore has a distinct advantage for heating long
runs.

4. Steam is preferable to hot water for irregular and
crooked circuits.

5. Unfavorable conditions of piping can be more readily
overcome with steam than with water.

6. The addition of crooks and angles in pipes is deci-
dedly disadvantageous to the circulation of hot water^
and of steam without pressure ; but the effect is scarcely
perceptible with steam under low pressure.

7. In starting a new fire with cold water, circulation be-
gins with hot water sooner than with steam, but, in ordina-
rily long runs, it requires a longer time for the water to
reach a point where the temperature of the house is ma-
terially affected than for the steam to do so.

8. The length of pipe to be traversed is a much more
important consideration with water than with steam, for
the friction of the water upon the pipe is much greater than
the friction of steam, and a long run warms slowly with
water.

9. It is necessary to exercise greater care in grading pipes
for water heating than for steam heating. With steam, a
satisfactory fall towards the boiler is much more important
than the exact manner of laying the pipes.

10. In heating by water in closed circuits, a high expan-
sion tank may increase the efficiency by allowing the water
to become hotter throughout the system, and probably by
giving a better circulation.

Piping. —The arrangement of the pipes must be adjusted
by the shape and size of the house and the crop to be
grown. The "cool" plants, like lettuce and cauliflower
(see page 5), do best without bottom heat, and for these
crops the pipes should be above the soil or bed. The
" warm " plants, like tomato, melon and cucumber, require
bottom heat, and for these the return pipes, or some of

44 1HE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

them, should be underneath the bed. The steam or hot
water is carried into the house by means of one or two
pipes, — called risers when stram is used, and flow-pipes
when water is used, — and is returned to the heater through
from two to six times as many returns. The risers or flows
are usually carried into the house overhead, and the returns
are carried underneath the benches, along the walls, or the
sides of the walks. Aside from the greater number of pipes
required in water heating, there is little difference in the
methods of piping for the two systems. The highest point
in the steam riser should be directly over the heater, or,
when this is not practicable, it should be at the near end of
the house or the system, and the riser should gradually fall
from this point to the far end of the house. This gives a
down-hill system. It is generally considered that the
highest point in the water flow-pipe should be at the far end
of the house or system. This is an up-hill system. Flow-
pipes should not be less than 2 inches in diameter for runs
of 60 ft., while steam may be carried in a i>^-inch riser
under similar circumstances. In water runs of this length,
there should be two risers for houses 16 to 20 feet wide,
particulary if warm plants are to be grown.

The amount of pipe required for special cases may be
determined by examining some of the plans and illustra-
tions. Fig. I illustrates two methods of piping. It may be
piped by running a water flow-pipe underneath the bench
on either side and carrying back two returns under each
flow. This type of heating is not common. In such cases,
it would no doubt be necessary to keep the space under
the benches open next the walk in order to heat the house.
A commoner method is to carry a riser or flow overhead at
X, and to bring back six returns from it. In Fig. 2, a 2-inch
steam riser is carried overhead in the center, and it breaks
into seven i^-inch risers underneath the benches. There is
a similar arrangement in Fig. 3. These two houses would
grow tomatoes in New York state. In Fig. 4, two 3-inch
water flows near the peak supply six i>^-inch returns under

PIPING IN A TOMATO HOUSE,

28. Piping with hot water for tomato growitig.

46 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

the two upper benches, and another 3-inch flow and three
i>^-inch returns heat the lower bed. This same house
could be heated with steam by one 2-inch riser and six to
eight i>^-inch returns. An exposed tomato house (Fig.
14, page 31), is heated by a i>^-inch steam riser which
feeds a i-inch loop running around the house just under
the plate, and four iX-inch loops just above the soil.
Another loop and a half (from an independent riser) runs
about the center walk. In this house, the bottom heat
is supplied by the heaters themselves, which stand just
beneath the floor. The floor is made of two layers of
inch boards, with tar between the layers.

Fig. 15 (page 32), showing a house used for lettuce,
cauliflowers, carnations and chrysanthemums, 20 ft. wide
and 60 ft. long, is heated by one 2-inch steam riser and
two i>^-inch returns under each side bench. The middle
bench is solid, and has no bottom heat. Fig, 28 (page 45)
shows the water returns in a tomato house near Philadel-
phia. There are eight returns under each bench, the coil
standing edgewise under the left-hand bench, and lying
flat-wise under the other.

Flues and stoves. — Beginners with little capital can make
a very good forcing-house with old sash, and can heat the
same with flues from a home-made furnace. Lettuce houses
can even be heated with a coal stove. The novice will
always do well to begin with a small and simple establish-
ment, although it rarely pays to erect a very cheap house
if it can be avoided.

COST OF FORCING-HOUSES.

Only the most general remarks can be made respecting
the cost of forcing-houses, for so much depends upon the
finish, the expense put in foundations, and the experience
and efficiency of the workmen. Taft estimates the expense
of building a three-quarter span rose house, 20x100 ft.,
including heating apparatus, to average about ^1,100 to

COST OF A FORCING-HOUSE. 47

|r,2oo. A forcing-house 20x60 ft., uneven-span, on posts,
with heavy rafters and glazed with large sash, heated by
steam, cost complete as follows, including a rough shed
in which to place the heater :

Lumber $99 61

Carpenter work 72 75

General labor 63 63

Iron supports and plates g 16

39 sash 39 00

Glass, I2X 16 62 37

Glazing 18 13

Paint, oil, etc 14 52

Hardware and miscellaneous 20 36

$379 63
Heating apparatus and piping 375 00

I754 53

The labor of building the benches was done by the
gardener after the house was completed.

Seven years later, this house was wholly rebuilt, an
entire new roof being put on and comprising only sash-
bars and double-thick glass. This rebuilt house, with the
upper bench not yet made, is shown in Fig. 15. The total
cost of the new roof, new plates, one new bench, and
general repairs, was as follows :

52 sash-bars, 16 ft. long |i8 78

52 " 12 ft. long 14 08

Work upon bars 14 33

Sills 19 42

Glass, 14 X 18 96 00

• 150 ft. pine for ventilators 7 40

50 panes glass for ventilators 10 00

Putty and points 5 75

Tinning 80 ft. gutter, and labor 13 08

Painting, 2 coats 6 50

Labor 80 48

250 ft. pine for jambs and repairs, and hardware and inci-
dentals 14 20

$300 02

In general, it may be said that a house 20 x 100 ft., 12

48 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

feet high at the ridge, with no glass on the sides, on post
wall, can be built for |r,ooo to |i,2oo, steam heating plant
complete, if the workmen about the place assist in the
construction.

A forcing-house 50x400 ft., broken span, with the rear
roof 20 ft. wide and the front one 32 ft. wide, with the front
wall 4 ft. high and the rear one 8 ft. high, 17 ft. high at the
ridge, on post walls, glass 20 x 30 inches, sash-bars 2x3
inches, was built, and fitted with steam, for |6,ooo.

The house shown in Figs. 5 and 6 (the property of Fred.
Busch, Minneapolis) is 60x300 ft., with a mushroom shed
16 x300 ft. on the back. The total direct cash expense of
this structure was |3,3oo. To this has to be added the
work of the regular hired men in doing all the grading, the
setting of the pipe posts for purlines, half of all the glazing
work, all the work of steam fitting, and half of the paint-
ing ; also 4,000 ft. of old pipe which had been used in hot-
beds, and all the glass used in the gables and which had
been taken from an old house which was torn down. The
estimated expense of all this extra work and second-hand
material is I700, making the total cost of the house, shed
and all, $4,000.

The range of nine houses shown at the left in Fig. 8,
and again in Fig, 9 (also the property of Mr. Busch), each
house 20x90 ft., cost, complete, as I am informed by the
owner, |3,6oo. This is an unusually low cost, being only
I400 per house.

CHAPTER III.

MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

Probably there is no horticultural industry in which
experience counts for so much as in the management of
plants in glass houses. Yet it is not essential that one
"serve his time" in the business in order to learn it. Many
of our best greenhouse men have taken up the occupation
late in life, or have come to it from widely different voca-
tions. Even then, they have come to their success by
actually doing the work, but they shorten their period of
manual experience by bringing to bear upon their work
all the helps of reading, observation, and reflection. Whilst
it is impossible to teach a person how to run a greenhouse,
it is nevertheless profitable to give certain hints and sug-
gestions to direct the course of his effort.

TEMPERATURES FOR THE VARIOUS CROPS.

The following figures represent the approximate average
temperatures at which winter vegetables are forced. The
night temperatures are supposed to represent the lowest
or minimum averages, and the day temperatures are taken
in the shade in days of average sunshine :

Cool Plants—

Day Night

Lettuce 55° to 60° 40° to 45°

Radish 55° to 60° 45° to 50°

Asparagus and rhubarb (when forced from

established plants) 60° to 65° 55°

Celery 60° to 65° 55O

Cauliflower 60° to 70° 55°

(49)

50 MANAGEj;iENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

Warm Platits —

Day Night

Tomato 75° 65°

Cucumber 75° to 80° 65° to 70°

Melon 75° to 85° 65° to 70°

Eggplant .... 75'^ to 80° 65°

Pepper 75° 65°

Asparagus and rhubarb (when forced

from temporary roots) 75° to 85° 65° to 70°

In bright days the temperature may run much higher than
these figures, but if plenty of fresh air is given on such
occasions no ill results should follow.

SOILS FOR FORCED VEGETABLES.

Forcing-house soils should not only be rich in available
plant food, but they should be of a mellow and friable
texture, so that the water soaks through them uniformly,
leaving them dryish and loose on top. A soil with much
clay tends to run together, or to cement itself, especially
if watered from a hose, and the plants tend to make a
spindling and unwilling growth. On the other hand, a soil
with very much manure or litter is so loose as not to hold
sufficient water to keep the plant in health ; or if it does
hold the requisite moisture, it tends to produce a robust
and over-willing growth at the expense of fruit. . Yet,
despite all this, the skill of the gardener is much more
important than the character of the soil, for a skillful man
will handle even hard clay soils in such manner as to give
good results. The chief single factor of manipulation in
determining the productivity of soil in forcing-houses is
the watering, to which we shall presently advert.

The best forcing-house soils are those which have a
foundation of good garden loam, and are lightened up
with sharp sand and some kind of fiber. This fiber is
usually very well rotted manure, or rotted sods. Thin
sods cut from an old pasture — especially from one which
has a clay loam soil — and allowed to stand in a low flat
pile for a year or so, being turned or forked over once or

SOILS FOR THE FORCING-HOUSE. 51

twice in the meantime, make a most excellent foundation
for a greenhouse soil. A satisfactory mixture may be
made by using one-third of these rotted sods, one-third of
mellow garden loam, and one-third of fine old horse ma-
nure which has not been leached. If the garden soil has
itself been well enriched with stable manures, it will not
be necessary to add so much in the mixture. If the
completed soil contains so much clay as to be sticky, the
addition of sand will correct it. Leaf mold (not leaves)
in limited quantity is a most excellent substitute for ma-
nure. Broken and pulverized peat may also be used. It
is always important that the materials used in the forcing-
house soil should be fine and well broken down by the
processes of decay. Fresh and undecomposed materials
give variable and unpredictable results : they are the
"raw*' soils of gardeners. Heavy clays are to be avoided
in the making of forcing-house soils, particularly if one
desires to grow the heading lettuces.

The forcing-house soil is m.ixed by shoveling the ingre-
dients from piles into a central common pile, a given num-
ber of shovelfuls from each, and then shoveling the mixture
over once or twice. It is a good practice to cover the
bottom of the bench — especially for melons and cucum-
bers— with inverted sods, and then to put on the pre-
pared soil. Many gardeners do not take this trouble of
mixing the soil, and it is not necessary if one is able to
find a natural soil to his liking ; but unless the right soil
is at hand, it is always safer to take this extra pains
rather than to rely upon an indifferent soil. One cannot
afford to take any unnecessary risks in the forcing of
vegetables.

When the crops are grown on benches — as those must
be which require bottom-heat — it is necessary to change
the soil every year. This is because the soil loses texture
or fiber and becomes partially exhausted of available plant
food, and it is likely to contain the spores of fungi or the
eggs of insects. Houses in which the soil remains un-

5 FORC.

52 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

changed rarely long remain free of serious insect or fun-
gous invasions ; and in selecting soils for houses, it is of
the utmost importance to avoid bringing in grubs, cut-
worms, wire-worms, tomato rust, and the like. It is per-
fectly possible to add plant food to the old soil, but it is
impossible to restore its texture by that means, and the
physical texture is usually more important than its actual
store of food. In the forcing of lettuce upon ground
beds, it is not always essential to remove the earth every
year, although an inch or two of the top must be re-
moved if the mildew has been serious, and the soil should
always be fertilized before another season of forcing is
begun. The best growers prefer, however, to replace
four or five inches of the top soil every summer.

THE QUESTION OF FERTILIZERS.

Most forcing-house crops need to be fertilized as they
grow. This is particularly important for tomatoes, cucum-
bers and melons. The fertilizer most liked by gardeners
is liquid manure. This is made from old unleached cow
manure (such as has been lying for some months in a barn
basement). A bushel of it is placed in a half-barrel or tub
and the receptacle is filled with water. After standing two
or three days, being stirred occasionally in the meantime,
the liquid is ready for use. This liquid must be reduced
before it is applied to soil in which plants are growing, and
the amount of reduction to give it can be determined only
by experience. Ordinarily, one quart of liquid made as
here directed will be sufficient for a gallon of the diluted
material ; that is, one quart of the manure water is added
to three quarts of clear water. If the manure is strong,
the tub may be filled with water three or four times before
the strength of the material is dissolved out. A tub of this
manure liquid should always be accessible in forcing-house
work. How often the liquid shall be applied to the crops
must be determined for each particular case. If the soil is

FERTILIZERS WITH TOMATOES. 53

rich, the plants will not be likely to need the liquid manure
in their young or maiden stage, but as soon as the melons
or tomatoes are set the fertilizing will usually be appre-
ciated. It is then sometimes profitable to apply it freely
once or twice a week.

There is very little exact knowledge respecting the use
of chemical fertilizers for forcing-house crops. The best
gardeners generally like to add bone flour or some com-
mercial fertilizer to soils which have not already been
well fertilized, and it is a common practice to work a
dressing of bone into the soil after the plants become
well established.

The Connecticut experiments with tomatoes. — The best
experiments which have been made in this country upon
fertilizers for forced vegetables were conducted at the Con-
necticut Experiment Station.* These experiments were
concerned with tomatoes and lettuce under glass. A full
abstract of these studies, so far as they give direct horti-
cultural results, will be useful and suggestive to the gar-
dener and the student.

"To those who are raising or contemplate raising
winter crops under glass, the question of substituting fer-
tilizers for manure, in part at least, is a very important
one. Forcing-house soil, as it is usually prepared, con-
sists of rich garden soil or rotted turf, composted with
from one-fourth to one-half its bulk of horse manure.
Aside from the labor of hauling and of repeatedly work-
ing over this material to secure the fine mellow condition
which is desired, the cost formerly was not great. But
the general introduction of electric cars has cut down
enormously the production of horse manure in cities,
which has been the main dependence of our market
gardeners. In consequence, the preparation of suitable

* E. H. Jenkins and W. E. Britton in Nineteenth Rep. Conn. Agr.
Exp. Sta. (for 1895), pp. 75-98. The reader may also find experiments
upon forcing-house fertilizers in Bull. 10 (1890) and 15 (1891) of the
Mass. Hatch Exp. Sta., and in Bull. 43 (1892) of the Ohio Station.

54 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

soil for forcing-houses is increasingly expensive. Besides
this, it is found that even a rich natural soil cannot carry
forcing-house tomatoes to their highest productiveness,
and therefore liquid manure is often used to water the
soil after the plants have come into bearing.

"The admirable work on the use of commercial fer-
tilizers on field tomatoes done at the New Jersey Sta-
tion has proved that the ripening of the crop may be
very materially hastened by the proper use of fertilizer
chemicals, especially of nitrate of soda.* To hasten
the ripening of crops under glass, where the expense of
growing them is so much greater than in the field, must
greatly increase the profits of the business.

"These considerations have led us to endeavor to
determine with all possible accuracy how much plant
food various forcing-house crops take from the soil dur-
ing their growth, and whether commercial fertilizers can
be used instead of stable manure, wholly or in part, to
supply this plant food. A further question also con-
nected with these is, whether the humus of rotted manure,
generally regarded as necessary to regulate the storage
and circulation of moisture in the soil under natural con-
ditions, can be replaced by some cheap substitute, or
dispensed with altogether in forcing-house culture, where
the supply of soil moisture can be well regulated by
artificial means."

"Our first endeavor was to find out how much nitro-
gen tomato plants raised under glass take from the soil,
in their fruit and vines, and how much nitrogen needs to
be in the soil to meet fully this demand of the plants.
These questions we studied by raising tomatoes in plots
on the forcing-house benches which were filled with a
soil known to be practically free from available nitrogen,
but believed to contain all other ingredients necessary

* [Similar, though less specific, results have been obtained by the Cor-
nell Station. See its Bulletins X., XXL, 32, 45.]

FERTILISERS WITH TOMATOES. 55

for a maximum tomato crop. To these plots were added
known quantities of nitrogen in form of nitrate of soda."

Five plots (numbered from 4 to 8) were set aside in
the center bed of a forcing-house, each plot containing
about 14 square feet. The benches were 9 inches deep,
and the artificial soils were filled in to the depth of 8
inches, " The soil for each plot was separately mixed as
follows : 300 pounds of anthracite coal ashes, sifted to
pass a wire screen with four meshes to the inch, were
spread on a cement floor, and 9 pounds of peat moss,
such as is sold in the cities for stable bedding, screened
like the ashes, were scattered over them. To these were
added three and one-half ounces of precipitated carbon-
ate of lime, to neutralize a slight acidity of the peat and
give to the whole a mild alkaline reaction. These ma-
terials were shoveled over twice carefully and then spread
as before.

"The fertilizers designed for the plot — [nitrate of soda,
dissolved bone black, and muriate of potash] — were
sprinkled over this mixture and the whole was carefully
shoveled over twice again to secure as perfect a mixture
as possible of fertilizers and soil, and then carried in a
hand-barrow to the designated plot in the forcing-house.

"The north bench in the same house was filled with a
rich soil prepared by composting good thick turf with one-
third its bulk of stable manure. Plants were set in this
bench mainly to make a rough comparison between crops
grown on the two radically different soils. The exposure
of the two benches was slightly different, that of the north
bench being, perhaps, somewhat less favorable as regards
light. The plants set in the north bench were also much
closer together.

"Three varieties of tomatoes were used: Ignotum,
Acme, and Dwarf Champion, two plants of each variety
being set in each plot, and all receiving the same treat-
ment."

The tabular results of these experiments are as follows ;

MANAGEMENT OF THE FORClNG-HOUSE.

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FERTILIZERS FOR TOMATOES. 57

Some of the horticultural statistics of these results are
as follows :

" I. The highest average weight per fruit of the Ignotum
variety was on plot 6, of the Acme on plot 7, and of the
Dwarf Champion on plot 8.

"2. The tendency to bear double flowers, which pro-
duced irregular-shaped fruit, seemed to bear no relation to
the quantity of nitrogen applied, nor to the variety. The
same plant produced both single and double blossoms.

"3. The number of perfect fruits was absolutely larger
on the plots receiving most nitrogen, but there was no very
marked relative increase in number.

"4. Comparison of the three varieties shows that Acme
gave the largest yield in artificial soil, but the yield of Igno-
tum was considerably the largest of the three when grown
in rich garden soil.

"Acme gave the greatest average number of tomatoes
per plant, while the average weight per fruit of Ignotum was
considerably greater than that of the other varieties.

"5. The Dwarf Champion proved to be an unprofitable
variety in this test.

"6. Tomatoes from the unfertilized plot (Plot 4) were
small, smooth, and of good shape, but the color was not
normal. They were too light in color and slightly rusty-
looking, — having a faded appearance. The flesh of the
tomato was very dry, and sweet to the taste — much sweeter
than tomatoes from other plots.

' ' Tomatoes of best form, size and color grew upon plots
6 and 7. Those from plot 8 (and a few from plot 7) ripened
very unevenly, and were green about the stem when the
other side of the fruit was of good color and apparently
ripe. These tomatoes had a decided tendency towards soft-
ness while still green ; the form and size were very good. ' '

We come now to a comparison of plants grown in natural
soil with those grown in artificial soil. " These were set
much closer in the bench than those grown in artificial soil.
The latter had a bench space of 2.31 square feet per plant, the

58 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

former about 1.15 square feet. The plants in soil had three
weeks the start of those in ashes and peat, being set in the
beds on December 7th, while the plants were not set in the
ashes and peat until December 31st. These facts render
any very strict comparison of the two impossible, nor was
strict comparison intended when the experiment was begun.
The following facts, however, deserve notice. In what fol-
lows we refer only to the crops grown on plots 7 and 8.
The others, 4, 5, and 6, had no adequate supply of nitrogen,
and it must also be borne in mind that plots 7 and 8 in all
probabilty did not have a full supply of either nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, or potash.

"The tomatoes grown in ashes and peat grew and
fruited much more rapidly than those in natural soil, and
then suddenly stopped their growth and bearing, the leaves
turned brown and the plants appeared to be dead. They
were not dead, however, by any means, and after cutting
back to near the roots and supplying more fertilizers, they
made a new and vigorous growth and fruited again. The
plants grown in natural soil, however, kept bearing a little
fruit till the following July, when they were thrown out to
make room for other experiments.

"We believe the plants in peat and ashes fruited more
quickly and abundantly, because they had at first a larger
supply of soluble plant food than those in natural soil : —
that when that was exhausted, they had no resource, and
died back in consequence: — that if they had been suffi-
ciently fertilized, they would have proved far more prolific
and profitable than those in natural soil. To decide this
will be one point in further experiments.

"The following statement gives the average yield per
plant of the three varieties (4 plants of each) on plot 8 in
artificial soil with commercial fertilizers, also the average
yield per plant (an equal number of each of the three varie-
ties was used to calculate this) of the three varieties grown
in rich natural soil up to April 17th, the date when, as al-
ready described, the plants in artificial soil died back for

FERTILISERS AND TOMATOES. 5^

lack of nourishment. Up to this date the plants liad been
growing in the natural soil three weeks longer than in the
artificial soil. The total yield of the plants in natural soil,
up to July i6th, is also given, though after the middle of
April there is little or no profit in forcing-house toma-
toes." The tabular results are as follows :

Peat and ashes

with fertilizers. Natural soil.

To April 17th To April 17th ToJulyi6th

Yield per plant (grams) . . . 2087 976 1820

Yield per plant (pounds) . . 4-59 2.15 4.00

Number of fruits per plant . 21 10.4 22.7

Weight of fruits (grams) . . 99.1 91.7 82.4

Yield per square foot (grams) 904 847.0 1583

Yield per square foot (pounds) 1.99 1.86 3.5

"The table shows that up to the time when the fertilizers
in the artificial soil were proved (by the chemical analyses)
to be exhausted, the plants in artificial soil had produced,
per square foot of bench space, 7 per cent more tomatoes
than those in the natural soil, while the latter had, up to that
time, three weeks more of growing season. It is possible
that the plants in natural soil, if they had been set further
apart, would have, in the same time, made a larger crop per
foot of bench space. It is possible, too, that with an in-
creased supply of fertilizers the plants in artificial soil would
have given a largely increased yield. We cite these figures
only to show that the tomato crop can be successfully grown
in a soil made of ashes and peat, such as we have described,
with the aid of commercial fertilizers."

While these experiments were inaugurated "solely to
determine how much nitrogen in the soil was necessary for
the full development of the tomato plant," the experimen-
ters nevertheless " feel justified in calling attention to certain
apparent advantages in using the artificial soil." In this
artificial soil there is less liability to fungous troubles and
insects, and the cost is less than for natural soils. "For
every 100 square feet of bench space, about 2,200 pounds of
sifted coal ashes and 63 pounds of dried peat or leaf mold

60 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE,

is required to fill the bench 8 inches deep with soil. Ex-
periments are now in progress to determine whether the
use of peat is necessary. About lo pounds of commercial
fertilizers are needed for this bench space, costing, at pres-
ent ruling ton rates, less than 21 cents. The cost of these
things is to be compared with the cost of providing a con-
siderably greater weight of rich compost containing a large
relative amount of stable manure. In very many cases, the
cost of filling the benches with the artificial soil must be
very much less than the cost of filling them with rich garden
soil.

"The greatest expense in running a forcing-house is the
artificial heat required, and for this reason, quick growth
and early maturity are extremely desirable. Regarding the
relative availability of the potash and phosphates in compost
and in commercial fertilizers, we know little, but it is very
certain that the nitrogen of composts is slowly available as
compared with the nitrogen of nitrates. Our tomato tests
showed, too, very clearly, that plants in natural soil made
much slower growth and were slower in fruiting than those
in artificial soil supplied with nitrates. Though the former
were set fully three weeks earlier, both began fruiting at the
same time."

The general summary of all the results of fertilizing the
tomatoes is as follows :

"i. A forcing-house tomato crop yielding about two
pounds of fruit for each square foot of bench room, takes,
in the vines and fruit, for every hundred square feet of
bench space, not less than :

Grams. Lbs Ors.

Mitrogren 168 Equivalent to Nitrate of soda 2 5

Phosphoric acid . . 65 " " Dissolved bone black o 13

Potash 362 " " Muriate of potash i 9

"Of this from a fourth to a fifth only is in the vines.

"2. To enable the plants to get these fertilizer elements
as required, there should be a large excess of them in the
soil, perhaps double the quantity given above.

FERTILISERS WITH LETTUCE. 6l

"3. Every 100 pounds of tomato fruit takes from the soil
approximately :

Ounces. Ounces.
Nitrogen ...... 2.2 Equivalent to Nitrate of soda 14

Phosphoric acid . , 0.9 " " Dissolved bone black 5

Potash 4.5 " " Muriate of potash 10

**4. It is possible to grow a crop of forcing-house toma-
toes, amounting to two or more pounds per square foot of
bench space, perfectly normal in size, color, taste and
chemical composition, by the aid of commercial fertilizers
alone, and in soil composed of coal ashes and peat."

The Connecticut experiments with lettuce. — Experi-
ments like those detailed for the tomatoes were also made
upon lettuce. Four plots (numbered from 38 to 41) of
Simpson White-seeded and Tennisball varieties, each con-
taining about 11^ square feet, received each 200 pounds
of the peat and ashes mixture (containing 5 per cent of
peat). The bed was filled to a depth of 6 inches. Some
of the details of the test are as follows :

Fertilizers applied. Plot 38.
Nitrogen .... 7. 11 grams
Equivalent ni-
trate of soda 44.4 "
Phosphoric acid 6.80 "
Equivalent dis-
solved bone
black .... 40.0 "

Potash 24.24 "

Equivalent mu-
riate of potash 48.5 "
Crops harvested.
Lettuce Heads . 1232.8 "
Lettuce Roots
(with much ad-
hering soil) . . 219.6 "

Total 1452.4 "

Dry substance of
crop . , . . . 205.5 " 346.2 " 349.56 " 358.83 "

"The facts which this experiment has developed may
be summarized as follows :

Plot

39-

Plot 40.

Plot 41.

11.80 i

grams

16.59 grams

21.34 grams

74.0
6.80

•■

103.7
6.80 "

133.4
6.80 "

40.0

■'

40.0 "

24.24

24.24 "

48.5

48.5 "

2217.6

•'

2720.6 "

3083.1

361.3
2578.9

368.4 "
3089.0

368.5 "
3451-6 ■'

62 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

"i. Lettuce of good quality can be grown under glass
in an artificial soil such as we have described, with the use
of commercial fertilizers. We are not prepared to say at
present that its quality is as good as the best lettuce
grown in rich, natural soil.

" 2. A crop of forcing-house lettuce, raised as above
described, takes from the soil in roots and heads, per
I, coo heads, not less than :

Grams. Pounds. Ounces.

Nitrogen. . . .282.6 Equivalent to 3 15 Nitrate of soda

Phosphoric acid 87.7 "12 Dissolved bone black.

Potash 621.0 " 2 10 Muriate of potash.

"3. To supply this plant food to the soil under the
conditions of our experiment, it was necessary to add to
the soil the following quantities of fertilizers per 1,000
plants, or per 387 square feet, the area used in our ex-
periment for 1,000 plants :

Pounds. Ounces. Costing, cents.

Nitrate of soda 9 13 25

Dissolved bone black 2 15 4

Muriate of potash 3 8 7

On the use of fresh stable manure. — All experienced
gardeners place the greatest faith in old well-rotted stable
manure, and uniformly avoid fresh manure. A discus-
sion of the behavior of fresh manure in its relation to
nitrification is made in the Connecticut report which is
quoted above, and it seems to throw much light upon
the craft of gardeners. A somewhat full abstract of the
article is here given. It is known that when nitrogen
compounds, either in the form of nitrates or occurring in
organic matter in manures, are fully exposed to the air,
the nitrogen may be lost as gas by the action of certain
denitrifying microbes. It now seems probable that simi-
lar losses, though much less in amount, may be occasioned
in the soil by the use of fresh stable manure. Wagner
has found that the nitrogen of well-rotted stable manure

THE USE OF FRESH MANURE. 63

is much less readily available to plants than has been
generally supposed. If the availability of the nitrogen of
nitrates be taken as loo, that of the nitrogen of well-
rotted manure was only 45 per cent. Kiihn has found,
on the other hand, that the nitrogen of fresh cattle dung
is very readily available. If the availability of the nitro-
gen of sulphate of ammonia be taken as 100, that of fresh
manure was 92 per cent. Wagner further observed that
fresh manure has a decided tendency to liberate the ni-
trogen of nitrates or of green manures, so "that the in-
crease of crops secured by the horse dung and nitrates,
etc., together, may be less than is produced by the ni-
trates, etc., alone."

" It appears that soils, to which were added three grams
of nitrogen ; viz., two grams in form of fresh horse dung
and one gram in form of nitrate of soda, yielded a very
considerably smaller crop than the same soil to which
one gram of nitrate nitrogen was added without dung.
This, according to Wagner, is explained by the fact that
the microbes in the fresh dung expelled nitrogen in the
gaseous form, both from the dung itself and from the
nitrate, before vegetation could assimilate it.

"While the horse dung applied in Wagner's trials was
fresh and the quantities were much larger than are ordi-
narily used in farm practice, yet the facts above cited
have a very important bearing on the use of fresh stable
manure and possibly on the value of composts, such as
are used for forcing-house soil, in which the proportion
of stable manure is approximately near to that which was
used in Wagner's tests, where a large loss of nitrogen was
observed. It might, therefore, happen that applications
of nitrates or other nitrogenous fertilizers to the soil of
the forcing-house would have no marked effect on the
crop, while nevertheless available nitrogen was -deficient
and the crop suffering in consequence. This result might
at least be expected to follow the use of fresh manure
water."

64 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

Tests made at the Connecticut Station itself confirmed
these general results. The investigation was carried to
mixtures of nitrates with garden loam and to potting soil,
as well as to mixtures with fresh manure. The garden
soil had very little effect in reducing the nitrates.

In another experiment, fresh horse dung and potting
soil were used. The potting soil "was made of pasture
sod and the soil just beneath, "composted with about one-
third their bulk of mixed horse and cow manures. The
mixture, made in the summer of 1894, had stood in a
conical, compact pile, exposed till the fall of 1895. The
soil for this experiment was taken from the interior of
this pile at a depth of 2-3 feet." * * * "While the
surface soil of the garden, although heavily dressed each
year with stable manure, had little or no effect in destroy-
ing nitrates, the potting earth (made by composting con-
tiguous pasture sod and a few inches of underlying soil
with stable manure), reduced nitrates to about half the
extent caused by fresh horse dung.

"This result is in accord with familiar facts. The
surface soil of tilled ground is commonly or always
charged with oxidizing and nitrifying organisms. Fresh
and damp compost heaps where vegetable or animal
matters are abundant and the soil of forests, low mead-
ows and bogs, contain little or no nitrates, and their
bacterial growths are of the deoxidizing or reducing
kinds. It is probable that, near the surface of the heap
of potting earth, nitrifying organisms were abundant at
the very time when the sample taken from the interior
was found to have a denitrifying effect. Accordingly, the
use of potting earth from the exterior of a compost heap
may occasion no loss of nitrate-nitrogen, while earth from
the interior of the heap may reduce nitrates and cause
serious waste of any nitrate that is applied as a fertilizer.
It is therefore advisable, some time before using potting
compost, to 'place it under cover away from rain, and to
intermix it thoroughly and frequently, and to keep it in
rather shallow heaps,"

WATERING FORCING-HOUSES. 65

WATERING.

Of all the operations which fall to the lot of the gar-
dener, there is perhaps none which requires the exer-
cise of so much judgment as the watering of plants grow-
ing under glass. The frequency of the watering, the
amounts to apply, and how to apply it, must all be de-
termined by the immediate conditions. There can be no
rules for the practice. The best single statement to
make, perhaps, is to say that plants should be watered
when they need it ; but this means little. Plants may
need water and yet be ruined by the giving of it.
Watering is performed primarily to supply the plant with
food, yet there are certain secondary effects of the
practice which should be thoroughly understood.

It must first be said that the application of water radi-
cally changes, for the time being, both the temperature
and physical condition of the soil, and these features are
the very ones which bear most intimate relations to
plant growth. Watering modifies the temperature of the
soil, both because the water itself absorbs heat and be-
cause the evaporation of it is a cooling process. Plants
which love a high temperature receive a serious check the
moment the soil is drenched with cold water. The
grower of winter melons, for example, must never hope
for the best success if he soaks his benches with hydrant
water. As a rule, water must be given at such times that
it will change the temperature of the soil the least and
will allow the quickest return to its normal warmth. In
the middle of the day, the change produced by watering
may be too violent. Water is then supplied indirectly by
wetting down the walks ; and when the temperature of
the air has been somewhat reduced the plants may be
syringed and the soil may be watered, if it needs. It is
generally better to water forced vegetables early in the
day in order that the soil may become thoroughly warmed
up again before night. Watering towards night is likely

66 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

to carry the plants too cool through the night, for the body
of warm earth is a powerful factor in regulating and con-
serving the night temperature of the house. While it is
generally not advisable to thoroughly water the soil from
a hose in the middle of the day, it is, nevertheless, very
essential that the most profuse waterings be given on
sunny days. This is because, as already stated, the sun
soon warms up the house, and also because the house and
foliage soon dry off. Houses which have a continually
damp air breed soft plants and fungous diseases. The
plants should go into the night dry — never wet. It is
always best to withhold water on dull days, unless the
plants are actually suffering for it. Perhaps these remarks
cannot be better summed up than by saying that glass
houses should be watered on a rising temperature, not
on a falling temperature.

The next most important secondary effect of watering,
as already indicated, is the modification of the physical
texture of the soil. The application of water tends to run
the soil particles together, thus solidifying or compacting
the earth. In the instance of clay soils, this cementing
action of the water may proceed so far that the surface of
the bed may become actually hard and almost non-absor-
bent of water. When soils arrive at this condition, they
are incapable of producing good plants, no matter how
much plant food they may contain. There is greater dan-
ger of compacting the soil when watering from a hose
than from a pot. A good forcing-house soil remains open
and porous to the last. The water quickly settles away
into it and leaves the surface friable and open. When
the surface remains wet and sticky, good plants are grown
only with much difficulty. The physical condition of the
surface soil may also be greatly improved by fre-
quent tillage, for stirring the soil (an inch or so deep) as
often as it becomes hard is quite as necessary in the
forcing-house as out of doors.

The entire body of soil should be wetted when water

WATERING FORCING-HOUSES. 67

is applied, and the normal condition of the surface should
be simply moistness, not wetness. Of the two extremes,
an habitually dry surface soil is much better than an
habitually wet one. The fungi of damping-off breed pro-
fusely upon wet surfaces ; and these soils are the ones, too,
upon which the green "moss" (which is really an alga)
thrives. All this means that when water is used on the
soil, it should be applied thoroughly, and that the un-
der soil should remain moister than the surface soil.
Frequent and slight waterings produce just the opposite
conditions of distribution of moisture, and thereby invite
fungous disorders at the same time that they withhold
water from the roots of the plants.

Benches usually require closer attention than beds do,
especially (as in the case of tomatoes and melons) when
they are subjected to strong bottom heat. The earth
then dries out both on top and bottom. It is the com-
monest thing to find the soil in such benches as dry as pow-
der at the bottom whilst it is abundantly moist on top ;
and the gardener is generally found to be wondering why
his plants ripen up prematurely and bear no crops of con-
sequence. The thorough watering which has been ad-
vised above — applying the water until the moisture can be
seen or felt along some of the cracks on the bottom of
the bench — will remedy this common difficulty ; but the
operator must be warned that if he allows any water to
drip through his bench he may be leaching away valuable
plant food. Beds upon the ground dry out from only one
surface, and they usually replenish their store of water from
the earth by means of capillary action. It is, therefore,
necessary to exercise care not to water such beds too
heavily. With profuse watering, they soon become
soggy, cold and "sour." In the fall and spring months,
it is generally necessary to water forcing-house soils every
day, but in winter the operation may not be necessary
oftener than once or twice a week. There is particular
danger of keeping the soil too wet and cold in the long,

6 FORC.

68 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

dull spells of midwinter. In such weather, plants tend
to grow soft and succulent, a tendency which is aided
by over-watering. If there is a sudden rise in tempera-
ture and a spell of bright weather, such flabby plants are
likely to flag, scorch, curl, or otherwise suffer. It is, there-
fore, extremely important that the gardener should aim to
keep his plants "hard" in these cloudy days.

In cold weather, the chill should always be taken off
the water before it is applied to soil in which "warm"
plants — like cucumbers, melons, tomatoes and egg-plants —
are growing ; and it should also be done with lettuce if
the hose water is colder than 60°. There are devices (of
which the so-called Kinney pump is a good example) for
drawing hot water from a tank or pail into the hose in
just the right proportion to temper the water ; or, if the
establishment is not too large, a watering-pot may be
used. In large establishments, where steam power is
used, an arrangement can be perfected for ejecting steam
into the water. Rain water is undoubtedly the best water
for plants, but ordinary spring or reservoir water is not
injurious, and is generally used.

WATERING BY SUB-IRRIGATION.

Recent experiments have shown that water may be
economically and efficiently applied to forced plants by
means of pipes laid in the bottom of the bench. The
writer's attention was first called to this line of investi-
gation in 1890, when certain studies were proposed to
determine what relation the supply of soil water has
to the transpiration of water from the foliage and to the
consequent rate of growth of the plant. Experiments
were begun at Cornell in 1891, but facilities were not at
hand to continue them. In this same year, Mr. W. J.
Green published preliminary results of somewhat similar
and more important experiments at the Ohio Experiment
Station, and his investigations were begun in 1890, in

MAKING BEDS FOR SUB-IRRIGATION. 6g

advance of those of any other Station. He has contin-
ued these studies until the present time, and he and
his colleagues have published various reports of them.
Professor F. W. Rane has also made similar investiga-
tions at the West Virginia Experiment Station, the results
of which are published in Bulletin 33 of that Station.*
The entire subject is so important in its relation to the
forcing-house industries that I shall make copious extracts
from Mr. Green's last bulletin (No. 61, September, 1895)
upon the subiect.

Construction of beds and b3nches for sub-irrigation. —
"A water-tight bed, or bench bottom, is necessary in sub-
irrigation, and there are several methods by which this
may be secured. Our first attempt was made witli
matched lumber or flooring, the joints being filled with
white lead. The objection to this method of construction
is partly on account of the cost, but more particularly
because of the fact that when the boards swell the bot-
tom bulges upward, displacing the irrigating tile and caus-
ing leakage. It has been found that common barn boards,
or any rough lumber, answers better, if the cracks are bat-
tened with lath, and a layer of cement is spread over the
entire bottom, deep enough to almost cover the lath.
About one-third of good cement and two-thirds sand,
made quite thin with water, spread on to the depth of
about half an inch, and not allowed to dry too quickly,
answers the purpose very well. The bottom boards will
last longer than when the soil is placed directly upon
them, but the supports underneath need to be somewhat
nearer together than in the ordinary method of con-
struction, so as to prevent springing of the boards, which
cracks the cement. The greatest difficulty is found in
making the sides of the benches water-tight, as no matter
how well the side boards are nailed to the bottom boards,

*Rane has also pubiished an account of sub-irrigation in the open
in Bulletin 34 of the New Hampshire Experiment Station.

70 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

they will spring away and cause leakage. To obviate this
the cement needs to be put on more thickly at the sides,
bringing it up against the side boards two or three inches
high, and from one to two inches thick. In fact the
office of the cement is to hold the water, while the side
boards protect the cement and retain the soil.

" In case it is desired to make a bed on the ground,
the bottom may be constructed in the same manner as
an ordinary cellar bottom, except that the cement need
not be as thick. Sometimes " the bottom may be made
directly on the clay sub-soil, or clay may be brought in
for the purpose and no cement used. There may be some
leakage in a clay bottom, but not sufficient to do any
harm. In all cases there must be a level bottom, or at
least the slope must be slight, and all in one direction.
Inequalities in the bottom will prevent the proper working
of the irrigating tile and result in unequal distribution of
the water, hence a perfect grade is essential. In case
benches are constructed, the best plan is to use indestruc-
tible material altogether.

" The irrigating tiles [common drain tile] may be laid
lengthwise or crosswise the beds, but about fifty feet is
the greatest length of tile that will work satisfactorily on
a level, and if the runs are to be longer than this, there
should be one or two inches fall to each fifty feet. It will
be necessary, however, in case there is a fall, to check
the water at intervals in order to prevent a too rapid
flow towards the lower end. This may be easily done
by inserting strips of tin into the joints as often as need
be, so as to partially intercept the flow, and to cause the
water to run out at the joints wherever needed. When
properly laid, rows of tile several hundred feet in length
could be made to work satisfactorily, but we have had
the best success with short runs of tile, laid crosswise the
benches. Instead of using elbows of sewer pipe, a
cheaper plan is to employ common tile altogether. In
this case, the end of the outer tile is raised so as to

DETAILS OF SUB-IRI^IGATING. 7I

come above the top of the bench, in order to admit of
inserting the hose in watering. When the tiles are laid
crosswise the benches, several may be watered at once by
means of a piece of gas pipe with holes bored at suit-
able distances. When the tiles are laid, they are simply
placed end to end, and no cement is needed, although it
is sometimes used to prevent the tiles becoming dis-
placed in filling the benches with soil.

"Gas pipe, with holes bored at intervals, has been
used with success ; also a pipe, called 'structural iron
pipe.' This differs from ordinary iron pipe in having a
slot along one side. Where the slot is nearly closed, so
as to not allow the water to flow too freely, this pipe
answers very well, but 2X-inch drain tiles are cheaper
than anything else, and are perfectly satisfactory. These
tiles are, of course, removed and put in place again each
time the soil in the benches is renewed. Another thing
in favor of lyi or 3-inch tiles, is that the capacity is suffi-
cient, so that it may be filled quickly and the operator
may go on to another tile, allowing the water to soak
out into the soil, knowing that enough has been given to
last several days ; but if iron pipes are used, the size
must be small because of the cost, and the watering must
be more frequent in consequence."

Rane speaks as follows (Bull. 33, W. Virginia Station)
of the equipment of the sub-irrigation bench : "The ques-
tion of economy, when considering the advisability of using
sub-irrigated beds, is justly a worthy and important one.
There must be a water-tight bed to retain all the water in
the soil, the construction of which is necessarily more
expensive than in the ordinary method of making beds,
provided boards are used. The pipe or tiles are likewise
an extra expense. Now, will this expenditure be realized
from the advantages gained? The cost of raw material,
for example, in two houses, each 50 ft. long and 20 ft.
wide, one being arranged for surface and the other for
under-surface watering, would be about as follows :

72 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

SURFACE. UNDER-SURFACE.

Center bed 40x8 ft. @ $12 Center bed 40x8 ft. @ ^25

per M l3 84 per M $8 00

2 Side benches 50x4 ft. @ 2 Side benches 50x4 ft. @

|i2 per M 4 80 I25 per M 10 00

182 ft. Sideboards @ $20 . . 3 64 182 ft. Sideboards @ $20 . . 3 C4

150 ft. Quarter round @ i ct. i 50
320 ft. Tile @ |i8 per M . . 5 76
White lead i 10

Total $12 28 Total $30 00

' ' The difference between the first cost of the beds
in the two houses is, therefore, I17.72. Dividing- this
amount by two, since the beds will certainly last two
years, we have $8.86 as the actual yearly expense of the
one house over the other. The fact of this small expendi-
ture in comparison with the great advantages derived
from it, establishes its economic importance and thorough
practicability.

"Lead or iron pipe may be used in place of the tiles,
but are not as practicable when a quantity is to be used.
They are more expensive, and better adapted to smaller
areas. Lead pipe costs 6 cents per pound, the number cf
pounds to the foot varying according to the quality. It
gives very satisfactory results, and can be used indefi-
nitely. The cost of iron pipe varies according to the
size. Although it is less expensive than the lead, it rusts
easily, and can not be relied upon after one or two sea-
sons' use. That used the past season, after having been
cleaned, is in fair condition for use this year."

Experiments with lettuce and other plants. — After
various preliminary tests at the Ohio Station, "three
houses, each 2oxioDft., have been devoted almost wholly
to lettuce, nearly all of which has -been sub-irrigated. A
middle section in each house has been reserved for sur-
face watering, and the end benches are divided, half
being watered by one method and half by the other.
Incidentally, this arrangement may be referred to as af-
fording an opportunity to note the behavior of plants in

SUB-IRRIGATION FOR LETTUCE.

houses where the moisture in the air, in addition to the
normal quantity, comes almost wholly from plant tran-
spiration.

"In the following table, the. results with a number of
varieties are given. This was not intended as a variety
experiment, as those in the Hst are not comparable in the
manner presented, since some are varieties which form
heads while others do not. All that it is intended to
show is the relative development of each variety by the
two methods of watering. In this experiment each lot is
carried through the entire season of growth by the method
indicated. That is, the sub-irrigated plants were treated
in that manner from the time the seed was sown until
the crop was harvested. The surface-watered plants, on
the other hand, were surface-watered during their entire
season of growth. This is referred to particularly be-
cause it is not the plan which has been followed in the
greater number of our experiments. It will be seen that
the average gain in favor of the sub-irrigated plots was
about loo per cent. —

THE RESULTS OF SURFACE- AND SUB-IRRIGATION WITH
TEN VARIETIES OF LETTUCE.

Variety.

Surface-watered.

Sub-irrigated.

Number of
plants.

Weight,
ounces.

Number of
plants.

Weight,
ounces.

Chicago Forcing . , .
Denver Market . .
Tilton's White Star .
Henderson's N. Y. . .

Hanson

Grand Rapids . .

Iceberg

Big Boston

Large Boston
Rawson's Hot- House .

5
5
5

10
10
25

15
15

11
8
II

i8
So

32
21

5
5
5

10
10
25

15
15

22
12
32

208

47
51
31

In the next table, the separate results of 15

MANAGEMENT OF THE FORClNG-MOUSE.

periments are given. * * * No effort has been made
to select examples, further than to secure a fair average,
rather than to present the highest or the lowest. The
average gain of the sub-irrigated over the surface-watered
in the above cases was a little more than 40 per cent.
This increase in weight was made in a little more than
six weeks, or from the time the plants were set in the
benches to the end of the experiments. That is, all of
the plants were sub-irrigated while growing in the flats,
or during about half of their period of growth, and not un-
til they were planted in the benches was surface-watering
commenced. This is a less favorable showing for sub-
irrigation than is made in the last table, by the plan
above described, of carrying the plants through the entire
period of growth by the respective methods of watering. —

RESULTS IN FIFTEEN SUB-IRRIGATION EXPERIMENTS
WITH GRAND RAPIDS LETTUCE.

"In the above examples, the surface- and sub-irrigated
plots were side by side, but a more satisfactory plan is to

SOB-lRRlGAtlON ^Oft LEttUCE.

alternate the plots. This, however, cannot be extended
very far, as the difference in heat in the two ends of a house
is considerable. A very good plan is to take a section of a
bed in the middle of a house and treat by one method of
watering, while two sections of the same size on either side
are treated according to the other method. This has been
done in several cases, and some examples are given in the
third table. In these experiments, the plants were treated
in the same manner as those in the experiments above men-
tioned, i. e., all were sub-irrigated until they were planted
in the benches. After that time sections A and C were sub-
irrigated, and section B was surface-watered. The average
gain of the sub-irrigated plots over the surface-watered was
about 38 per cent, or very nearly the same as the average
of the 15 experiments in the second table. —

COMPARISON OF SURFACE-WATERED SECTIONS WITH SUB-
IRRIGATED SECTIONS ON EITHER SIDE, 75 GRAND
RAPIDS PLANTS IN EACH SECTION.

Experiment I
Experiment II
Experiment III

Section A, sub-
irrigated.

Weight, 385 ozs.
487 "
308 "

Section B, sur-
face watered.

Weight, 325 ozs.

329 '
" 229 "

Section C, sub-
irrigated.

Weight, 420 ozs.

496 "
345 "

"In all of the experiments thus far referred to, but
one point has been considered, and that is the increase in
weight by sub-irrigation. Aside from the relative preva-
lency of disease in plants treated by the two methods, there
are but few practical questions.

"Although not a matter of much practical importance,
some interest attaches to the fact that sub-irrigated lettuce
is earlier than that grown in the ordinary manner. It does
not really come to maturity any earlier if by that is meant
the stage at which the plants cease to increase in weight,

y6 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

caused by the dying of the lower leaves, but it does reach a
marketable size sooner. It is customary to allow the plants
to stand as long as they continue to improve, but in case it
is desirable to cut before that time it will be found that the
sub-irrigated lettuce will be a week to ten days ahead of the
other. Should the size to which surface-watered lettuce can
be grown be set as a standard, and the sub-irrigated cut
when it reaches that size, it will be found that the latter will
be ready four to six weeks from the time of planting in the
beds, and the surface-watered must be allowed to remain
from six to eight weeks to attain the same size Whether
we reckon in this manner, or by the actual weight of the
crops harvested during the season, there is a gain in one
season of about one crop by sub-irrigation. Both the yield
and price vary, of course ; but for a house 20 x 100 feet the
difference in a single season between surface- and sub- irriga-
tion might safely be estimated at from I50 to |ioo. The
latter figure might not be reached, except on very heavy
clay soil, and on soil specially adapted to lettuce the dif-
ference might be even less than the lowest, but experience
has shown that it is more likely to exceed than to fall below
$50. The difference is likely to be greater with new begin-
ners than with those of experience, as more skill is required
to manage a crop by surface- than by sub-irrigation. It is an
established fact that good head lettuce cannot be grown on
heavy soil by surface watering, and the same is, in a meas-
ure, true of all varieties. It is evident, therefore, that sub-
irrigation greatly enlarges the possibilities of lettuce culture
under glass. It not only makes the work easier for new
beginners, but it makes it possible to use soil that would
otherwise be precluded. More than that, it solves the prob-
lem of meeting competition from the south, which competi-
tion bids fair to ruin the business of vegetable forcing at the
north, unless improved methods are adopted by northern
gardeners."

Very similar results with lettuce have been secured by
Rane, who also found much less trouble with rot in sub-

RESULTS OF SUB-lRRlGATlON. 77

irrigated beds. "The lettuce rot, whicli appeared to a
marked extent in the surface-watered beds," he writes,
"was apparently absent in the sub-irrigated beds. The
disease was first noticed at time of marketing, at which time
it could not be detected in the other beds. During the
growth of the second crop it became very troublesome, and
some of the varieties in the surface-watered beds required
marketing before they were fully grown, while in the under-
surface-watered beds the disease was completely held in
check."

Rane also found " marked superiority " in sub-irrigation
for tomatoes, "no marked difference" in turnip-rooted
radishes, "very beneficial" effects in long-rooted radishes,
"a slight difference" in earliness in spinach, " no marked
difference" in turnip rooted beets, and "very marked"
gain in maturity of parsley from seed but " no perceptible
difference in its growth " after the plants in the surface-
irrigated soil "once reached maturity."

Conclusions. — Green makes the following points of ad-
vantage of sub-irrigation in glass houses :

"Watering by sub-irrigation in the greenhouse is more
cheaply done than by the ordinary method.

* ' Watering by sub-irrigation in the greenhouse is more
efficiently done than by the ordinary method.

"Where sub-irrigation is practiced in the greenhouse,
the soil does not become compacted as by surface water-
ings, but retains its original loose, friable condition, even
without frequent stirring, nor does it become rnossy, water-
logged and sour.

"Plants are less liable to suffer from over watering
and diseases by sub-irrigation than where the water is
applied to the surface.

"All classes of plants which may be grown upon
greenhouse benches thrive better by sub-irrigation than
by the ordinary method of watering,"

Rane writes as follows: "The saving of labor through
sub-irrigation is almost inestimable. The expenditure of

yS MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCIN(^-HOUSE.

time in watering was as follows : In the case of under-
surface irrigation, the water was dipped out of a tank and
poured into a funnel, through which it entered the various
portions of the bed. On the other hand, in surface irriga-
tion, the water was dipped out and applied by a sprinkling
can, containing either a rose spray or a spout long enough
to reach all sections of the bed. In the former case, the size
of the plants did not matter, while in the latter, the more
mature the crop, the more time it required for watering.
Again, the sub-irrigated beds did not require watering over
once or, at the outside, twice a week ; while, generally
speaking, the other beds were watered daily.

" The idea that a water-tight bed is detrimental to plant
growth on account of lack of drainage is overcome, we be-
lieve, in the fact that the pipe or tiles receive the excess of
water, which, in a bed not water-tight, would leak out at the
bottom, thus making it serve a double purpose. If the soil
contains too much moisture, it serves as a reservoir ; if not
enough, it imports the amount necessary for good condi-
tions. In either case, the pipe or tiles act as a safety-valve.
These openings underneath the soil allow free access of air,
render plant food digestible, and act as a drain to water-
soaked soil. In view of these results, we feel safe in saying
that under-surface watering is a pronounced success. ' '

VENTILATING AND SHADING.

The one imperative thing to be borne in mind in ventila-
ting glass houses is to avoid draughts. This means that
ventilators should be many and small rather than few and
large, for thereby the warm air can be discharged from
houses without much danger of an in-rush of cold air,
because the ventilator sash need be lifted only very little.
Houses should be cooled by letting out heated air rather
than by letting in cold air, although it is impossible to
wholly exclude the outside air when ventilators are opened.
In forcing-houses of ordinary size, sufficient ventilation can

VENTILATING FORCING-HOUSES. 79

be secured by means of sash at the peak alone, thus obvi-
ating the danger of currents of cold air which arises when
there are ventilating sashes in both the sides and top. In
very large houses, particularly in those of the shed roof
pattern, it may be necessary to place ventilating openings
in the walls, more especially on the back or high side of the
house. Ventilating openings should be removed as far as
possible from the plants in order to reduce the danger of
cold draughts to the utmost.

Particular care should be taken with the ventilating dur-
ing dull, cold weather, when the plants become soft and are
very quickly injured by draughts. It is not necessary to
ventilate primarily for the purpose of securing fresh air, but
to regulate the temperature of the house. When the house
becomes over wet and close, it is often necessary to ventilate
for the purpose of drying it out. The larger the house, the
less, as a rule, is the necessity qf ventilating.

Houses are shaded to prevent the sun from scorching the
plants. The shading is supplied by coating the glass with
some white covering, like whitewash. The necessity for
shading may be largely obviated by not allowing the plants
to become over-vigorous, sappy, and soft. The greatest
danger from sun-scald occurs after a spell of dark and wet
weather. It is then essential to keep the house rather cool
when the weather brightens, and it may be necessary to
shade it. Plants which are suffering from root-galls or other
disease of the roots, or those which are growing in very
leachy soils or on very shallow benches, may have to be
shaded in order to check the evaporation from their tops
and thereby prevent them from wilting. Many plants thrive
best under shaded roofs, but amongst the forced vegetables
there is only the English or frame cucumber which appears
to thrive best under a tempered light. This plant was
developed in the humid and soft cHmate of England, and it
seeems to be impatient of our violent suns ; yet it may be
made to withstand the sun if grown rather slowly.

For plants which require permanent shading, a paint

80 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

made of naphtha and white lead may be put upon the
glass. This is removed with difficulty. For forcing-houses,
which only infrequently need shading, an ordinarily slaked-
lime-and-water whitewash, which can be both applied and
washed off by means of a spray pump, is the best covering.
A still less durable wash is made of flour and water.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT FOR FORCING-HOUSES.

Can the electric light stand for sunlight? Can it be
profitably used at night and in dull weather to hasten the
growth of plants ? These questions have received greater
attention in the United States than elsewhere in the
world. Experiments have been made at the Cornell
Experiment Station,* the West Virginia Station,! and
by W. W. Rawson, an extensive vegetable forcer at Bos-
ton. It is found that the electric light, both the arc and
the incandescent, can be advantageously used upon let-
tuce to piece out the sunlight in midwinter. In various
florists' plants it also produces earlier bloom. It is usu-
ally injurious, or has only negative results, upon radishes,
peas, carrots, beets, spinach and cauliflowers.

Upon lettuce, the value of the electric light in hasten-
ing maturity is emphatic. Mr. Rawson .saves about a
week upon each of his three winter crops by the use of
three ordinary street lamps hung over a house 370 ft.
long and 33 ft. wide.

At Cornell, the results upon lettuce have been marked
in many tests, and the gains in maturity have been as
much as two weeks. It is found in every instance that the
naked arc light — that is, a light without a globe — hung

♦Bailey, Bulletins 30 (Aug. 1891), 42 (Sept. 1892), 55 (July 1893); also,
"Electricity and Plant-Growing," in Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc'y, 1894.
Experiments with electric currents upon plants, by Clarence D. Walker,
will be found in Bulletins 16 (1892) and 23 (1893) of the Mass. Hatch
Exp. Sta.

tRane, " Electro- Horticulture with the Incandescent Lamp," BuUe*
tin 37 (July, 1894).

POLLINATING THE FLOWERS. 8l

inside the house, injures the plants which are within a
few feet of it, and tends to make all plants within reach
of its rays run too quickly to seed. The use of a clear
glass globe, however, overcomes all injury. The best
results are to be obtained by placing the light — either
naked or surrounded by a clear globe — a few feet above
the roof. An ordinary 2,000-candle-power arc light — such
as is commonly used for street lighting — will exert a
marked effect upon lettuce for a radius of 75 to 100 feet,
if the roof is clean and the framework of the house is
light. The light may be allowed to burn all night. In-
candescent lamps have the same influence as arc lights,
but to a less degree. It will be found profitable to use
the electric light for plant-growing, if at all, only in the
three or four months of midwinter.

POLLINATION.

It is generally necessary to transfer the pollen by hand
in fruit-bearing forced vegetables. The methods are fully
explained under the discussions of the various vegetables.
In order to secure the pollen, the house should be dry
and warm. Upon a bright morning, when the flowers need
pollinating, the gardener should withhold water and let
the foliage and walks become thoroughly dried off, and
before midday the pollen will usually discharge readily.

Bees may sometimes be utilized as pollen-carriers in
spring and fall, when they can forage in and out of the
house as they choose, but they are impracticable in the
winter time in houses of ordinary size. In very large
houses, in which there is abundant room for the bees to
work, and where ventilators do not need to be opened so
much, bees may sometimes be used to advantage. Three
or four swarms should pollinate a house 40x400 ft. The
bees will have to be fed. In general, however, bees are
found to be unsatisfactory. The following account of an

82 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE,

experiment in this direction at Cornell (Lodeman, Bulle-
tin 96) will indicate some of the perverseness of these
insects :

"Much has been written regarding the value of bees
in greenhouses. It is said that all hand-pollinations may
be dispensed with if desired, as the bees will work among
the blossoms, and thus cause the fruit to set.

"During November, 1893, a hive of bees was received,
and on the 23rd day of the month they were set free in
the brightest of all the station houses. The hive was
placed at the south end of the house, and the bees were
kept constantly supplied with proper food. At this time
the house was filled with tomato plants in full bloom, and
it was hoped the bees would work among them so that
the tedious but very necessary hand-pollination of the
flowers need no longer be practiced. The bees evidently
did not catch the idea, however, for if there was one
place in the house which they did not visit it w^as the
tomato blossom. They spent most of their time in bump-
ing their heads against the glass sides and roof of the
house, and at every opportunity, when the ventilators
were raised a little, they took pains to pass through
them, even though the mercury stood far below the
freezing point out of doors. The bees which did not
succeed in finding the ventilators continued to fly against
the glass, leaving it only for the purpose of withdrawing
far enough to get a start for a fresh attack. In this way
the busy bee finally wore herself out, and, in the course
of three weeks, those less ambitious individuals which did
not fly heavenward in the friendless atmosphere of De-
cember, were scattered as corpses along the sides of the
house close to the glass ; and thus ended the attempt to
make these little creatures useful in midwinter. It may
be said that bees do not like tomato flowers, but our
specimens took no pains to find out whether they liked
them or not. It is probable that every bee in the swarm
went to his honeyless bourne without ever having dis-

PESTS AND DISEASES. 83

covered whether the plants were tomatoes or buckwheat,
or, in fact, if there were any plants at all in the house."

INSECTS AND DISEASES.

Insects and fungi are amongst the best of all educa-
tors. They force the gardener to learn, whether he will
or not. They are always the curse of poor gardeners. It
occasionally happens that the very best gardeners are
overtaken by some dire pest, but it is the exception,
not the rule. The gardener boasts that the glass house
affords him the means of keeping plants directly under
control. By the same means, he should also keep the
pests under control. There is a constant struggle for
mastery between the plant, the bug, the fungus, and the
man, and it often happens that the combatant which is
the biggest, oldest and knows the most turns out to be
the slave of all the others.

The one universal and invariable precaution against in-
sect and fungous attack is this : Keep the plants in a con-
stant and uniform state of normal and healthy develop-
ment. Avoid all extremes of temperature and moisture,
and be particularly careful in this regard in the dark
weather of winter. One is growing cucumbers, for ex-
ample. He is in a hurry for the crop. The season is
advancing. A dull spell comes on. He keeps his house
close and waters freely. The plants respond quickly.
The stems lengthen and thicken and the leaves expand
to enormous size. Presently the sun appears. He must
have air. He swings open the ventilators. The cold air
rushes in and stirs the foliage. Two or three days later,
he may look for a well-established case of mildew !

If he is growing lettuce in the same fashion, his plants
appear to suddenly begin to collapse. The lower leaves
rot, and presently the crop is worthless. In less than a
week, one January, the writer lost an entire house of
most beautiful lettuce by just such management. If he ig

7 FORg,

84 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

growing tomatoes, the plants become sappy and con-
gested under such treatment, and may actually contract
the dropsy, as is shown in the chapter upon tomato forc-
ing. In a spell of dull weather in winter, the gardener
must be particularly careful to keep his houses dry and
sweet, for then the mildews develop rapidly.

The houses should be kept sweet and clean. All trim-
mings from the plants should be carried out of the estab-
lishment. The soil should be changed every year, particu-
larly on benches (as explained on page 51). If there
have been serious infections of fungi or insects, the
framework of the house should be painted during sum-
mer, or else sprayed or washed with kerosene. Care
should be taken to avoid filling the benches with in-
fested soil. It is always safest not to select soil from
fields which have recently grown the same kind of crops
which it is desired to grow in the house ; and if the
forced plants have been badly infected, the soil in which
they are grown should not be used again for forcing pur-
poses.

All possible precautions having been taken, the gar-
dener may next exercise himself to devise means of kill-
ing the pests. For aphis and the like, he will fumigate
with some tobacco preparation ; for mealy-bugs he will
use a fine hard stream of water from a hose, a proceed-
ing which will greatly upset their domestic affairs ; for red
spiders and mites he will syringe the foliage thoroughly
with water above and below on all bright days ; for mil-
dews he will evaporate sulphur or dust it on the plants ;
for rusts he will spray with Bordeaux mixture ; for damp-
ing-off (and "canker" at the root) he will dry off the
surface of the soil and mix a little sulphur or charcoal
into it ;* for the nematode or root-gall (the work of which

♦See Atkinson's monograph of damping-off, Bulletin 94, Cornell Exp.
Sta. (now out of print), for an account of the various fungi concerned
in the trouble. The advice which Atkinson drives for the treatment of

THE DAMPING-OFF FUNGI. 85

is shown in Fig. 29, page 87), which is one of the most
serious of all greenhouse pests, he will remove the soil,
paint the benches with lye or kerosene, and thereafter use
only soil which has been very thoroughly frozen since a
crop was grown in it (a proceeding which is practically
impossible in solid beds).

damping-off is here reprinted because the disorder is a very common
and serious one, although it is not particularly germane to the subject
of the forcing of vegetables :

" In the treatment of this trouble, especial attention must be given
to the environment of the plants and those conditions which favor the
rapid development of the parasites. These conditions are known in
most cases to be high temperature accompanied by a large moisture
content of the soil, humici atmosphere, insufficient light, and close
apartments, and soil which has become thoroughly infested with the
fungi by the development of the disease in plants growing in the same.
Some excellent notes on the treatment of the disease by gardeners and
horticulturists are given in the American Garden for 1890, by Meehan,
Massey, Maynard, Watson, Lonsdale, Gardiner, and Bailey, and a
short description of the potting-bed fungus {Artotrogus Debary amis')
by Seymour. The principal lines of treatment suggested there from the
practical experience of the writers are as follows :

"When cuttings are badly diseased, they should be taken out, the
soil removed, benches cleaned and fresh sand introduced, when only
the sound cuttings should be reset. For cuttings is recommended a
fairly cool house, and confined air should be avoided in all cases. As
much sunlight as possible should be given as the plants will stand
without wilting. When close atmosphere is necessary, guard against too
much moisture, and keep an even temperature. The soil should be
kept as free as possible from decaying vegetable matter. This is a
very important matter, for several of the most troublesome of the para-
sites grow readily on such decaying vegetable matter, and in many
cases obtain such vigorous growth that they can readily attack a per-
fectly healthy plant which could resist the fungus if the vegetable
matter had not been there to give it such a start. Soil which is dry
beneath and wet on top, as results from insufficient watering by a
sprinkler, favors the disease more than uniformity of moisture through-
out the soil.

" In seed beds, use fresh sandy soil free from decaying matter.
Avoid over-watering, especially in dull weather, shade in the middle
part of the day only, and keep temperature as low as the plants will
stand.

" If the seedlings are badly diseased it will be wise to discard
them and start the bed anew. In the early stages, however, they can

frequently be saved by loosening the soil to dry it, and placing the
pots in sunny places at such times as they will not wilt. Some
advocate sprinkling sulphur on the soil, and in some cases sulphur

at the rate of i to 30 is mixed in the soil before sowing, with
good effect. When the beds are badly infested, Humphrey (Rept.
Mass. State Agr. Exp. Sta. 1890) advocates the entire removal of the
soil, whitewashing the beds, and the introduction of fresh soil.

" In houses heated by steam if it were possible to have, without
too great expense, a steam chest, where the pots and seed pans
which are used could be placed and the soil thoroughly steamea for

86 MANAGEMENT OK THE FORCING-HOUSE.

Methods of controlling greenhouse pests by fumiga-
tion.*— The insects and the fungi which seriously injure
greenhouse plants are comparatively few in number, but if
allowed to develop unchecked they are capable of entirely
ruining every susceptible plant in the houses. There are
some plants which are almost entirely free from such
attacks, but they form isolated exceptions to a very gen-
eral rule. All who have had any experience in growing
plants under glass know that diseases are sure to appear,
and that insects will originate apparently from nothing.
Indeed, so certain are these pests to appear that every
thorough gardener is at all times prepared for them, or
even takes steps towards their destruction before they
have been seen. Fortunately, he has at his command
abundant means of protecting , his plants, and houses in
which insects or fungi are found in large numbers are
silent but convincing witnesses of bad management and
neglect. When a greenhouse has once become thor-
oughly infested, it is almost impossible to rid the plants
of their parasites, and it requires constant and prolonged
attention to bring about this result ; and even when this
has been done, the plants will in many cases have be-
come so weakened that they will scarcely repay the time
and labor employed in saving them. The care of plants
should begin before they are attacked, and this care
should be given uninterruptedly. By treating apparently
uninfested plants many invisible enemies may be de-
several hours, it could be sterilized, and the finer and more delicate
seedlings be grown then with little danger if subsequent care was
used to not introduce soil from the beds. In testing the virulence
of the Artotrogus Debaryatiiis, and of the sterile fungus, several
experiments have been made by steaming pots of earth, growing
seedlings in them and then inoculating some of the seedlings with
the fungus while other pots were kept as checks, and all were under
like conditions with respect to moisture, temperature, etc. The seed-
lings which were not supplied with the fungus remained healthy,
while those supplied with the fungus were diseased and many were
killed outright."

♦Lodeman, Bulletin 96, Cornell Exp. Sta.

TOBACCO FOR PLANT-LICE.

stroyed, and such treatments are by far the most valu-
able ones.

Tobacco. — Several of the most common and often very
serious organisms may be overcome by vapors with
which a house may be filled, and the best known and
the most valuable remedy of this nature is undoubtedly

EJL^.

te ^3B

^^^^^^^^Iks^^Kk i^^S^^^k V

^^^HBjIsK '^ • J ^L v^ V

^^^^^HyS^v' \\ K ^\mI^ '<

^Wp^^ % ^^^K^9%iiSP^'\* '

-. .._....

''^^i^^Hk^^.

■ 29. Galls of a nematode worm on the roots of two tomato plants.
The root on the left is unusually severely affected.

tobacco. The poisonous alkaloids found in the tobacco
plant are fatal to many insects. The waste parts of the
plants, particularly the "stems," are utilized by florists
and others for purposes of fumigation.

These stems, which are almost invariably the dried
mid-veins of the leaves, may be obtained for almost noth-

88 MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

ing at any cigar factory. When wanted for fumigating
purposes they should not be too dry, else they will blaze,
instead of slowly smouldering and forming a dense
smoke. In case the stems are too dry, they may be
moistened by sprinkling water upon them ; a better way,
however, is to store the stems in a moderately damp
place, and then they are always in good condition for
burning. If they blaze while the house is being fumi-
gated, much of their value is lost, and it is also said that
plants are positively injured in such cases, although our
experience has not supported this view.

Tobacco stems may be burned in a variety of ways.
Some gardeners merely pile the required quantity upon
a brick or stone floor in the house and set fire to it by
means of paper or shavings. An old coal scuttle answers
the purpose very well. Fig. 30 represents a home-made
tobacco-stem burner which we have designed, and which
is perhaps as simple, serviceable, and easily managed as
any in use. The body of the burner is made of heavy,
galvanized sheet-iron. It closely resembles a stove pipe
in form, but is about 7 inches in diameter and 2 feet
in length. The bottom is made of the same
material, and is perforated by about a dozen
holes, each }i-'mch in diameter. Four legs
support the burner and keep the bottom 3
inches from the floor. A handle at, the top
completes the device. When filled, the stems
being packed sufficiently close to insure their
burning, it contains an amount that will answer
for a house of 4,000 to 6,000 cubic feet. Much,
of course, depends upon the tightness of the
house, and considerable variation will also be
found in the strength of the stems. Occasion- jo. A home-
ally some will be had which are much weaker "^^t^afor"^'
than those last used, and hence larger quantities
must be employed. It has been our practice to test each
new lot of stems to determine their strength before they

FUMIGATING WITH TOBACCO, 89

are freely used in all the houses. The quantity must
also be varied in accordance with the plants growing in
the house. Some plants are much more easily injured
by the smoke than others, and the amount used must
be insufficient to hurt the most tender plants. Less in-
jury is apt to result if the houses and plants are dry ; wet'
foliage is quite easily scorched by the smoke. Our method
of starting a "smudge" is to place a single sheet of
newspaper, previously lighted, in the bottom of the burner,
and upon this the stems are immediately placed. If prop-
erlv dampened, they will take fire readily and smoulder
without blazing.

The frequency with which a house should be smoked
cannot be definitely stated. Some conservatories will re-
quire the operation scarely more than two or three times
during the winter, while others may need that many treat-
ments each week. In the latter case, it is well to have
the smudges upon consecutive days, as in this manner
insects receive a second treatment before they have re-
covered from the first. The evening is perhaps the best
time for fumigating, as most of the disagreeable odor is
thus escaped. But it may be advisable, in badly infested
houses, to follow the evening treatment by another the
next morning. In such cases, care should be exercised
that the houses do not become overheated by the morn-
ing sun.

Tobacco smoke may be used successfully in the de-
struction of the various aphides which are found upon
greenhouse plants, and of a small white fly, a species of
aleyrodes. Other insects cannot be practically treated by-
its use.

The rose-leaf extract of tobacco we find to be one of
the best of all insecticides for glass houses. It is a
liquid, which we reduce one-half with water, then drop
a large piece of hot iron into it. The fumes are fatal
to aphis, but have proved to be harmless to plants
with us.

90 MANAGEMENT OF ttiE FORCING-HOUse.

Bisulphide of carbon. — This material has recently as-
sumed a prominent position as an effective insecticide. It
is a clear, transparent liquid, which evaporates rapidly,
even at a low temperature. These fumes are fatal to in-
sect as well as animal life, and may be used to a limited
extent in the greenhouse. The vapor is of greatest value
in destroying a small mite ( Tetranychus bimaculatus) ,
that closely resembles the red spider. This mite is not
as easily overcome by water as the red spider is, and in
certain cases it may be advisable to resort to the bisul-
phide of carbon treatment. This treatment is adapted to
plants which are growing in pots, or to low-growing
plants in beds. Whole houses could scarcely be treated
in this manner, as the vapor is heavy, and an uneven dis-
tribution would probably result. But for small, con-
fined spaces, as bell-jars, tubs, or barrels, the remedy can
be used with success. I have had no difficulty in de-
stroying mites and red spider by the use of 60 minims
or drops of the liquid to a space containing about 7 cubic
feet. The liquid was poured on cotton batting, which was
spread over a small rose from a watering can, the stem
of the funnel being set in the soil. The plants remained
covered with enamel cloth nearly two hours, which suf-
ficed to kill all the insects, and did not injure the violets,
these being the plants treated.

Hydrocyanic gas. — The success which has followed the
use of hydrocyanic gas in the treatment of scale insects
infesting the orange groves of California has suggested
the idea of its possible value in destroying greenhouse
pests. The common method of making the gas is as fol-
lows : One fluidounce of sulphuric acid is slowly added
to 3 ounces of water. To this diluted acid there is then
added i ounce of 60 per cent cyanide of potassium (very
poisonous). Effervescence immediately takes place, and
the gas is freely given off. The quantities here given are
sufficient for a space containing 150 cubic feet, the plants
being exposed to the gas for one hour. When trees are

SULPHUR fOR MILDEWS. $1

perfectly dormant, such treatment is not followed by any
evil effects.

During the past spring several growing plants were
exposed to the action of the gas when used according to
the above directions. Tomatoes, eggplants, oranges, and
roses were used. The day following the treatment showed
that all the plants were injured, but to what extent could
not be well determined. After two weeks had passed,
however, the effect of the treatment was plainly seen. The
tomato plant died ; the eggplant and the rose lost all
their foliage, but fresh leaves were appearing on the
stems ; the orange suffered the least, since only the
young leaves were affected. The mites had all been
killed, so that in this respect at least the experiment was
successful.

Other trials were made with the gas, using the same
kinds of plants, but it was found to be impossible to de-
stroy the mites without injuring at least some of the
plants. The use of hydrocyanic gas for the destruction of
gi^eenhouse pests can therefore scarcely be recommended.
It should also be remembered that this gas is exceed-
ingly poisonous, and must not be inhaled.

Sulphur. — This element is of the greatest service in
greenhouse work. It is an invaluable agent for the de-
struction of mildews, and is also of great assistance in
overcoming red spider. As commonly used, it is mixed
with an equal bulk of air-slaked lime or some similar
material, and then water, oil, milk or some other liquid
is added until a thick, creamy paste is obtained. This is
then painted upon the heating surfaces in the house, and
the sulphur fumes are given off. The same result can be
obtained much more rapidly and energetically by heating
the flowers of sulphur until it melts ; the fumes are then
given off in great abundance. ,Our practice has been to
put the sulphur in a shallow pan and then set it over an
oil-stove, having the flame turned just high enough to
keep the sulphur in a melted condition. Almost contin-

MANAGEMENT OF THE FORCING-HOUSE.

uous watching was necessary to prevent the material
from taking fire, for if this should occur it would prove
almost instantly fatal to all the plants which might be
reached by the gas. The difficulty was in a great measure
overcome by L. C. Corbett, at that time
an assistant at Cornell, who suggested the
use of a sand-bath as a means of modifying
the intensity of the heat. Our present out-
fit is shown in Fig. 31. It consists of two
pans placed on an ordinary hand oil-stove.
The lower pan is half filled with clean,
coarse sand, and the upper one contains the
sulphur. By its proper use our houses have
been kept remarkably free from mildew,
even under very adverse circumstances. But there is
constant danger that the sulphur will become heated to
the burning point, and then the entire stock of plants in
the house is lost. This use of sulphur is often very con-
venient, but the work should be placed in the hands of
a most trustworthy person. If a house should be thor-
oughly treated in this manner every week or two, scarcely
any mildew could develop.

CHAPTER IV.

LETTUCE.*

Lettuce is the most popular and the most uniformly
profitable of all vegetable crops grown under glass in this
country. It grows rapidly, so that three crops can be
taken from a house between September and April, and
the demand for a choice product is always good. Lettuce
is generally considered to be an easy crop to grow under
glass, and yet it is a fact that few gardeners are entirely
successful with the crop, year by year, particularly if the
heading varieties are grown. It thrives best in late
winter, but if careful attention is given to watering and
ventilating, it thrives well in midwinter. Good head let-
tuces should bring 50 cents or 60 cents a dozen heads at
wholesale, and they often bring more. The loose types
generally bring somewhat less.

Lettuce varies greatly in quality, and this variation is
due in very great measure to the immediate conditions
under which it is grown. If the plant is very rank, and
has dark green, thick leaves, the quality is low. A good

*As stated in the preface, much of the discussion upon methods of
forcing of vegetables which is presented in this book is founded upon
bulletins of the Cornell Experiment Station. Some of these bulletins are
now out of print, and new notes and experiences are constantly ac-
cumulating, so that it seems to be necessary to revise the advice and
to extend it with the observations and experiences of others, and
thereby to present a consecutive manual. It should be added that
these same bulletins formed the basis of much of Winkler's " Vegeta-
ble Forcing," and this fact may account for some similarities of lan-
guage in the two books.

(93)

94 LETTUCE.

lettuce plant is yellowish green in color upon delivery,
and the leaves are thin and brittle. The product should
be wholly free from lice, or green-fly, and the tips of the
leaves should show no tendency to wither or to turn
brown. If heading lettuce is grown, the leaves should
roll inward like cabbage leaves, and the heads should be
compact and nearly globular and yellowish white towards
the core (see Fig. 34, page 103).

Temperature. — Lettuce must have a low temperature.
The night temperature should not rise much above 45°,
while it may go as low as 40°. The day temperature, in
the shade, should be 55° to 65°. Lettuce which is kept
too warm grows too tall, and the leaves are thin and
flabby, and there is generally more danger of injury from
aphis, rot and leaf-burn. In midwinter particular atten-
tion must be given to ventilation, for if the air becomes
damp and close, mildew or rot is almost sure to de-
velop. In raising head lettuce, it is common to do the
watering with tepid water just before heading, in order to
accelerate the growth.

Light.— Whilst a lettuce house must have an abun-
dance of light, the plants do not suffer if they are some
distance from the glass, and even if they receive little di-
rect sunlight. The house should have an exposure to-
wards the sun, and the framework ought to be as light as
possible, if the best results are to be obtained ; but dif-
fused light is often as good as the direct burning rays of
the sun. It should be said, however, that good lettuce
may often be grown in heavy, rather dark houses, but
more care is required (particularly in watering), the re-
sults are less certain, and there is difficulty in growing the
heading varieties to perfection. The electric light may
also be used to adv^antage (see pages 80 and loi).

Beds and benches. — Most of the commercial lettuce
forcers prefer to grow the crop in solid or ground beds,
where the temperature is cool and the conditions of

SOLID BEDS VS. BENCHES.

moisture are uniform. This is more especially true of
the heading varieties. Our own experience has fully
demonstrated the superiority of solid earth beds over
benches, for lettuce. We have had good crops in
benches, but they have required special attention to heat-
ing and watering, and even then the results are generally

32. A ground bed, with Grand Rapids lettuce.

precarious. If, however, the benches have no bottom heat
— that is, if there are no heating pipes close under them
and if the sides are open below — very good results, par-
ticularly with the loose or non-heading sorts, may be had
from year to year. The benches, when used, should con-
tain about six inches of earth. Fig. 32 shows an earth
bed, about 9 inches deep, in which we have had ex-
cellent success with lettiice,

96 LETTUCE.

Soils. — Probably no forced vegetable is so much in-
fluenced by soil as the lettuce, and no doubt more fail-
ures are to be ascribed to uncongenial soil than to any
other single cause. Fortunately this matter has been
made the subject of a most admirable study by Gallo-
way,* who finds that the famous heading lettuce of the
Boston gardeners can be grown to perfection only in soils
which contain much sand and very little clay and silt.
These soils allow the water to settle deeply into them, and
yet hold it without percolation ; the surface is dry, pre-
venting the occurrence of rot ; the roots forage far and
wide, and the plant food is quickly available. The full
characters of the soil used by the Boston growers are set
forth as follows by Galloway: "Loose at all times, re-
gardless of treatment, it being possible to push the arm
into it to a depth of 20 inches or more. Never 'puddles'
when worked, no matter how wet. Clods or lumps never
form. A 4-inch dressing of fresh manure, when spaded
in to a depth of 15 to 20 inches, will be completely dis-
integrated in six or eight weeks. Sufficient water may be
added the first of September, when the first crop is
started, to carry through two crops and a part of a third
without additional applications, except very light ones
merely to keep the leaves moist and to induce a move-
ment of the moisture at the bottom of the bed toward
the top, where it will come in contact with most of the
roots. The surface to a depth of an inch dries out
quickly, and this has an important bearing on the preven-
tion of wet rot of the lower leaves. The active working
roots of the plants are found in abundance throughout the
entire depth of soil, even if this exceeds 30 inches."

Galloway was able to prepare soil which "gave practi-
cally the same results " as that which he imported from
Boston. This soil was made as follows: "Mixture of

*B. T. Galloway, "The Growth of Lettuce as Affected by the Physi-
cal Properties of the Soil," Agric. Science, viii. 302 (1894).

SOILS FOR LETTUCE. 9^

two parts of drift sand and one part of greenhouse soil.
The sand was obtained from the valley of a stream near
by, which frequently overflowed its banks, flooding the
spot where the material was found. The greenhouse soil
was a mixture consisting of one part of the ordinary clay,
gneiss soil of the region, and two parts of well-rotted ma-
nure. Such soil will grow 20 bushels of wheat to the
acre without fertilization."

Whilst all these remarks about the great importance
of the selection of a proper soil are certainly true, it
should nevertheless be said that a good gardener can get
good results from a very uncongenial soil, chiefly by giv-
ing skillful attention to watering. It is always essential to
the best lettuce growing, however, to avoid "heavy"
soils. These soils usually lose their water quickly, neces-
sitating frequent watering, which keeps the surface wet
and increases danger from damping-off and rot. These
soils so^n become hard, compact and "dead," and the
plants grow slowly, with thick, tough leaves.

Green (Bulletin 6i, Ohio Exp. Sta. ) gives the following
advice upon soils for winter lettuce: "If the market de-
mands head lettuce, then it is of the utmost importance
that the soil should have a considerable per cent of sand,
and at the same time be sufficiently fertile and have
capacity for holding moisture. Non-heading sorts, like
the Grand Rapids, are not so particular as to soil, but it
is a difficult matter to grow any kind on a soil with
much clay in it, by surface-watering, and even if sub-irri-
gation is practiced such soil should be avoided. It would
be futile to attempt to grow lettuce according to methods
in vogue in the east on a heavy clay soil. Swamp muck,
composted with one-fourth or one-half horse manure,
answers very well for either surface or sub-irrigation, par-
ticularly for the latter. It has the advantage of being
light and easily handled, and never hardens ; moreover,
it has considerable capacity for water. The addition of
fine sand will greatly improve a clay soil, and it is advisa-

LETTUCE

LETTUCE IN POTS. 99

ble, if such soil is used, to take it from an old fence
row, using the sod only. It may be inferred from the
above that lettuce may be successfully grown on almost
any soil, and such is the fact, if conditions are thoroughly
studied and the details carefully looked after. Neverthe-
less, it is better to select a soil naturally adapted to the
purpo5ie if possible, but in any case such artificial means
as composting and sub-irrigation ought not to be
neglected."

Growing in pots. — Good lettuce of the leafy or Grand
Rapids type can be grown in pots. It is a common
practice with gardeners to set pots of lettuce in vacant
places in cool houses for the purpose of utilizing the
room. Growing in pots is comparatively little used,
although now and then a grower follows this method ex-
tensively. A most beautiful crop of pot-grown lettuce is
shown in Fig. 33 (page 98). The New^ York State Ex-
periment Station has made some investigations in the pot-
growing of lettuce, and has published the results in Bul-
letin 88 (March, 1895), from which I quote :

"The seed is sown in flats, as usual ; that is to say, in
boxes about 12 by 10 inches and 3 inches deep. When
the plants are about 2 inches high they are transplanted
to 2-inch pots. The benches are filled with soil, in which
the pots containing the lettuce are plunged so that the
tops of the pots are covered with about half an inch of
soil.

"Soil for lettuce should not be too heavy, and as the
soil which we use for potting is a rather heavy clay loam,
sand is mixed with it in preparing it for the lettuce house.
The potting soil is composed of three parts by measure
of loam, one of manure and one of sand. The soil in
the pots is the same as that used on the bench, except
that it is sifted, while that on the bench is not. A little
drainage material is put in the bottom of each pot. The
plants are usually set on the benches about 10 inches
apart each way. The roots soon fill the pot and grow

8 FORC.

100 LETTUCE.

out into the soil of the bench through the drainage hole
in the bottom of the pot. Being thus buried in the soil,
the little pots do not dry out as rapidly as they would
do were they exposed to the air.

"The soil in the pots is sufficient to support a vigor-
ous growth, and yet when the roots have filled the pots
the plants appear to make a more compact growth and
head quicker than they do when grown in beds where
the extension of the root system is unchecked. Another
advantage of this method consists in the fact that the
plants are transplanted but once, namely, from the flats
to the pots ; thus the check to the growth by a second
transplanting is avoided.

"The plants may be marketed without disturbing their
roots, and for this reason they keep fresh for a longer
time than do the plants whose roots are disturbed in pre-
paring them for market. When the plant is ready for
market it may be knocked out of the pot and the ball of
earth, containing the roots undisturbed, may be wrapped
snugly in oiled paper. The earth will thus keep moist
for a long time, and furnish moisture to the plant through
the roots which are imbedded in it. Local customers
may be supplied with lettuce in the pots and the pots
returned after the plants are taken from them. Grocers
and other retail dealers readily appreciate the advantages
of having lettuce grown in this way. It permits them to
keep the lettuce on hand for a considerable length of time,
and still present it to their customers crisp, fresh and at-
tractive, instead of wilted and unattractive.

"The moment a pot is removed from the bench
another may immediately be set in its place without
waiting to clear the bench, or any portion of it, of the
rest of the lettuce. The method thus proves economical
both of time and space.

"This method will undoubtedly commend itself to
growers who are forcing lettuce to a limited extent.
Whether it can be employed to advantage by those who

THE SOWING OF LETTUCE. lOI

have extensive houses devoted to lettuce can be decided
only by trial. It certainly appears to be worthy of ex-
tended trial."

Sowing and transplanting. — If the lettuce crop is to
be taken off in early November, from seven to ten weeks
should be counted from the sowing of the seeds to the
delivery of the product. A midwinter crop may require
two to four weeks longer. The heading lettuces generally
require a week or two longer than the loose varieties.
The time may be shortened ten days to two weeks by
the use of the electric arc light hung directly above the
house. A single ordinary .street lamp of 2,000 normal
candle-power will be sufficient for a house 20 feet or
more wide and 75 feet long, if it is so hung that the
house is uniformly lighted throughout. Our experiments
with the electric light, now extended over a period of five
years, have uniformly and unequivocally given these
beneficial results with lettuce (see page 80).

The first sowing for house lettuce is usually made
about the first of September, and the crop should be of^"
in November. The seeds are sown in fiats or shallow
boxes ; it is preferable to prick off the young plants about
4 inches apart into other flats when they are about two
weeks old, and transplant them into the beds, about 8 to
10 inches apart each way, when they are about five weeks
from the seed. Gardeners often omit the pricking off into
other flats, simply thinning out the plants where they
stand and transferring them from the original flat directly
to the bed ; but better and quicker results are usually
secured if the extra handling is given. Four or six weeks
after the first seed is sown, another sowing is made in
flats for the purpose of taking the place of the first crop.
The first sowing is sometimes made in the open ground
early in September, and this is transplanted directly into
the beds.

Following are some actual sample dates of good and
bad lettuce growing in our houses, in a climate which is

102 LETTUCE.

unusually cloudy and **slow"in winter: Landreth Forc-
ing lettuce sown in flats February 24; transplanted to
beds, March 17 ; first heads marketed, under normal con-
ditions, May 10 ; first heads marketed trom a compartment
receiving electric light at night (a total of 84 hours), April
30, or 44 days from seed. Simpson Curled was sown
October 3 ; November 7, transplanted to bed. It was
desired to hold the crop back, so that the house was
kept very cold ; and the variety is not well adapted to
quick forcing, so that it was January 30 before the entire
crop was fit for market, making 119 days from seed.
Grand Rapids lettuce sown December 28 ; transplanted
to bed, January 16 ; began marketing March 21. This
makes 72 days from seed, in the dark months ; and at
least a week could have been gained if we had not been
obliged to delay transplanting whilst waiting for a crop
of chrysanthemums to come off the bed.

A grower's remarks. — W. W. Rawson, a prominent
grower of heading lettuce near Boston, is reported* in
the following sentences respecting some of the essential
points in the management of the crop: "With lettuce
planted on the 20th of August, the heads are ready for
market on the 20th of October. Every five days I plant
3 ounces of lettuce seed, and this supplies my green-
houses with plants during the winter, one house being
set out every week. I transplant twice, first at the fourth
week, setting them 4 inches apart ; second at the sixth
week when they are put 8 inches apart. They head dur-
ing the seventh and eighth weeks. During December,
January, February and March there is a continuous crop.
The last crop of lettuces from the greenhouse is in the
middle of April. After that I raise them in sashes and
in the open air. The house should be ventilated from
the ridge ; if this is not enough, then from one side also.
The temperature should be warmest when the crop is

♦American Gardening, xvii. 197 (March 28, 1896).

W. W. RAWSON'S EXPERIENCE.

103

heading, and coolest for the three weeks after setting
out and just before heading, but not below 35°. As
soon as a crop is harvested, the house is fumigated, dug
over, and a new crop set out. Not 24 hours is lost in

34. Boston Market lettuce.

changing crops. In renewing the beds use light, loamy
soil ; rotted sod is good, if left in a heap for a year to
decompose fully. With regard to mildew of lettuce, if
seen soon enough it can be gotten rid of by keeping the

I04 LETTUCE.

house dry and warm for three days, but most people do
not discover it soon enough. Fungicides I do not use,
but generally, when necessary, smoke the house, or place
powdered sulphur on the steam pipes. For smoking, to-
bacco stems are used. When lettuces grow * dog-eared '
it is the fault of the grower ; he has kept the temperature
too high."

Varieties. — There are two general types of forced let-
tuce, the cabbage or heading type, and the loose or leafy
type. The former is chiefly desired in the easternmost
markets, but is little sought west of New York state. It
is more difficult to grow than the loose varieties, being
more particular as to soil and treatment, and requiring a
somewhat longer season. It is grown to perfection only
on loose soils and in solid ground beds. The varieties of
the White-Seeded Tennis Ball or Boston Market type are
most popular for heading lettuces. The accompanying
illustration (Fig. 34, page 103) shows four heads of Bos-
ton Market lettuce sent me by W. W. Rawson, Arlington,
Mass. The head on top weighed, with roots cut off, 7
ozs., and the one at the left ^}4. ozs. The Grand Rapids
is a loose-leaved lettuce, shown full grown in Figs. 32
and 33 (pages 95 and 98). It grows rapidly, is of very
easy cultivation, and is at the present time the most
popular lettuce, except in those particular localities where
the heading varieties are preferred.*

Enemies and diseases. — The most inveterate pest of
the lettuce grower is the green-fly or aphis. If it once
gets thoroughly established, the most strenuous efforts are
needed to dislodge it. The pest is most frequent in
houses that are kept too warm. The plants may be
sprinkled with tobacco dust, or tobacco stems may be
strewn upon the ground between the plants and in the
walks, and either treatment may be expected to keep

*A test of the varieties of lettuce for forcing purposes is recorded
in BuM. 43 (1892) of the Ohio Exp. Sta.

LETTUCE ROT.

105

down the aphis. It can easily be kept out of the houses
by fumigating twice a week with tobacco, and probably
with the rose-leaf extract of tobacco. Do not wait until
the insect appears. Begin fumigating as soon as the plants
are first pricked off, and continue until within two or
three weeks of harvest, or longer if necessary.

The rot often ruins crops of lettuce. The outer leaves
decay, often quickly, and fall flat upon the ground, leav-
ing the central core of the plant standing. Fig. 35 is a
fair sample of a plant collapsed by rot. I once lost an

jS- Lettuce plant collapsed by the rot.

entire crop by this disorder. The plants were about two-
thirds grown and in good condition. The house was
rather over-piped for lettuce, and we kept it cool by care-
ful attention to ventilation. It became necessary to be
absent three days in midwinter. Careful instructions
were given a workman concerning the management of
the house, but he kept it too close and too wet, and at
the end of the three days the crop was past recovery.

This lettuce rot is due to a fungus {Botrytis vulgaris)
which lives upon decaying matter on the soil, but when
the house is kept too warm and damp, and the lettuce
becomes flabby, it invades the plant and causes irrepara-
ble ruin. There is no remedy, but if the soil is sandy
and "sweet" and the house properly managed as to
moisture and temperature, and top dressings of manure

Io6 LETTUCE.

are avoided, the disease need not be feared. Particular
care should be taken to avoid having any water on the
leaves at night, particularly in dull, cold weather. When
an attack becomes apparent, the best thing to do is to
raise the temperature, give plenty of air (but avoid
draughts), and dry the house off. Galloway speaks of the
rot as follows, in the article already quoted: "Wet roi
of the lower leaves, and rotting of the stems and conse-
quent wilting of the plant, are seldom troublesome in this
[Boston or sandy] soil if properly handled, because the
surface is at all times comparatively dry. Wet rot is
produced by a fungus which may be found at any time
on pieces of sticks and straws scattered through the soil.
The fungus does not have the power of breaking down
the uninjured tissues of the plant, excepting possibly in
very rare cases. When the tissues become water-soaked,
however, as they do when in contact with wet soil, the
fungus, which is also most active in the presence of
moisture, readily gains entrance and soon develops suf-
ficient energy to become an active parasite."

The mildew {Peronospoi-a gaujlifonnis) is the staple
lettuce disease of the books, but it is much less frequent
than the rot. It is induced by sudden changes of tem-
perature, soft, flabby plants, and too much water at niglit.
Fumes of sulphur may be expected to keep it in check
when the sanitary conditions of the house are set at
rights. No doubt much of the trouble ascribed to mil-
dew is really the rot.

Leaf-burn is a dying of the tips of the leaves when the
plant is nearly or quite mature. It is particularly trouble-
some on the heading varieties, in which the slightest
blemish upon the leaves detracts greatly from the sell-
ing qualities of the lettuce. This difficulty, according to
Galloway, is attributable largely to the soil: "Top-burn,
one of the worst troubles of the lettuce grower, does com-
paratively little injury on this Boston soil, providing the
proper attention is given to ventilation and the manage-

LEAF-BURN OF LETTUCE. IO7

mcnt of the water and heat. Burn is the direct result of
the collapse and death of the cells composing the edges
of the leaves. It is most likely to occur just as the plant
begins to head, and may be induced by a number of
causes. The trouble is most likely to result on a bright
day following several days of cloudy, wet weather. Dur-
ing cloudy weather in winter the air in a greenhouse is
practically saturated, and in consequence there is com-
paratively little transpiration on the part of the leaves.
The cells, therefore, become excessively turgid, and are
probably weakened by the presence of organic acids.
When the sun suddenly appears, as it often does after
a cloudy spell in winter, there is an immediate, rapid rise
in temperature and a diminution of the amount of moist-
ure in the air in the greenhouse. Under these conditions
the plant rapidly gives off water, and if the loss is greater
than the roots can supply the tissues first wilt, then col-
lapse and die. The ability of the roots to supply the
moisture is affected by the temperature of^ the soil, the
movement of water in the latter, and the presence or
absence of salts in solution. In this soil the temperature
rises rapidly as soon as the air in the greenhouse becomes
warm, and the roots in consequence immediately begin
the work of supplying the leaves with water. The move-
ment of the water in the soil is also rapid, so that the
:-»l;int is- able to utilize it rapidly."

CHAPTER V.

CAULIFLOWER.

There is probably no vegetable which is capable of
profitable forcing in America concerning which so little
has been written in reference to its treatment under glass
as cauliflower. It is true that the literature of vegetable
forcing is very meagre in this country, and it is, therefore,
little wonder that the cauliflower, which is scarcely known
as a winter crop outside the establishments of wealthy
persons who employ gardeners, should have received so
little attention from writers. It should be said that in
speaking of the forcing of cauliflowers, reference is made
to the practice of growing them under glass to maturity
in the cold months, and not to the much commoner prac-
tice of growing them to a large size under frames or sash-
covered houses and stripping the sash off upon the ap-
proach of warm weather and allowing them to mature
without cover. The management of cauliflowers under
glass is a simple matter, particularly in houses which are
adapted to lettuce, so that it is unnecessary to make any
extended account of the operation. A sketch of some of
the experiments made at Cornell will sufficiently indicate
the methods to be employed.

Unsuccessful experiments. — In our first crop, the
seeds were sown in "flats" or shallow boxes, and the
young plants were transplanted into pots. When the
plants were 8 or lo inches high they had been shifted
to 8-inch pots, and knowing that cauliflowers delight
in a low temperature, the pots were set upon the ground
(io8)

EXPERIENCE WITH CAULIFLOWER. IO9

in a cool lean-to house, where the temperature often went
below 40°. The floor of this house was cold and wet,
and it was soon evident that the plants were suffering.
They were removed, therefore, into an intermediate tem-
perature. Growth soon began again, and small heads
began to form before the plants had reached the proper
size. These heads, however, soon split or "buttoned,"
and none of them were merchantable. The lesson was
evident. The plants had been checked, and under the
sudden stimulus of a new growth the premature heads
were ruptured. The experiment was repeated the follow-
ing winter in a small way, the attempt being made to
keep the plants in a uniform condition of vigor and
growth throughout their life time. This attempt was
successful, and it led to two larger experiments. In this
second trial, the plants were grown in 6-inch pots, but
this was thereafter abandoned as too expensive and
troublesome.

The successful crops. — The house in which the two
first successful crops were grown is a low two-thirds span,
facing the south, 60 ft. long by 20 ft. wide. It is built
upon a side hill, and it has three benches, the two lower
ones being used for the cauliflowers. The lowest bench,
against the south wall, has a board bottom underneath 7
or 8 inches of soil, and is supplied with mild bottom heat
from two iX'inch steam pipes. The main or central bench,
7 feet wide, is solid : that is, it is a ground bed, and has no
bottom heat. The soil in this bed is about 8 inches deep,
and it rests upon a natural subsoil of very hard clay.
The soil in both beds was placed upon them in the pre-
ceding fall, and it was made of good garden loam with
which a very liberal supply of old manure was mixed.
One load of manure mixed with three or four of the
earth makes a good soil ; and if it is somewhat heavy
or pasty, sand must be supplied to it to afford perfect
drainage and prevent it from getting "sour" or hard.
The lower bed, which had bottom heat, did so poorly

CAULIFLOWER

TREATMENT OF CAULIFLOWER. IH

under both crops that I shall dismiss it at once from this
account. The plants were later than those in the solid
bed, and never equaled them in size and percentage of
good heads ; and they were conspicuously lacking in uni-
formity. So few good heads formed that the bed did
not return the labor expended upon it.

Seeds for the first crop were sown in boxes on August
24. The plants, having been once transplanted, were set
in the beds October 4 and 5, about 16 inches apart each
way. Three varieties were used, — Extra Early Dwarf
Erfurt, Gilt-Edge Snowball and Early Snowball.

The plants were watered two or three times a week,
as occasion demanded, and the ground was frequently
stirred with a hand weeder. An abundance of air was
given during the day, a row of small ventilators along the
peak of the house being thrown open even in sharp
weather if the sun was bright and there was little air stir-
ring. From 60° to 70° during the day and about 50° at
night were considered to be the ideal temperatures,
although in very bright days the mercury might register
80° for a time and the night temperature several times
sank below 40°. There was a tendency for the plants to
damp off soon after they were set, but care in not water-
ing too much (particularly close about the plant) and in giv-
ing an abundance of fresh air seemed to keep the trouble
in check ; and new plants were set into the vacancies.
We were obliged to contend with two other enemies, the
green-fly or aphis, and the common green cabbage
worm. The aphis is readily kept in check by tobacco
smudge. The first cabbage worms were noticed Novem-
ber 21, and for a couple of weeks they had to be care-
fully picked. The boxes of young plants had stood out
of doors during September, and it is probable that eggs
were laid upon the plants at that time.

The first week in December, heads were beginning to
form. The first heads were sold January 13, four and a-
half months from the sowing of the seed. The Erfurt

112 CAULIFLOWER.

gave the earliest and evidently the best results. The
plants had been somewhat checked late in their history
by very dark weather and possibly by some inattention
in management, and many of the heads began to "but-
ton," or to break into irregular portions, with a tendency
to go to seed. The house was needed for other experi-
ments, and on January 20 the plants were all removed.
At this time nearly three-fourths of the crop had matured
sufficiently to give marketable heads, although many of
the heads were small. Winter cauliflowers, in common
with all forced crops, should be harvested when small,
for products of medium or even small size sell for nearly
or quite as much as large ones in winter, and the cost of
raising them is much less. A head 4 inches across is
large enough for January sales, and many of the heads
which we sold were considerably smaller than this. These
heads sold readily at our door for 20 cents apiece.

January 25, a second crop of cauliflowers was set in
the beds, comprising Early Snowball and Dwarf Erfurt.
Seeds for this crop were sown in flats October 21. On
November 5 the plants were transplanted to other flats,
and on December 16 shifted to 3-inch pots, where they
remained until set in the bed. On April 8, the plants
had reached the size shown in the photograph in Fig. 36
(page no). At this time they completely covered the
ground, and choked out lettuce which had been placed
between them. About the 20th of March, heads were
found to be forming in the Early Snowball. In the
former experiment, Erfurt gave the first heads. A week
later than this. Snowball had heads 3 to 4 inches in
diameter, while Erfurt showed none. The first heads
were sold on the 29th of March, about five and one-third
months from the time of sowing. It will be observed
that the time between sowing and harvest is greater in
the second crop than in the first. This is because the
plants were wholly grown in the dark and short days
of midwinter. It should be added, also, that the climate

TREATMENT OF CAULIFLOWER.

113

of Ithaca is excessively cloudy, and that the forcing
of plants presents special difficulties here.

An attempt was now made to keep the plants in a
uniform but not exuberant state of vigor to prevent the
heads from buttoning. The crop held up well, and on
the ist of May, when the experiment closed, there were
many merchantable heads unsold. Ninety per cent of the
plants made good heads, which is a very large propor-

„/

37. A head 0/ winter cauliflower.

tion, even for the best field culture. In this crop, the
heads were allowed to attain a larger size than in the
midwinter crop, the average diameter being about 6
inches. A good head of Snowball is shown in Fig. 37.
It is rarely necessary to bleach the heads, as is done
in field culture. Late in the season, in April, it may be
necessary to break a leaf down over a head now and
then to protect it from too hot sun, but ordinarily the
heads will be perfectly white under glass, when full

I 14 CAULIFLOWER.

grown. The heads are as sweet and tender as the best
field product, and we have rarely grown a crop under
glass, either of vegetables or flowers, which was so satis-
factory and which attracted so much attention as these
crops of cauliflowers. As to varieties, there is evidently
little choice between the Erfurt and Snowball strains. In
the last and most successful crop, the Early Snowball
was the earlier, but otherwise it had little if any superi-
ority over the other.

Subsequent experience has confirmed the methods
detailed above, and has convinced us that cauliflower is
one of the most satisfactory plants for forcing, so far as
the growing of them is concerned. It is a question
whether they would bring sufficient price in the market
to warrant the raising of them in winter. The grower
would certainly need to have a special market, for it is
not a staple commodity. Field-grown cauliflowers are
now kept in cold storage, which would still further re-
duce the demand for forced heads. It should be said,
in closing, that cauliflower seed is very expensive, and
that only the very best seed can be relied upon for good
results.

CHAPTER VI.

RADISH.

CORNELL EXPERIENCE.*

The radish is generally considered to be a vegetable
which may be forced without any special difficulty. The
prevalence of this opinion is probably due to the fact that
the plants are grown out of doors without any trouble,
and also to the still common practice of growing them in
hotbeds. Under these various conditions, nearly all va-
rieties of radishes thrive ; but, nevertheless, it is a fact
that the radish is one o/ the most sensitive of all the
vegetables forced for market. It is impatient in a high
temperature, slow and unsatisfactory in a cold one ; it
imperatively demands light, and the least shade causes
the stem to elongate so that the foliage may be as near
as possible to the sunshine ;- it becomes tough and un-
palatable in poor soil, while in rich earth, with plenty of
moisture, it yields readily to the attacks of the various
damping-off fungi ; and it must be grown quickly
("forced") in order to make the flesh crisp and of a
delicate flavor. Conditions which will meet these re-
quirements are not found in all forcing establishments.
Radishes often thrive between cucumbers, when these
plants are grown as a late winter crop, following lettuce.

Sowing. — Radishes are always propagated from seeds.

*By E. G. Lodeman. More detailed results may be expected, in
bulletin form, when the experiments which are now in progress
mature.

9 FORC. (115)

Il6 RADISH.

These are fairly large, and as a rule they possess strong
powers of germination. The starting of the plants is,
therefore, an easy matter ; the seeds may be sown in
drills from one-fourth to one-half an inch deep, the
greater depth being preferred for light, sandy soils. They
are generally sown thickly, and the seedlings are after-
wards thinned to the desired distance ; but if the seeds are
fresh they may be planted at intervals of about one-fourth
inch in the drills. This should insure a good stand. A
convenient method of making the drills in hotbeds and
benches is to fasten to one side of a lath a strip that is
about a quarter of an inch thick and as wide as the drill
is to be deep. This is nailed edgewise along the center

of the lath (Fig. 38), and
the drills are made by press-
ing the projecting piece into
the soil until the lath will
allow it to go no further.
38. Planting stick. It is then carefully with-

drawn, and if the soil is
properly prepared and not too dry, a perfect groove
will be formed. A very uniform depth can be attained
in this manner.

Soil. — The soil for radishes should be what is known
as warm and quick. Sand should predominate, but
plenty of humus and well rotted-stable manure must be
mixed with it. By composting thinly-cut sod growing
upon sandy loam with one-third its volume of stable ma-
nure, a good radish soil will be formed. It will be ready
for use in about a year, and if at the end of that time
the vegetable fiber is not thoroughly decayed, it will not
matter. Such a compost is suitable for nearly all vege-
tables grown in greenhouses, but it is especially valuable
for rapid-growing crops. When placed upon a layer of
ashes, coarse gravel, inverted sods, or some similar open
material, the drainage is perfect, and the plants have an
excellent opportunity for rapid growth.

SOWING THE SEED.

117

The amount of soil required by radishes varies with
the varieties grown. The small, spherical-shaped sorts do
well in a depth of only 3 or 4 inches, while the long-rooted
varieties require almost twice as much. After the soil
has been placed in the benches it should be made moder-
ately firm by packing it with some heavy, object ; a brick

39 A bunch of winter radishes.

answers the purpose well. If it is inclined to be dry, it
should be moistened, for when in proper condition for
seed sowing it may be worked to the best advantage.

General management.— The drills may be made 3 or 4
inches apart for the smaller and more rapidly maturing
varieties ; for the others, 5 or 6 inches between the rows
will be sufficient.

Il8 RADISH.

After the seed has been sown and the earth above
has been well firmed, no watering will be necessary until
the seedlings appear, unless the soil was too dry to begin
with. In that case, water as freely as necessary ; there is
little danger of applying too much. The seedlings should
appear in four or five days, and a week or ten days later
they may be thinned. The small kinds will do well if two
or three are left to the inch ; the large ones require more
room, and one plant to about an inch of space will be
found none too thin. When this work has been done,
nearly all the further attention necessary will be to main-
tain a proper temperature and to apply water when it is
needed. Weeding, and an occasional cultivation with a
hand weeder, should not be neglected.

As has already been said, the successful forcing of
radishes is not such an easy matter as it would at first
appear. The more important of the difficulties will now
be considered in detail.

The conditions found in a hotbed which is almost
spent are very nearly ideal for forcing radishes. In the
first place, the temperatures of the soil and the air under
the glass are as nearly right as they can well be made.
As a rule, the radish is believed to do best in a cool
house, one having a temperature of 4o°-6o°.* The soil
in such a house should not be much warmer. But in a
hotbed it is warmer, and frequently very much warmer.
This explains the rapid and luxuriant growth which may
be produced apparently without effort on the part of the

* " It adapts itself to hotbeds and forcing-houses quite well, but it
objects to an overheated forcing-house as much as to an excessively
exposed coldframe. It grows too many leaves and becomes pithy in
one situation, and in the other case its growth is stunted or
wholly checked, and under severe freezing it dies. Its proper tem-
perature is from 40° to 65°, with plenty of fresh air. In rich soil, with
sufficient water, it is a quick cropper, sometimes being ready for
market in 21 days from the seed." * * * " The wholesale market
price of radishes at Philadelphia in winter maybe quoted at $2 to $4
per 100 hnnQh^i."—Vrg^r'i Vegetalfles Under Glass,'' 57, 59.

TEMPERATUKE ANO LIGHT. tig

grower. Repeated trials in growing radishes in large
houses having different temperatures have shown plainly
that during the first two or three weeks, at least, radishes
will bear well a soil temperature of fully 65° F., and 70°
has not proved too much in several instances. If suffi-
cient moisture is present the plants must grow, and they
must mature quickly.

But although a high soil temperature is desirable, it
does not follow that the atmosphere should be equally
warm. On the contrary, if the temperature of the house
can be kept about 10 degrees below that of the soil, the
tendency to leaf formation will probably be checked. The
hotbed may again serve as a guide. Here the heat is in
the soil, bottom heat, as it is called, and the large amount
of glass, as compared with the amount of air-space, must
have a strong tendency to lower the temperature about
the foliage ; that surrounding the roots is much less af-
fected.

Another important point, — one which has not been
duly emphasized in connection with this crop, — is the
amount of light received by the plants. Few plants show
the want of light more quickly than radishes. If the
shadow of a steam pipe or of a board falls upon the
bench, the plants soon become drawn ; the shadow cast
by tall-growing varieties causes the shorter ones to grow
more upright ; a roof having small panes of glass and a
comparatively large amount of wood-work has a strong
tendency to prevent the plants from forming bottoms, un-
less the glass is close to the foliage ; and if no direct sun-
light is allowed to reach the plants, no swelling of the
stem may take place, but the plants will grow very slen-
der, and finally die, as if attacked by some unknown
malady. If radish seed is sown very thickly, a similar re-
sult may occur even in places which are fairly well
lighted. The strong growth of foliage excludes practi-
cally all the light from the soil, and the plants will form no
bottoms.

I30 RADISH.

The above remarks seem to show the necessity of thin-
ning plants properly if the finest and most tender radishes
are wanted. Thinning allows light and air to enter freely
to all portions of the plants above ground, and the condi-
tions are consequently favorable to rapid growth.

A moderately moist atmosphere appears to be favor-
able to the strong and quick development of radishes.
When this crop is forced in hotbeds, the sash are neces-
sarily lowered at times, and a confined air surrounds the
plants, frequently for considerable periods. They appear
to thrive under such treatment, and it is desirable to pro-
duce the same condition when growing the plants in
greenhouses.

It is rare that the soil in a hotbed is more than 12 or
15 inches from the glass. This allows an abundance of
light to reach the plants. The benches in a forcing-house
cannot be so favorably placed in all their parts, and the
best way of correcting the fault is to use large glass and
a light framework in the roof. Under such conditions
the plants will frequently do fairly well 8 or 10 feet from
the glass. But with a light roof, the panes being at least
12 X 14 inches, the conditions approach more nearly those
existing out of doors, and this explains the fact that the
plants do not become drawn or ** leggy."

Varieties. — There are a great many varieties of rad-
ishes ; they differ mostly in form, color, and time of ma-
turity. Those which mature rapidly are the ones most
commonly forced, and a greater number of crops may be
removed in a given time. Several mature, under favor-
able conditions, about three weeks from the time of seed
sowing. These are nearly all red in color, and mostly of
a spherical or olive form. The following may be recom-
mended : Ne Plus Ultra, New Rapid Forcing, Extra
Early Carmine Olive-shaped, Earliest Carmine Turnip,
Early Scarlet Globe, Twenty-day Forcing, Earliest White,
New White Forcing.

Among the best of those which mature about a week

galloway's experience. 121

later than the above, may be named New Crystal Forc-
ing (white), New White Lady-Finger, Succession, French
Breakfast, Long Scarlet Short-top, Long Cardinal. As
already stated, the long radishes are not so satisfactory
for forcing as the smaller varieties are. It must also be
borne in mind that varieties of radishes, as of most other
vegetables, are constantly changing, so that the varieties
which are recommended to-day may not be recommended
a year from now.

WASHINGTON EXPERIENCE.*

In the vicinity of many of our large cities the grow-
ing of radishes in greenhouses may, if properly done,
prove a profitable industry. The following notes on the
subject are based upon work carried on during the past
four or five years, supplemented by observations extend-
ing over a longer period :

Houses adapted to growing radishes. — Radishes may
be grown in almost any kind of a greenhouse, and for
this reason the crop is a valuable one to work in with
others, such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. We do
not advocate, however, the practice of growing radishes
in a house with other crops, unless it is in certain special
cases, where there is ground to spare and requirements
for each crop are approximately the same. As is the
case with all plants under glass, better results will follow
if an entire house is devoted to one crop, thus making it
possible to furnish, without fear of injury to other crops,
the necessary requirements for growth.

Three-quarter span houses, i8 feet wide, with two
walks and three beds, will be found as convenient as any
for the crop. Three-quarter span houses with one path
will also be found useful. Such a house, with young rad-
ishes just coming through the ground, is shown at Fig. 40.

*By B. T. Galloway, in American Gardening, xvii. 609, 610 (Sept.
26, 1896).

122 RADISH.

The walks should be from 14 to 18 inches wide, de-
pending on the depth, and should have their sides made
of 2-inch hemlock or cypress boards, fastened to sawed
cedar or other durable posts. Good crops may be grown
in even-span houses, and even a lean-to may be used, if
proper facilities for heating and ventilating are present.

The soil,— In order to obtain solid, crisp radishes, the
soil must not contain too much manure, nor should sand
predominate. Ordinary garden loam, containing about 7
per cent clay, makes the best soil. To this should be
added well-rotted manure in the proportion of one part
manure to three or four parts soil.

We prefer solid beds to benches, as the conditions are
more uniform in the former and the expense of maintain-
ing them is less. The beds should be from 6 to 8 inches
deep, but good crops may be grown on 4 inches of pre-
pared soil. In the latter case it is necessary to add a
little manure after each crop, while if deeper beds are
used the same soil will answer for the entire season's
work. If the radishes are followed by cucumbers, the
manure necessary for the latter will serve for next sea-
son's radishes, but it will be necessary in such cases to
remove about 2 inches of this extra manured soil and re-
place it with loam from the outside. The new loam
should then be thoroughly mixed with the soil already in
the house, and when this is accomplished the seed may
be planted.

Planting the seed.— Radishes which come into the
market before Thanksgiving are seldom profitable, and
for this reason it is best to postpone the first seed-sowing
until about the middle of October. Previous to this time
the house may be used for growing stock plants of let-
tuce. By this we mean that lettuce sowed in the house,
September i, and transplanted 4 by 4 inches September
15, will be large enough by the first week in October to
transplant to other houses, where it is to head.

Previous to sowing the radish seed, the ground should

LARGE VS. SMALL SEED.

123

be made smooth and as free from lumps as possible. By
means of a light pine board 4 inches wide, rows 4 inches
apart are marked off. The edge of a common lath is
then placed in the marks and gently pressed into the soil
until a narrow furrow one inch deep is made. The seed
is then dropped in the furrow about half an inch apart,
covered, and pressed down with the hand. Working in

70. A three-quarter span radish house.

this way, two men can plant almost 150 square feet an
hour, and will use about 3 ounces of seed. As soon as
the radishes are up and the seed leaves are well formed,
the plants should be thinned out to i>^ to 2 inches apart.
It is of the highest importance to have all the radishes
attain marketable size at the same time, and to accom-
plish this it will be necessary to use only the large seed.
Where the seed as ordinarily obtained in the market is
used, about 35 per cent of the crop will reach marketable

1^4 ItADlSH.

size in from 35 to 40 days, 28 per cent will require 15
days longer, while the rest will in all probability never
be w^orth anything. By using only the large seed, 90 per
cent of the crop will come in at one time, thus making it
possible to pull practically all the crop at once and imme-
diately replant. As obtained in the market, about one-
third of the seeds are too small to use, and consequently
are thrown away.

Two pounds of seed was screened so as to separate
the large from the small seed. In this case there was
obtained from the 2 pounds of seed ig)4 ounces of large
seed and 10^ of small. The remainder was made up of
pieces of gravel and crushed seed, bits of sticks, etc. The
seed cost wholesale 60 cents per pound, and if one-third
by weight is thrown away it brings the cost up to 80
cents per pound. This is a very small matter, however,
in view of the many advantages resulting from the use
of the large seed.

For screening the seed we use a sieve made as fol-
lows : A circular piece of thin sheet brass 6 inches in di-
ameter has holes 2-25 of an inch (2 mm.) in diameter
punched or rather cut in it, the holes being about 1-16 of
an inch apart. The perforated sheet is then provided
with a rim of brass or tin 2 inches high. We have then
nothing more than a shallow cup or basin, with numer-
ous holes in the bottom. A handful or more of seed is
placed in this cup, and a few minutes' shaking will cause
all the small seed to drop through the holes, while the
large ones which cannot get through remain behind.

Varieties to plant. — In our experience, most of the
markets prefer a bright scarlet turnip-shaped root. The
pure scarlets always sell better than those tinged with
purple, or having white tips. Ne Plus Ultra, Roman Car-
mine and Prussian Globe have proved the three best
kinds for forcing. We have tried 20 or 25 other varieties,
but soon gave them up on account of various undesir-
able qualities.

TRfiATMENt OF ftADtSHES. ii$

Preparing the crop for market. — When the crop is
ready to market, which will generally be about 40 days
from the time of planting, the roots are pulled and tied
6 to 8 in a bunch, or 12 to 16, as the market may re-
quire. Everything is pulled clean, and when a sufficient
number of bunches is obtained they are thrown into a
tank, tub or barrel and washed in clean water. Ordinarily
there is very little soil adhering to the roots, so that the
washing is a comparatively easy matter. Care must be
exercised, however, in keeping the water clean, otherwise
the radishes will go to market lacking the gloss that
helps to sell them.

As soon as the plants are pulled the ground should
immediately be forked over, smoothed, and planted, as al-
ready described. Following the foregoing plan, the first
crop will be ready for market about Thanksgiving, the
second crop January 5 to 10, the third crop the last week
in February, and the fourth crop the first week in April.
After this the house will pay better planted to cucumbers,
which should by this time be in 6 or 8-inch pots.

Approximate yields per square foot. — A square foot of
ground should yield on an average 16 bunches of rad-
ishes, 6 to 8 in a bunch, in the period extending from
October 15 to April 10. The price will average 2 cents
per bunch, making the returns 32 cents per square foot.

Temperature, moisture, insects and diseases. — The rad-
ish cannot be pushed by heat. A night temperature of
45° to 50°, with 20° to 25° more during the day, is about
right. If too much bottom heat is given the plant will
run to top. Watering should be carefully done, and in
no case should the soil be allowed to become dry enough
for the plants to wilt. In such cases a heavy watering
is likely to cause the radishes to crack, thus rendering
them unfit for market.

Insects and diseases cause very little trouble. Green-
fly sometimes proves difficult to manage, but a light fumi-
gation every two weeks with tobacco stems will keep the

126 RADISH.

pest in check. The only disease worthy oi mention is
the cracking, to which reference has been made. Too
much manure in the soil and the improper use of water
are largely responsible for this trouble. The remedy is
obvious.

Summary. — (i) Radishes may be successfully grown in
almost any kind of a house.

(2) The soil should be moderately heavy, and hold
water, but not bake or crack.

(3) Solid beds are preferable to benches, because the
conditions of moisture and heat may be kept more uni-
form and the expense is less.

(4) Two men should plant 150 square feet per hour,
using 3 ounces of seed in the work.

(5) The seed should be screened and all less than 2-25
of an inch in diameter should be thrown away. By fol-
lowing this plan 90 per cent of the crop will attain mar-
ketable size at the same time.

(6) Ne Plus Ultra, Roman Carmine and Prussian Globe
have proved the best varieties for forcing.

(7) Four crops may be grown from October 15 to
April 10, and the returns should average 30 to 32 cents
per square foot.

CHAPTER VII.

ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB.

Asparagus and rhubarb are generally forced from
transplanted roots. That is, strong plants, four or more
years old, are dug from the field and taken to the house
for forcing. The crop is produced chiefly from the nour-
ishment which is stored in the roots, and the roots are
exhausted by the crop, and are then thrown away.

Inasmuch as the plants do not grow by becoming
rooted and established in the soil after their removal to
the house, it follows that they do not demand direct sun-
light. In fact, the product may be tenderer and more sale-
able for being grown in a dull or even a nearly dark
place. The roots are usually set underneath the benches
in the glass house, but they may be set in the potting-
room (if warm enough), or even in the cellar near the
heater. The most rapid growth will be secured when the
temperature is high (even as high as 70° at night), but a
stockier and better product may often be grown when the
temperature is somewhat lower.

There are various means of forcing asparagus and rhu-
barb where they stand, in the field. One of the common-
est is to place the half of a barrel over a clump in very
early spring, and then to pile fermenting horse manure
about the barrel. The heat from the manure will start
the plant into a precocious growth. In Europe, aspara-
gus is sometimes forced where it grows by piling manure
into trenches which are dug (and sometimes bricked up,
with openings in the walls) between the rows. These
(127)

12S

ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB.

trenches are sometimes heated by hot-water pipes. In
some instances, sashes are placed over the plants tem-
porarily.

These various practices have suggested the idea that
asparagus, rhubarb, sea-kale, and the like, might be per-
manently grown in a house with a removable roof, so
that heat could be applied to them late in winter, and
the roof then be removed and the plants find themselves
growing out of doors in normal conditions. If the ground
were well enriched, it would seem that such plantations

41, Frame-work and heating pipes of Cornell asparagus house.

ought to be able to be forced for several or many years
in succession. Acting upon this suggestion, an aspara-
gus house has been erected at Cornell. The experience
with this house has not been sufficiently extended to
warrant any conclusions from the experiment, but it
promises well, and a description of it may be suggestive
to the reader who is interested in the forcing of aspara-
gus or rhubarb.

AN ASPARAGUS HOUSE.

129

This Cornell asparagus house — if it may be called a
house — is about 20x50 ft., and the frame is made of
steam pipes (Fig. 41, page 128). The sides or walls are
only 18 in. high, and the frame consists simply of a ridge
and three pairs of rafters. The steam-heating pipe, or

42. The asparagus house covered with canvas.

riser, is seen at A, just beneath the ridge, and this feeds
two returns upon either side of the house, next the walls.
When it is desired to force the asparagus, canvas or mus-
lin is stretched over the frame (as in Fig. 42). No diffi-
culty has been found in starting the asparagus into growth
in January and February. The cover is left on and the heat

130 ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB.

kept up until all danger of frost is past, when the canvas
is removed and the plants grow naturally out of doors.
It is probable that some such plan as this will be found
to be perfectly practicable in the forcing of asparagus and
rhubarb, and thus obviate the wasteful methods now in
use of forcing and destroying transplanted roots. The
secret of this method will no doubt be found to lie in
allowing the plantation to become very thoroughly es-
tablished (at least three or four years old) before forc-
ing is attempted, in the very best tillage and fertiHzing
during the summer whilst the plants are growing, in tak-
ing off the cover just as soon as settled weather comes,
and in not cutting the plants after that time.

ASPARAGUS.

The most essential point in the forcing of asparagus
from transplanted roots, is to have very strong roots.
They should not be less than four years old from the
planting of the bed, and five and six-year roots are com-
monly better. It is often almost impossible to secure
good roots, for the best roots are the ones which the
asparagus grower most desires to keep in his plantation.
The two circumstances which yield the best roots, as a
rule, are the growing of the plantation for this particular
purpose, and the taking out of alternate rows in planta-
tions which have become too crowded. The grower is
often obliged to take the roots from old and partially
spent beds, but the best results are not always secured
from such stock.

The roots are dug as late in the fall as possible, care
being taken not to break the clumps, and to retain as
much soil as possible, and they are then piled in a shed
or cold cellar where they can be had as wanted. In this
storage, they should be covered with earth or litter to
prevent them from drying out, and freezing is supposed
to add to their value for forcing.

ASPARAGUS UNDER BENCHES. I3I

The roots are commonly forced under the benches of
a forcing-house. They may be handled in a hotbed, but
as hotbeds are outside the purpose of this book, ihis
method of forcing will not be discussed in detail. It may
be said, however, that forcing in hotbeds differs in no
important respect from forcing in the house. A space is
made under the bench at least 3 inches deeper than the
clumps which it is desired to force. This space may be
either a pit dug into the ground, or it may be formed by
boards upon top of the earth. The pit will generally need
to be at least a foot deep. In the bottom is placed a
couple of inches of good soil, and upon this soil the
clumps are solidly placed, standing them as close together
as possible. Earth is now filled in between the clumps,
and the crowns are covered with earth at least an inch
deep. If it is desired to bleach the asparagus, 6 or 8
inches of soil should be covered over the clumps.

The temperature should be kept rather low for a few
days, until the roots become thoroughly settled in place.
After that, the temperature may be raised to that re-
quired for roses, or even higher. Very high tempera-
tures give spindling shoots. It is essential that the roots
be profusely watered. New roots are brought in every
three or four weeks, to give a succession.

The following are actual dates of asparagus forcing,
under benches, at Cornell : Plants taken from an old
patch November 20, 1893, and set under benches three
days later. December 4, plants just pushing through. De-
cember 8, first shoots cut, averaging 9 inches long. De-
cember 14, first good cutting, shoots running from 6 to 15
inches long. December 18, second good cutting. De-
cember 26, a good cutting, some of the shoots having re-
mained too long and become woody ; some of these
shoots were 2 ft. long. January 10, a heavy cutting.
January 19, cut about half as many shoots as on the loth.
January 30, cut about as much as on the 19th, but shoots
growing smaller. February 10, small cutting of weak

10 FORC.

132 ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB.

shoots. Beyond this time there were no shoots worth
cutting. These plants were forced most too rapidly at
first, with the result of getting too many spindling shoots.

John Gardner's method.* — "I prefer roots three or four
years old for forcing ; but the age is immaterial, provided
a vigorous growth has been made the previous season.
The roots are originally planted out in rows 5 feet apart
and a foot apart in the row, covered with 3 inches of soil,
and cultivated as for an ordinary crop. When wanted
for forcing the roots are plowed out, with as little damage
to them as possible. In neighborhoods where asparagus
is grown for market, farmers will often plant as above,
and then, in the third or fourth year, will plow out every
other row to be used for forcing, leaving permanent rows
10 feet apart. At this distance the ground can be thor-
oughly tilled, and abundant light, warmth and air will
make strong crowns, so that an early crop of the first
quality can be expected. Roots to be forced are placed
in a pit under the benches and heated with hot water.
They are placed on 2 inches of soil, and covered with 4
to 5 inches to blanch the shoots. Cutting will be in order
about 15 days after the roots are put in, and the same
roots will produce profitable shoots for six weeks. As-
paragus can be forced on greenhouse benches, in frames
or in hotbeds, where the manure is not too fresh, so as to
generate too much heat and steam. I have seen the
best of * grass ' grown in a common frame, with 18
inches of leaves and manure to ferment and give heat,
and a covering thrown over the frame at night. It should
be remembered that asparagus starts with very little heat,
45 degrees being sufficient to start it in the soil."

Forcing in hotbeds, f — "A most suitable place for forc-
ing asparagus is a frame about 4 feet deep, with one 4-inch
hot-water pipe running around it. About 2^ feet of fresh

* Garden and Forest, ii. 598 (Dec. 11, 1889).

t William Scott in Garden and Forest, vii. 478 (Nov. 28, 1894).

ASPARAGUS IN HOTBEDS.

stable litter should be put into the frame and firmly
packed, with an inch or two of sand spread over it. This
bed should be allowed to stand until the heat of the ma-

43. Rhubarb under a forcing-house bench.

nure has declined to about 70 degrees, and not below 65
degrees, before the crowns are placed on it. For this
work advantage should be taken of a day when the
weather is mild, as the crowns are easily damaged by
frost, Large crowns five or six years old are preferable

134 ASPARAGUS AND RHUBARB,

to smaller ones for forcing. They may be placed rather
closely together in the frame, but the distance apart must
be regulated by their size. The roots should be spread
evenly over the surface and covered with 6 inches of
sand. Little water will be required, as the steam from
the manure affords considerable moisture, but if the bed
should become dry it may be moistened with water of the
same temperature as the soil in the frame. A little air
may be admitted when the day is bright and warm, to
keep the temperature from rising above 80 degrees.
When the points of the shoots begin to appear above the
sand the crop is ready to cut. Where ground is plentiful
a supply of forcing crowns can be kept up by sowing a
Httle seed every year, having five or six successions, the
oldest plants being forced for cutting."

RHUBARB.

The forcing of pie-plant does not differ essentially from
the forcing of asparagus. Thoroughly established clumps
are dug in the fall, and these are packed in beds under-
neath the benches, sifting the soil in tightly between the
clumps, and then covering them with 2 to 6 inches of soil.
The temperature should range as for lettuce or roses, or
for very quick results it may be considerably higher. The
length of time required for securing the saleable product
is about the same as that required for asparagus, or per-
haps a little longer. About four or five weeks after the
planting under the benches is the usual time required for
the first profitable cutting. Paragon and Linnaeus varie-
ties may be used for the earliest results, but the best
crops are to be obtained from some of the larger kinds,
like Victoria and Mammoth.

CHAPTER VIII.

MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

Peas are very little known as a winter crop, although
there is no particular difficulty in growing them. The
yield is so small and the price so little that they are not
often profitable, yet a few persons have found them to
pay. They may be grown in narrow boxes (about 6
inches wide and as many inches deep), and these boxes
are then placed in odd or vacant places about the house.
If the boxes are 3 feet or more in length, the soil can
be kept in a uniform condition of moisture without great
trouble. The boxes should be kept very cool for a
time — not much above freezing,— but when the plants
appear they may be given the temperature of lettuce or
carnations. The greater yields are obtained from the
pole varieties, but the earlier results from the dwarf va-
rieties like American Wonder.

Experiments at Cornell.* — During the past few years,
peas have at various times been grown in the forcing-
houses at Cornell with the intention of determining their
value as a commercial crop, and also to study their be-
havior under glass. The forcing of peas has been car-
ried on in northern Europe for many years, although on
a somewhat different plan from that undertaken at this
Station. Foreign gardeners generally grow the winter

E. G. Lodeman, Bulletin 96, Cornell Exp. Sta.
(135)

136 MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

crop in frames or hotbeds. In the neighborhood of Paris
such protection is unnecessary, and successive sowings
are made in the open ground from November to March,
one of the most popular varieties for this purpose being
St. Catherine {Pois de Samte- Catherine). This variety is
particularly well adapted to late fall and early winter
sowings. In more northern latitudes, either coldframes or
hotbeds supply the necessary protection for maturing the
crop. Ringleader, Early Dwarf Frame, and Caractacus
have been very popular in England. The second named
variety is especially adapted for growing in hotbeds. It
is exceedingly dwarf and matures very quickly, so that
considerable quantities of peas may be harvested from a
small area. Taller varieties are generally bent over to
admit of their proper growth.

Peas thrive in a cool temperature, and the protection
afforded by comparatively little glass or wood is sufficient
to carry them through moderately cold weather. In the
northern states, artificial heat must be given if the crop
is to be grown during the winter months. As this cannot
be done conveniently in frames, larger structures must be
employed, and these may easily be supplied with a
proper amount of heat for growing this vegetable. A
night temperature of 40° to 50°, and a day temperature 10
to 20 degrees higher, will be sufficient to cause rapid
growth and fairly prolific plants. Peas succeed best, as a
rule, if grown in solid beds of rich, sandy soil that is well
supplied with water. If peas grown under glass are sub-
jected to the above conditions, their cultivation presents
no serious difficulties, and it will scarcely be necessary
to mention the details of more than one crop which
we have grown.

Seeds of two varieties of peas were sown January 6,
1894 ; they were Extra Early Market and Rural New-
Yorker. They were planted at the same depth as in
outdoor culture, but the seed was sown more thickly, and
the rows were as close to each other as the after culture

'EAS IN WINTER.

137

138 MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

of the crop would allow. Very dwarf varieties, such as
Tom Thumb and American Wonder, may be planted in
rows 3 to 5 inches apart, depending on the richness of
the soil and the general care given the plants. Tall-grow-
ing varieties, as Champion of England, may be sown in
rows running in pairs, the distance between the rows of
each pair being from 6 to 10 inches, while the pairs are
separated by spaces 15 to 18 inches wide. This will
allow working-room among the plants and still admit of
heavy planting.

One of the essential points in the successful growing
of peas, whether in a greenhonse or out of doors, is the
use of fresh seed. Garden peas retain their vitality from
three to eight years, but the shorter period may be con-
sidered as more nearly correct when applied to varieties
which are to be forced, since the loss of a week or two
under glass is expensive, and two sowings cannot well be
afforded. The seedlings began to appear eight days after
seed sowing and they grew vigorously from the start.
February 23, Rural New-Yorker showed the first opened
blossoms, Extra Early Market at the same time having
buds which were about to open.

On the 20th of March, or about 73 days from sowing
the seed, both varieties had matured sufficiently to supply
pods that were fit for market, but no picking was made
until II days later, when the plants yielded pods at the
rate of 6>^ quarts for each 30 feet of double row. There
was practically no difference between the two varieties as
regards earliness or the amount of yield obtained. Two
weeks later, a second and last picking was made, the
plants yielding only one-half as much as before. This
brings the total yield to a little over a peck. This is
scarcely a profitable crop, especially since the varieties
grown are quite tall, and required a trellis.

Formerly, the trellises used consisted of branches
forced into the ground so that they would afford support
to the vines ; but with the crop here considered, a more

PEAS AND CELERY. 139

satisfactory trellis was made by using a wire netting hav-
ing large meshes. This was fastened between the rows
by means of stakes, and thus each strip of netting served
as a support for a double row. This forms the neatest
and most substantial trellis here used for supporting the
vines.

The yields from extremely dwarf varieties, such as
Tom Thumb, have proved unsatisfactory. The plants re-
quire no support, but they yield only one picking, and
this is so light that their culture under glass cannot in
all cases be advised.

Peas grown under glass are sensitive to heat, and the
warm spring days, when accompanied by sunshine, check
their growth to a marked degree. The most healthy
growth is made during the cold months of the year, and
after April i not much should be expected from the
vines unless steps are taken to keep the house as cool
as possible. This may be accomplished by shading, and
by a free use of water upon the walks of the house.

From a financial standpoint, the growing of peas can
scarcely be advised, but amateurs may derive much satis-
faction from their cultivation, as the plants are easily
grown, they require little care, and the quality of the
peas is especially appreciated when no fresh ones are
on the market.

CELERY.

Celery practically goes out of the market in April.
The stored crop is then exhausted, and until the earliest
field product is received, in July, celery is not to be had.
There should be some means of supplying the demand
in May and June. Some three or four years ago, we
turned our attention to this problem, and we now feel
that it is a comparatively easy matter to grow celery for
late spring and early summer use.

We sow the seed in late fall or early winter, in flats

140

MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

or seed-pans. The young plants grow very slowly, and
we make no effort to hasten them. About a month after
the seeds are sown, the plants are pricked out into other
flats, where they are allowed to stand 3 or 4 inches apart
each way. A month or so later, they are transplanted
into beds, following lettuce, cauliflower, chrysanthemums,
or other crops. It will thus be seen that for two months
or more the plants take up little or no room, for the flats
are placed in vacant places here and there throughout the
house, and they need little other care than watering.
They should be kept cool — in a house used for lettuce,
violets, carnations and the like — for if one attempts to

force them they will likely
run to seed. When the
"^l/^^^" ' plants are finally trans-
:75sfi&^srN>, planted, we prefer to put
them in solid beds with-
out bottom heat.

In six weeks to two months
after the plants are turned into
their permanent quarters they will
be ready to bleach, and this opera-
tion has caused us more trouble
than all other difficulties combined.
Our first thought was to set the
plants very close together, so that
they would bleach themselves,
after the manner of the "New
Celery Culture," but it would not
work. The plants ran too much
to foliage, and they tended to
damp-off or rot where they
were too close. We next
tried darkening the house,
but without success. We then attempted to bleach the
plants by partially burying them in sand in a cellar, but
this also failed. Finally, we tried various methods oi

4S. Winter celery in bleaching
paper.

CELERY AND SALADS. I4I

tying up or enclosing each midwinter plant as it stood in
the bed. Tiles placed about the plants — which are so
successful in the field, — rotted the plants in the moist air
of the forcing-house. Heavy bibulous paper did the
same. But thick, hard wrapping paper, with an almost
"sized" surface, proved to be an admirable success.
The stalks were brought together and tied, and a width
of paper reaching to within 2 or 3 inches of the tips
of the leaves was rolled tightly about the plant. As
the plant grew, another width of paper was rolled about
the first, and again reaching nearly the top of the plant.
Two applications of the paper are sufficient. A month to
six weeks is required to bleach the celery by this process
in a cool house in April and May. Fig. 45 (page 140)
shows the method of bleaching with the paper.

The seeds for one of our crops of house celery were
sown December 10, 1894 ; pricked off, January 8 ; planted
in beds, February 6 ; first tied up in paper, April 12 ;
second tying, May 9 ; celery fit to use. May 21 to June 20.
The Kalamazoo celery is well adapted to house cultiva-
tion The quality of this house-grown product is equal to
that grown in the field.

SALADS, POT-HERBS, AND MINTS.

Water-cress. — Persons who are fond of watercress
should know that no plant is easier to grow under
benches in greenhouses. If there is an earth floor under
the benches of a cool or intermediate house, the plant
will take care of itself when once introduced, provided,
of course, there is sufficient moisture. Fig. 46 (page
142) shows a mat of water-cress growing under a bench
in a general conservatory house, near the overflow of a
tank. It is not necessary to supply water in which the
plant may grow, but it thrives well, with its characteristic
flavor, in soil which is simply uniformly moist and cool.
The plants may be gathered from brooks or other places

142

MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

where it is established, and planted at intervals under
either north or south benches, and when once colonized

it needs no re-

newing.

Garden - cress.

— The ordinary
French or g a r-
den cress (varie-
ties of Lepidimn
sativum) also
thrives well un-
, H-^„^y,a, , der glass. We
5^-s&«^P^*^^ have grown both
the plain and
curled - leaved
forms upon
benches or beds
The seed is sown di-
The plant grows
should be used

46. Water-cress under a bench

along with lettuce and spinach,
rectly where the plants are to stand,
quickly, and the early, tender leaves
before it runs to seed.

Parsley. — No vegetable is more readily grown in
winter than parsley. The seed is sown in the open in
spring, and the plants receive the ordinary care during
the summer. In the fall, the strong roots are lifted and
planted in a bed or bench in a lettuce house. The plants
are headed down when transplanted, and the sunlight is
kept off them for a few days until they are thoroughly
established. After that, they need no extra or unusual
care. Parsley will thrive well in the dark end of the
house, or in almost any odd corner, as behind a door or
in the shade next the wall. The plants should be re-
newed each year. The most satisfactory variety is the
Curled or Fern-leaved.

Spinach was formerly grown in frames and hotbeds,
and sometimes in glass houses, but the length of time re-
quired to bring it to maturity, and the competition of the

MUSTARD, DANDELION, AND MINTS. I43

southern-grown product, make it unprofitable. Only now
and then is a man found who is able to make frame-
grown spinach pay. We have grown it in the forcing-
house, and find that it forces readily with the same tem-
perature and treatment which are given to lettuce.

Mustard. — Any of the pot-herb mustards are easily
grown in a lettuce or carnation house. One of the best
types is the Chinese mustard. This makes an attractive
edging to chrysanthemum or lily beds. The seeds are
sown where the plants are to stand, although they may
be sown in pots or flats and the plants transplanted to
their permanent quarters.

Dandelion. — This plant is grown somewhat extensively
in the open in parts of the eastern states, particularly
about Boston, for greens. It is also occasionally forced.
Spring-sown plants are lifted in the fall and transplanted
to a cool house. The leaves should be ready for cutting
by the holidays. As soon as the cutting is completed,
the crowns are thrown out and the bed or bench is used
for other crops. The French improved varieties are the
kinds of dandelions to be grown. The crop of these
may be followed by lettuce, White Spine cucumbers or
radishes.

Mints of various kinds are readily grown in cool
houses, such as are adapted to lettuce and violets. The
species most commonly grown are sage and spearmint
{Mentha viridis), for which there is generally a good de-
mand, in eastern cities, at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Sods of the sage or mint may be dug and placed directly
in the house, care being taken to cut the sods very deep,
and not to break them in the transfer. Better results are
obtained, however, by planting the mint permanently in a
solid bed, and covering it over with sash at forcing time.
Heating pipes should be laid alongside the bed. From
six to eight weeks are required to bring the mint to cut-
ting size.

144 MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

ONION.

We have had good success in growing multiplier or
potato onions under glass, planting them in a lettuce bed,
where they will give bunch onions in six or seven weeks.
In a warmer temperature, they become very strong in
flavor. We have not been able to accomplish any useful
results with onions from seeds, however, because they
grow too slow and are not inclined to bottom. Neither
have we succeeded with onions from sets, although we
have given them a fair trial in different houses. The fol-
lowing statements upon forcing onions from sets are by
W. Van Fleet, of New Jersey, in answer to inquiries re-
specting the forcing of bunch onions for winter market :*

" Three or four inches is about as thick as they can be
grown ; 3 x 6 is safer. If grown 3x4 inches, alternate rows
may be taken out as soon as large enough for market.
Use one-fourth to one-third rotted manure, the rest good,
sandy garden loam or rotted sods ; 1-50 bone dust, or 1-150
(in bulk) good fertilizer may be added after growth has
begun. They can endure more cold than lettuce or rad-
ishes, but are easily checked by low temperature when in
full growth. Give them an average of 70° F. As the
leaves do not cover the soil and prevent evaporation, there
is little danger from over watering ; nevertheless, onions
do not like sodden ground. Have the benches well
drained ; water thoroughly, and let the top soil dry per-
ceptibly before repeating. The quick-growing American
varieties give best results ; Philadelphia, Silverskin and
Yellow Globe Danvers are excellent. The sets should be
carefully selected, of uniform shape, and less than one-half
inch in diameter. Onions are rarely forced under glass
now, and are of doubtful profit, owing to competition from
the Egyptian and other hardy perennial onions, which grow
throughout the winter in the south and are shipped to the
northern markets as early as February. There is a possible

•Rural New-Yorker, liii. 777 (December 8, 1894).

ROOT CROPS UNDER GLASS

145

profit in growing the Egyptian onion under glass in cold
localities, but I am not aware that it has been tried com-
mercially. The bulblets, which form in place of seed, could
be planted in flats of rich earth, 6 inches deep, well watered
and attended to until freezing weather, when they could be
covered thickly with straw until needed, or brought under
glass at once. The after treatment would be similar, ex-
cept that a temperature below 65° would prove most satis-
factory."

BEETS, CARROTS, AND TURNIPS.

The root crops grow readily in lettuce beds, but their
commercial value is so
small and the length
of time required for
their growth so great
that they are rarely
profitable. Beets are
occasionally grown
between the late win-
ter crops of tomatoes
or cucumbers. If the
house has grown let-
tuce or other cool
crops, the beets may
be transplanted into
the beds in rows
about 3 feet apart,
setting the cucumber
plants between the
rows. The beets
should be off by the
time the other plants
demand all the room.
The turnip beets (like
the Egyptian), half-
long carrots and early varieties of turnips are the varieties

47. A bunch of winter carrots.

146 MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

best adapted to forcing. Carrots are slowest to mature,
and also find the smallest demand in the market. From
three to four months are required to secure good bottoms
on carrots. For home use these root crops may be grown
in a few square feet of soil on benches which grow lettuce
and carnations or even roses.

Potatoes can be grown on spent rose or lettuce beds,
or under benches which open out to the light. We have
grown a bushel of tubers in a thick row under the edge
of a carnation bench some 40 feet long. They need no
special care. Potatoes are sometimes planted in ground
beds in forcing-houses in late winter or early spring after
the legitimate winter crops are harvested.

PEPINO.

The pepino or melon shrub is practically unknown as a
forcing-house product. The first critical study of the plant
in this country was made at the Cornell Station in 1891, but
Professor Munson, in Maine, seems to have been the first
person to make a success of it as a fruit-bearing plant under
glass.* The plant is an undershrub, making a neat and
spreading bush 2 or 3 feet high when a year old. The fruits
are oblong and somewhat egg-shaped, with a solid and seed-
less flesh and a cantaloupe-like flavor. It more closely re-
sembles the eggplant in botanical features than it does any
other fruit plant of our gardens. It is propagated by cut-
tings of the young shoots in the same way as the geranium
or tomato. Cuttings made in March or April may be ex-
pected to make fruit-bearing plants by the following January
or February. The plants should be carried through the
summer in 4-inch or 5-inch pots and transferred to 6-inch
pots on the approach of winter. They should be grown in

*W. M. Munson, in Garden and Forest, v. 173 (Apr. 13, 1892), with
illustration.

THE PEPINO OR MELON SHRUB. I47

a cool house, with no bottom heat. A lettuce house suits
them well. In such temperature strong plants may be
expected to yield two or three fruits to each cluster.

History and description of the pepino. — This interest-
ing plant is so little known that I append a somewhat
full account of it :*

Within the last few years a novelty has appeared in
the seedsmen's catalogues under the name of Pepino,
Melon Pear, Melon Shrub, and Solamim Guatemalejise.
Its botanical affinities, as well as its horticultural merits,
have been a perplexity. The plant is a strong-growing
herb or half-shrub in this climate, becoming 2 or 3 feet
high and as many broad. It has a clean and attractive
foliage, comprised of long-lanceolate nearly smooth very
dark green entire leaves. It is a profuse bloomer, the
bright blue flowers reminding one of potato flowers. But
one fruit commonly sets in each cluster, and as this grows
the stem elongates until it reaches a length of from 4 to
6 inches. The fruit itself is very handsome. As it ripens
it assumes a warm yellow color, which is overlaid with
streaks and veins of violet-purple. These fruits are some-
what egg-shaped, conspicuously pointed, and vary from
2>^ to 3>^ inches in length. The illustration. Fig. 48
(page 148), shows an average specimen about two-thirds
natural size. If the fruits are still green upon the ap-
proach of frost, they may be placed in a cool dry room,
where, in the course of two or three weeks, they will
take on their handsome color. If carefully handled or
wrapped in paper, the fruits will keep until midwinter or
later. The fruit is pleasantly scented, and the flavor of
it may be compared to that of a juicy, tender and some-
what acid eggplant. It is eaten either raw or cooked.

Upon the approach of winter we dig up some ot the
plants and remove them to the conservatory or forcing-
house. As ornamental plants they will prove to be

*From Bulletin 37 (Dec. 1891). Cornell Exp. Sta. (now out of print).
II FORC.

148

MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

*M 48. Spray and fruit of the i>epino.

THE PEPINO. 149

very useful in this latitude. The habit is attractive, the
flowers bright and pleasant, and the fruit is highly orna-
mental and curious. The plant will stand a little frost.

The plant does not fruit freely with us, however,
although it blooms profusely. We have endeavored to
insure fruiting by hand pollination, but without success.
The anthers give very little pollen. Perhaps half the
plants succeed in setting two or three fruits apiece. All
the fruits which we have raised have been entirely seed-
less, and this appears to be the common experience.
The seed-cavities remain, however, as shown in the cross-
section in Fig. 48. The plant must be propagated by
cuttings or layers, therefore. We obtained our stock
from a botanical specimen which I obtained from Florida,
and which was not thoroughly dried.

This plant was introduced into the United States from
Guatemala fn 1S82 by Gustav Eisen, of California.*
There has been much speculation as to its nativity and
its true botanical position. At first it was thought by
some to be a variety of the eggplant, f but it is very dis-
tinct from that species. But the plant is by no means a
novelty to science nor even to cultivation, for it was ac-
curately described and figured so early as 1714 by Feuillee
in his account of travels in Peru. J He called it Melon-
gena laiirifolia. At that time the plant bore " several
little lenticular seeds, one line broad." It was carefully
cultivated in gardens, and the Indians ate it with delight.
The taste is described as somewhat like a melon. Eat-
ing too heartily of it was supposed to bring on fevers. In
Lima it is called Pepo. In 1799 it was again described
and figured by botanists visiting Peru, Ruiz and Pavon. ||
They described the fruit as "ovate, pointed, smooth and
shining, white variegated with purple, hanging, of the

*Orch. and Gard. x. 61 (1888).
fGard. Monthly, xxix. 24, 48, 84, 120, 355 (1887).
IJourn. Obs. Phys. Math, et Bot. 735, t. 26,
I Flora, Peruviana, ii. 32 t. 162 3.

150 MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

shape of a lemon." They say that it was much cultivated
in Peru, and added that it was propagated by means of
cuttings. It was called " Pepino de la tierra." In 1785,
Thouin, a noted French gardener, introduced it into
Europe, and four years later Aiton, of the Royal Garden
at Kew, England, named it Solanuin niuricatmn.'*' The
specific name, imiricate or prickly, was given in reference
to the rough or warty character of the sprouts which
spring from the root, and which are often used for propa-
gation. And now, over a hundred years later, it has
found its way to us.

Mr. Eisen's account of the pepino will be interesting
in this connection. "The Central American name of this
plant," he writes, "is pepino. Under this name it is
known everywhere in the Central American highlands,
and under this name only. But as pepino in Spanish
also means cucumber, it was thought best to give the
plant an English name. I suggested the name melon
shrub, but through the error or the wisdom of a printer
the name was changed to melon pear, which I confess is
not very appropriate, but still no less so than pear
guava, alligator pear, rose apple, strawberry guava,
mango apple, custard apple, etc. * * * As to the
value of the fruit and the success of it in the states, only
time will tell. The fact that I found the plant growing
only on the high land, where the temperature in the shade
seldom reaches 75° Fahr., suggested to me the proba-
bility that it would fruit in a more northern latitude. In
California it has proved a success in the cooler parts,
such as in Los Angeles city, and in several places in the
coast range, and will undoubtedly fruit in many other
localities where it is not too hot. * * * My friend,
the late Mr. J. Grelck, of Los Angeles, had a plantation
of 10,000 pepinos, which grew and bore well, and he sold
considerable fruit. * * * In pulp and skin the pepino

*Hort. Kew. i. 250,

THE PEPINO. 151

resembles somewhat the Bartlett pear, but in taste more
a muskmelon ; but it has besides a most deHcious acid,
entirely wanting in melons and quite peculiarly its own.
In warm localities this acid does not develop, and this
fact is the greatest drawback to the success of the fruit.
The fruit has no seed, as a rule. And in all, I have
found only a dozen seeds, and those in fruit which came
from Salama in Guatemala, a place rather too warm to
produce the finest quality of fruit. The botanical name
of the pepino is not known to me with certainty. The
same was described by the Franco-Guatemalan botanist,
Mr. Rousignon, as Solanum Melongena Giiafentale7ise,
but it is to me quite evident that this solanum is not,
nor is it closely related to the S. Melongena or eggplant,
which latter is a native of Central Asia. The pepino is
probably a native of the Central American highlands, and
appears to have been cultivated by the Indians before the
conquest by the Spaniards."* Last year Mr. Eisen writes
that "it has only succeeded in Florida, but has there
proved of considerable value, "f

The greatest fault of the pepino appears to be its fail-
ure to set fruit. Mr. Eisen states that in Guatemala it
"yields abundantly, in fact enormously, 100 to 150 fruits
to a vine 4 feet in diameter being nothing uncommon. I
have seen it yield similarly in California, but whenever
exposed to too much heat and dryness, it is very slow to
set fruit, "t He recommends that it be shaded if it re-
fuses to set fruit. Martin Benson, Dade Co., Florida,
writing to the American Garden,^ says that he has had
great success with it. "I counted the fruit on a medium-
sized plant and found it bore 60 of all sizes, from those
jusL set to some nearly matured and weighing upwards of

*Gard. Monthly, xxix. 84 (1887).
fGard. and Forest, iii. 471 (1890).
JOrch. and Gard. x. 61 (1888).
Ijix. 265 (18S8).

152 MISCELLANEOUS COOL PLANTS.

a pound. The fruit varies considerably, but averages
about the size of a goose egg. The fruit is the most
perfectly seedless of any I have ever seen, without a
trace of a seed. It requires cool weather in order to set
fruit, and never does so excepting a norther or other cool
spell, when the fruit sets in great quantities." Mr. Ben-
son's letter is accompanied by an admirable illustration of
the fruit. In the northern states it has always proved a
shy bearer, if I may judge from such records as exist.
"D," writing to the Gardener's Monthly, says that he
had "only about two pears to each plant, among literally
hundreds of blossoms." Orchard ajid Garden com-
ments upon this feature as follows: "The general ex-
perience with it here [New Jersey], thus far, seems to
justify us in calling it exceedingly shy in setting fruit, and
if this tendency to abortive blooming cannot be over-
come, the melon pear must be considered without practi-
cal value." These remarks are certainly counter to the
statements and pictures made by some seedsmen in re-
gard to its productiveness. Professor Munson, as we
have seen, has found it to be fairly productive under
glass when grown in a low temperature.

CHAPTER IX.

TOMATO.

Next to lettuce, the tomato is probably the most im-
portant vegetable grown in American forcing-houses. Its
only close competitor for this honor is the cucumber.
Winter tomatoes always find a ready sale at prices rang-
ing from 25 to 75 cents per pound. Even after the Florida
tomatoes come upon the market in late winter, a good
quality of house-grown fruits continues to sell well in every
good market. The crop is one which demands a high
temperature, an abundance of sunlight, and great care in
the growing, but the profits, under good management, are
correspondingly high.

The house. — A light and tight house is essential, and it
must be high enough to allow of training the plants (that is,
at least 5 feet above the soil in all parts). Our preference
is a sash-bar frame house, something like those shown in
Figs. 12 and 13. A north-and-south house would be pref-
erable, probably, because of the more even distribution of
light. Tomatoes may also be grown for a late spring crop
in a carnation or lettuce house (see page 98).

The importance of direct and strong sunlight was well
illustrated in one of our experiments. At one end of the
house is a low building which shaded a part of the plants
after two or three o'clock. The plants within 3 or 4 feet
of this building, which were thus deprived of direct sunlight
for half the afternoon, bore no fruits whatever, although
they were strong and vigorous. At 6 and 7 feet away some
(153)

154 TOMATO.

fruits were borne, but it was not until about 15 or 20 feet
from the building that a full crop was obtained. The ill
effects of shade are also visible upon the north benches of
houses running east and west, where the plants are shaded
somewhat by those in the center of the house. During
the middle of winter the north bench in the house will
ordinarily produce no more than half as much fruit, even
in an unequal-spanned house, as those in direct sunlight.
The plants in partial shade grow as well and as large as
those in full sun, and they often blossom well, but the
fruit does not set.

The proper temperature for tomatoes is from 60° to 65°
at night, and 10° higher for dull days. On bright days
it may be allowed to run higher, although we always
wish to ventilate at 75°, but a temperature of 90° or even
100° can do no harm. Until fruit begins to set, the atmos-
phere should be kept moist, especially on bright days, but
the setting of the fruit is hindered by a humid atmosphere.

Soil and fertilizers.— Nearly all writers upon house cul-
tivation of tomatoes assert that the soil should be only
moderately rich, because heavily manured plants are over-
vigorous in growth, are generally unproductive, and are
particularly liable to disease ; and the additional cost of
training is said to be considerable. Our experience em-
phatically contradicts this supposition. Heavily manured
plants undoubtedly require more care in the pruning, and
it is possible that when not properly handled they may be
more liable to mildew, because of the dense and crowded
growth ; but, on the other hand, we always get the best
yield from the strongest plants, and we find the extra cost
of training to be of little account. We grow the plants in
rich garden loam, to which is added a fourth or fifth of its
bulk of well-rotted manure, and when the plants begin to
bear, liquid manure is applied nearly every week, or a top-
dressing of manure is given. To those unaccustomed to
forcing-house work this may seem extravagant fertilizing ;
but it must be remembered that in house cultivation the

RAISING TOMATO PLANTS.

155

roots are confined in a small space, and they have little
chance to search for food. And as a matter of practice,
we find this heavy manuring to be essential to best results.
It is strange that the notion that tomatoes require a com-
paratively poor soil should ever have become so widespread.
It has been held also in regard to outdoor tomatoes, but
our own experiments, and those of others, have shown that
that it is generally erroneous (consult pages 53 to 61).

Raising the plants, and bearing age. — Tomato plants
are usually grown from seeds, but sometimes from cuttings.

4g. Box cultivation of winter toviatocs.

Seeds are sown in flats or pots, and the plants are handled
at least twice before they go into permanent quarters. Cut-
tings are taken from strong, well-developed branches, and
are made of the upper 4 or 5 inches of the shoot. Cutting-
plants struck at the same time as seeds are sown will bear
sooner than seedlings. Cutting-plants (if made from well-

156

TOMATO

matured shoots) generally bear nearer the ground than
seedlings. Fig. 50 shows cutting-plants in bearing.

In this latitude it requires from four to five months to
bring a forced tomato plant into bearing. A few statis-
tics will show the time required from seed to fruit.
Seeds which were sown August 9 gave plants fit for
transplanting early in September. These were planted in
permanent quarters in the tomato house October 15, and
the first fruits were obtained December 28. They con-

jd. Cutting-grown tomato plants in a shaLlozu bench.

tinned in bearing until near the end of February, when
they were trained for a second crop. Plants started No-
vember 10 were transplanted into 4-inch pots December
8, and from these pots into permanent quarters February
25. The first fruits were picked May 6, and May 12 the
first market picking was obtained. On the first of June
they were in full bearing. It will be noticed that the sec-

WHERE THE PLANTS ARE TO BE GROWN. 157

ond lot grew much more slowly than the first one. This
is because the plants were growing in the short and dull
days of midwinter. Market growers like to sow seeds or
take cuttings in August for the holiday crop. The second
crop is ready to go on the benches early in January. A
commercial grower in Ontario informs me that when he
sows seeds the middle of January he expects to put the
plants on the benches on the first of April and to make
the first picking the 20th of May.

Beds, benches and boxes. — There are various methods
of growing house tomatoes. Much depends upon the
height of house and arrangement of benches and heating
apparatus. They may be planted in the ground or floor
of the house, but this is not advisable, as it does not allow
of the application of bottom heat, and the plants grow
slowly ; and it is frequently an advantage to shift the
plants somewhat during subsequent treatment. They re-
quire brisk bottom heat, and it is necessary, therefore, to
place them upon benches.

The plants may be grown in shallow beds upon the
benches, or in boxes or pots. Many persons prefer to
grow tomatoes in i8-inch-square boxes. Fig. 49 (page 155)
shows the arrangement of such a tomato house. The re-
turn pipes lie close upon the ground, and are covered with
a low platform or bench, made of 3-inch slats with inch
spaces between them. The boxes are placed 10 inches
or a foot apart, and four plants are set in each of those
which are 18 inches square and a foot deep. A plant,
therefore, occupies about lyi square feet of floor space.
We have grown them in lo-inch-square boxes, and also
in lo-inch pots, but these dry out so quickly that we do
not like them. One or two narrow cracks are left in the
bottom. A good layer of potsherds or clinkers is placed
in the bottom for drainage, and the box is then filled
two-thirds full of soil. When the fruit begins to set, the
box is nearly filled with rich soil and manure. The ob-
ject of not filling the box at first is to confine the roots

158

TOM ATO.

in a smaller space, and therefore to hasten fruitf ulness —
perhaps an imaginary advantage — but more particularly
to allow of an additional stimulus to be given the plant
at fruiting time by the addition of fresh soil.

On the whole, however, we prefer to grow tomatoes
on benches, with about 7 or 8 inches of soil. Fig. 14
shows tomatoes growing upon a floor which lies directly
over the heater, a place which gives most excellent re-
sults. In this bed we set the plants in rows 24 inches
apart, and 18 inches apart in the row. This house is

5/. Forcing house Jar tomatoes, heated with water.

very light. In darker houses the plants cannot be set so
close. Fig, 50 (page 156) shows a bed 3 feet wide (and
only 4 inches deep) in which but a single row of plants is
grown. We have grown an excellent crop of tomatoes
on a bean bench, from which three crops of beans had
been taken during the winter. After each crop of beans,
the soil was loosened up and manure or manure water
added if needed. The soil was again manured before
the tomatoes were set. The bed is 6 inches deep. Upon
this bed the plants were set 2 feet apart each way, and
each plant was trained to two shoots. We sometimes
carry a late crop of tomatoes upon benches which grow
peas and lettuce during the winter. Such houses are not

BENCHES VS. BOXES.

159

warm and light enough for winter tomatoes, Dut a crop
may be had by late May or June.

In comparing benches and boxes, Munson* obtained
the better results from the latter. The experiments were
made in a broken-span house (Fig. 51, page 158) "20x50
feet, and about 11 feet high at the ridge. The central
bed is supplied with six 2-inch hot water pipes, the flow
being carried overhead to the further end of the house.
Each year a dozen or more plants of each of several
varieties have been grown in boxes, while duplicate lots
have been grown in open beds. These beds were 2)^ to
3 feet wide and 8 inches deep. They were built across
the central bench, and thus received the same bottom
heat as the boxes." ''In almost every instance the better
results were obtained from the boxes. With one or two
exceptions, the first fruits were matured from one to thir-
teen days earlier ; the weight of the crop was greater,
and the individual fruits averaged larger. The average
results for the whole time may be summarized as follows : "

j3 rt

*— •

'oi

^>%

Varieties and treatment.

° C

3 0,

> oii:

Golden Queen—

Box

9.8

1.84

Bed

I-3I

Ithaca—

Box

II-3

1-73

2 5

Bed

10.3

1.51

2.1

Long Keeper—

Box

10.9

2.01

3.0

Bed

8.9

1. 19

2.3

Lorillard—

Box

"•5

8.7

::fa

2.3
2 0

Bed

*Rept. of Maine Exp. Sta, for J894.

i6o

TOMATO

52. 4 siHgle-stem tomato plant.

Training.— The plants
must be trained. For
midwinter, when it is
necessary to economize
sunlight, I much prefer to
train plants to a single
stem. Strong flax cord,
the size of wool twine, is
used for support. A
single strand runs per-
pendicularly from each
plant to a horizontal wire
or rafter extending length-
wise the house under the
roof. The plant is se-
cured loosely to this sup-
port at intervals of a foot
or so by means of some
broad and soft cord, as
bass or raffia. Fig. 49
(page 155) shows the
young plants being
trained, and Fig. 52 shows
a mature vine supported
by the cord. All side
shoots are pinched off as
soon as they appear, and
the leader is "stopped"
or pinched off as soon as
it reaches the glass, or
sometimes when fruits be-
gin to form. In houses
of sufficient height, I like
to train the plants fully 6
feet high. In midwinter
it may be necessary to
cut away some of the

TRAINING AND WATERING. l6l

older leaves or to cut them in two near the middle in
order to let in light. As the fruit sets the leaves near the
base of the plant begin to die, and they should be picked
off. Healthy plants in full bearing are often bare of
leaves for the first 2 feet. The fruit is borne on one side
of the stem, and it is a common notion that the plants
must be so placed that this side of the stem shall be
toward the sun. This precaution is entirely unnecessary.

When the plants are set in benches, at distances of 2
or 3 feet, two or three shoots may be trained out upon
diverging strings, in fan-shaped fashion. If the fan stands
north and south it will probably interfere least with the
light. Tomatoes are sometimes trained along under the
roof as rafter plants, but this system is not adapted to
commercial purposes, as it darkens the house so much
that few plants can be grown, and the rafter plants are
likely to suffer from cold.

As soon as the fruit becomes heavy the largest clusters
will need to be held up. A sling of raffia is caught over
a joint of the plant and is passed under the middle of the
cluster, as seen in Fig. 52 (at a, b, c, page 160), which
shows the bearing portion of a good average plant.

Upon very strong vines the clusters sometimes
"break," or push out a shoot from the end. This shoot
should be cut off". Tomatoes upon clusters where this
abnormal shoot was allowed to grow were generally
smaller and more irregular than upon clipped shoots.

Watering. — During all the early growth of the plant
the atmosphere may be kept moist, particularly in sunny
days, when it is customary to wet down the walks. Care
must be taken in watering. It is best to soak the soil
pretty thoroughly at each watering, yet it should not be
drenched. Careless watering usually leaves the surface
wet, while the under soil remains dry. This must be
avoided. In midwinter we water our plants thoroughly
about twice a week, giving no water directly to them be-
tween times. If the red spider should attack the plants,

l62 TOMATO.

the atmosphere must be kept moist, and in bad attacks
the foHage should be syringed. Every care should be
taken to keep the plants free from the spider, for the pest
cannot well be overcome after the fruit begins to set, at
which time the house should be kept dry. If fungi begin
to attack the plants, however, the atmosphere will need to
be kept drier.

Pollination. — When the flowers begin to appear, the
atmosphere must be kept dry during the brighter part of
the day in order to facilitate pollination. The pollen is
discharged most profusely in dry, sunny days. In the
short, dull days of midwinter, some artificial aid must be
given the flowers to enable them to set. The common
practice is to tap the plants sharply several times during
the middle of the day with a padded stick. This practice
is perhaps better than nothing, although tests which we
once made upon the value of this operation as compared
with no attention were entirely indifferent in results.
During the past winter (1895-6) we tested the value of
this jarring with the transfer of pollen by hand, and ob-
tained more fruits from the jarring method, but their total
weight was much less. I am strongly of the opinion that
it will pay the commercial grower to transfer the pollen
by hand during midwinter. At this season the flowers
are most likely to fail and the product is the most valu-
able ; and the tests which I am about to report concerning
the influences of different quantities of pollen strengthen
this advice. There are various methods of pollinating the
flowers. The most expeditious and satisfactory method
which I know is to knock the pollen from the flowers,

catching
it in a
spoon,
wa tc h-
glass, or

other receptacle, and then dipping the stigmas of the
same or other flowers into it A good implement is

SJ. Ladle for pollinativg house tomatoes.

POLLINATION OF TOMATOES. 163

shown in Fig. 53 (page 162). This is made by glueing a
small watch-glass to the end of a wooden ladle. There is
a time in the life of the flower when the pollen falls out
readily if the atmosphere is dry enough to hold dust.
This is when the flower is fully expanded and somewhat
past its prime. The flower is tapped lightly with a lead
pencil and the light yellow powder falls out freely. The
house must be dry and warm at the time. C. J. Pen-
nock, Kennett Square, Penn., a grower of winter to-
matoes for market, writes me as follows concerning the
pollination of the flowers: "During the short days of
winter I pollinate carefully every day, and I consider the
operation necessary. I use a tool of my own make. It
is a light piece of wood about 16 in. long and one-half
in. square, one end of which has a slight saucer-like de-
pression. This stick is held in the left hand with the de-
pression under the blossom to be pollinated. Another
light stick or reed is used to tap the blossom and shake
out the pollen, the end of the pistil being pressed into
the accumulated pollen in the depression at the same
time. On a sunny day, when the house is dry, the opera-
tion can be performed rapidly. I have tried jarring the
plants and have seen a brush used, but do not consider
either as good as the above method." In the brighter
days of March and later I have found no other attention
necessary than keeping the house dry at midday.

But there appears to be further reason why hand pol-
lination is profitable. In my earliest
experiences in tomato forcing I was
impressed with the fact that indoor
tomatoes are smaller than those grown
out of doors, and the midwinter fruits
are usually smaller than those pro-
duced under the same circumstances
in late spring. There is also a j^. Onesided tomato.
marked tendency in house tomatoes to be one-sided, as
indicated in Fig. 54. It was a long time before any

12 FORC.

l64 TOMATO.

reason for these facts suggested itself. I finally came to
feel that this irregularity and perhaps the smallness were
often due to irregular or insufficient pollination, although
it is probably true that lack of sunlight has something to
do with the inferior size. The first definite aid towards the
solution of the problem was the result of an experiment
performed by my former assistant, W. M. Munson.* Mr.
INIunson pollinated two fruits upon the same cluster with
pollen from one source, but in one flower very little pol-
len was used, and it was applied upon one side of the

55. The effects of much and little pollen.

Stigma only, while the other flower received an abun-
dance of pollen over the whole surface of the stigma. The
result is shown in Figs. 55 to 57 (pages 164 and 165). In
Fig. 55, the large fruit received the more pollen, and it is
fully four times as large as the other, which received a
very small amount. Moreover, the large fruit was practi-
cally symmetrical, while the small one was one-sided.
Figs. 56 and 57 (page 165) show cross sections of these

*A report of fuller studies in this direction by Professor Munson
may be found in the Annual Report of the Maine Experiment Station
for 189a, Part ii.

EFFECTS OF POLLINATION.

165

56.

Effects of liberal supply of
pollen.

fruits. The larger fruit (Fig. 56) has all the cells de-
veloped and seed-bearing, while the smaller one (Fig. 57
has seeds upon one side
only, and the other or un-
fertilized side is seedless
and nearly solid. The
original central division of
this fruit is shown at a b.
This experiment has been
repeated several times with
substantially the same re-
sults. The flowers, of
course, were emasculated
in the bud, and were se-
curely covered with bags
to prevent any interference.

Four important lessons are to be drawn from these
experiments : i. One-sidedness appears to be due to a
greater development of seeds upon the large side.''^
2. This development of seeds is apparently due to the
application of the greater part of the pollen to that side.
3. An abundance of pollen applied
over the entire stigmatic surface, by
increasing the number of seeds in-
creases the size of the fruit. 4. The
pollen, either directly or indirectly,
probably stimulates the growth of
the fruit beyond the mere influence
of the number of seeds ; the growth
of the solid part in Fig. 57 appears
to indicate this. This secondary in-
fluence of the pollen in increasing the size of fruits, both
by means of increasing the number of seeds — which nec-
essarily demand a larger envelope or receptacle — and

S7. Effects of scanty
supply of pollen.

♦For similar results in the pollination of apples, see Bull. 31, Mich,
Agr. Coll. 91 (1887).

l66 TOMATO.

by some stimulating influence which it may have upon
the pericarp itself, is well known as a scientific fact. If
I have interpreted these experiments correctly, they mean
that a part, at least, of the smallness and perhaps all of
the one-sidedness of house tomatoes are due to insuffi-
cient pollination, and that it w^ill pay the grower in mid-
winter to pollinate by hand and to exercise pains to ap-
ply an abundance of pollen over the whole surface of the
stigma. This conclusion is further emphasized by the ex-
periment which I have already reported (page 162), in
which the fruits upon jarred plants (and which undoubt-
edly received comparatively little pollen) were smaller
than those which were hand-pollinated. It is possible
that the same principle can be applied to some other
fruits, and our experiments with other plants in this di-
rection have already been considerable.

The development of the hard and seedless part of the
small tomato (Fig. 57) is perhaps the most interesting
feature of the experiment from a scientific point of view.
This part must have developed because of some entirely
secondary stimulus of the pollen upon the pericarp, or
else because of the stimulus afforded by the growth of
the seeds in the other half; if neither of these proposi-
tions is true, it must follow that seedless tomato fruits
may develop without any aid of pollination whatever.
In any case, the query is raised if it will ever be possi-
ble to grow perfectly seedless tomatoes. We have al-
ready grown them, but can make no definite report
upon the subject.

Second crop. — The crop from the one or two or three
trained shoots of house tomatoes does not exhaust the
vitality of the plant ; consequently when the crop is well
along, one or two new shoots may be trained out from
near the base of the plant to produce a second crop. If
the plant is carrying a load of fruit when these second
shoots are being trained, liquid manure should be given
once or twice a week, or a fresh mulch of old manure

THE SECOND CROP. 167

may be added. In the dark days of midwinter there may
not be enough hght to make these new shoots strong in
such close planting as we practice, and it is better, there-
fore, to delay starting them until the fruit from the first
crop is nearly all full grown. But in late February and
March the new shoots may be allowed to become 3
or 4 feet long before the old shoots are cut down. Of
course, much will depend upon the distance at which the
plants are set, the lightness of the house, and the fertility
of the soil. Shoots which were about a foot long when
the old tops were cut down the first of March gave ripe
fruits the first and second weeks in May. We have
noticed that strong and stocky shoots from 6 inches to
a foot long give fruits about as early as weak and slen-
der shoots 3 and 4 feet long, and they make better
plants. With judicious treatment, the second crop can
be made to follow the first with an interval of four to six
weeks only, although this is difficult with the close plant-
ing which we have employed. One shoot may be trained
out from each plant to take the place of the old top, or
two shoots may be allowed to grow and some of the old
plants cut out entirely. The advantages of either prac-
tice are about equal in the box system of growing. Mr.
Pennock trains his plants to a single stem for winter
bearing. For later fruiting, he trains out two or three
shoots from each plant. But Mr. Pennock grows his
plants in beds or benches and sets them 2X2>^ feet.
In any case, each of the second shoots should bear as
much as the first one did, and usually more, because of
the greater amount of sunlight later in the season. The
old top is cut off an inch or so above the junction of the
new shoot.

Another method of obtaining the second crop is to
bury the old plants. As soon as the fruit is off, the soil
is removed between the plants, and the stems, deprived
of lower leaves, are coiled down into the hole until only
a foot or so of the tip projects. The earth is then filled

l68 TOMATO.

in over the plants, and the tip grows the same as a
young plant. We have not found this method quite so
satisfactory as the training out of new shoots. The yield
has not been quite so heavy as from single second shoots,
although fruits were obtained fully as early as from shoots
which were a foot long when the test was started. But
it is a somewhat laborious operation, and some of the
stiffer plants are apt to be cracked in the handling ; and
in box culture it is necessary to pull out one or two of
the four plants in order to make room for the operation.
A third way of obtaining the second crop is by means
of new seedling plants. This is the common method.
Plants are started from seeds two or three months be-
forehand, and are transplanted two or three times into
pots. At the final shifting they are taken from 4- or 5-
inch pots and placed in permanent quarters. At this
time they should be from 18 inches to 2 feet high, or
ready for the first tying up. We find that seedlings will
bear about the same time and to the same extent as
sprouts which are of equal length to begin with. The
preference would seem to be, therefore, for sprouts, as they
avoid the previous labor of sowing and handling ; and
the seedlings take up valuable room while growing. But
accidents are likely to occur to the old plants ; and an ad-
vantage .which seedling plants have over sprouts lies in
the complete change of soil which is possible when seed-
lings are grown.

An experiment made (in boxes) at Cornell (in mid-
winter) upon the comparative merits of seedling, buried
and sprout-made plants (one sprout being allowed to grow
from the stump of the old plant) gave the following data :

Average yield from seedlings 9 fruits per plant.

" " " buried plants 7 "

" " " sprouts . 9.2 " "

Highest production in seedlings 13.5 " "

" " " buried plants .... 11. 5 " "

" " " sprouts 13.5

This test showed that the seedlings and sprout-made

YIELDS OF TOMATOES. 169

plants were of equal value, but the buried plants were
distinctly inferior. It should be said, however, that such
tests are of comparatively little value, because the merits
of the buried and sprout-made plants depend very much
upon the vigor and healthfulness of the parent plants.
As a result of several years' experience, we now habit-
ually grow our tomato plants from seeds.

Yields and prices. — It will be seen from the foregoing
discussion that any statement of the yield per plant of
house tomatoes must be utterly valueless unless the
method of training is given. The yield from two-
stemmed plants may be twice as great as that from
single-stem training, and the yield from double cropping
of one plant will be from two to four times as much as
from a single crop ; and much will depend upon the time
of year. Some of the reports which have been made of
enormous yields must be untrue. The true way to esti-
mate yield is by the amount of floor space covered.

In our experience we obtain from i}4, lbs. to 2 lbs.
per stem (or plant) in midwinter, and about twice to three
times as much in spring, or an average of 3 lbs. or more
for the season. This amount is produced on 1% to 2 sq.
ft. of soil. Mr. Pennock obtains from 8 lbs. to 10 lbs.
to the plant for the season, but his plants cover 5 sq. ft.
The practical results of the two systems are therefore
about the same — about 2 pounds to the square foot;*
but the uniform single-stem system has some advantages
in ease of manipulation, and the plants are so numerous
that the loss of one by any accident is not so serious as in
the other case. It should be said that the reported yields
of house tomatoes are usually made from the spring crop,
not from the winter crop. A winter crop, to be profit-
able, should average at least 2 lbs. to the plant, in close
planting and single-stem training, and a spring crop

* This is over three times the yield per square foot in field culture
in this latitude.

lyO TOMATO.

should average 4 lbs. to the plant. In a good crop of
tomatoes, the fruits should average about three to a
cluster in winter, and about four or five in spring. Fig.
58 (page 171) shows a good cluster of forced tomatoes.

We have made experiments to determine if the second
crop from the plant is influenced by the amount of the
first crop. The tests were made with both buried and
sprout plants. For one series we used the plants which
bore the heaviest midwinter crop, and for the other those
which stood in partial shade and had borne nothing.
The results show that the first crop did not influence the
bearing capacity of the second stage so long as the parent
plants remained healthy. And they also show that
amount of crop is not a fixed trait of the individual
plant; 7. e., a plant which bears little at first may bear
heavily the second time, and vice versa.

The actual figures of yields and prices of commercial
growers of forced tomatoes will be helpful. In a certain
crop of Lorillard tomatoes, 673 plants, the total pickings
were as follows :

For March , 15 lbs.

" April 783 "

" May 862 "

" June 905 "

" July . . 338 "

2,953 "

This is an average of 4.3 lbs. per plant. This is a
large average yield. In midwinter, the crop could not be
expected to be much more than half this amount. These
plants were trained to a single stem.

Following are extracts from the letters of four
growers :

"We set our plants about 2x2^^ ft. One house, 112 ft.
long by 23 ft. wide, had 8 rows of plants and about 54
per row, and yielded over 4,000 lbs. of fruit from De-
cember 20 to July I. My recollection is that you grew
much closer together and had about the same yield per

A TOMATO CLUSTER.

171

'iS. A cluster of forced Lorillard tomato, two-thirds natural size.

172 TOMATO.

sq. ft., and thought it a safer plan, as a dead plant meant
less loss. My judgment would be that your plan would
require much more labor in setting and caring for the
plants, and in practice we rarely lost a plant. When I
commenced forcing tomatoes I found that the price was
extremely low until the last of December, but now the
price is good in November. Prices have varied in the
past two years from 7 cts. to 50 cts. per lb. An aver-
age price during December, January, February and
March has been about 30 cts. to 35 cts., I think."

"We plant our benches with tomatoes from 3-in. pots
along in January and February as carnation stock is
ready, growing them along at carnation temperature until
we have taken off the last crop of carnation cuttings ;
then we give a little more heat, and have a crop of to-
matoes about the last of May, through June, and have
them all off early in July. We have generally had an
average of 6 to 6%, lbs. per plant. There is much varia-
tion in average price, according to time we get the main
crop on, from, I suppose, 10 cts. to 15 cts. per lb."

"Our experience with tomatoes extends only with one
house and for one season. They were in for six months
and one week. We sold 2,669 lbs. ; gross receipts,
$598.72, or an average of 22>^ cts. per lb. ; variety,
Lorillard ; house, 100x20 ft."

"We grow tomatoes only as a second crop in spring,
bringing them in about the first of May and continuing
through June. From two houses (20x115 ft. and
20x100 ft.) we picked 3,500 lbs. of fruit, which brought
an average price of 12 cents per pound."

Varieties. — We have forced Dwarf Champion, Loril-
lard, Ignotum, Ithaca, Golden Queen, Golden Sunrise,
Volunteer, Beauty, Potato Leaf, and others. Of these,
the Dwarf Champion is least satisfactory. It does not
grow high or free enough to allow of convenient train-
ing, and the fruit is small and ripens slowly. Among

VARIETIES OF TOMATOES. I73

the others there is little choice. Perhaps the Ithaca is
the least desirable of the remaining ones, because of its
irregularity. But I cannot look upon the irregularity of
house tomatoes as wholly a varietal character. All to-
matoes, apparently, tend to be more irregular indoors
than out, a tendency for which I can not yet give any
sufficient reason. The form seems to vary somewhat in
the same variety at different times, and it is probably
closely associated with the moisture of the soil and the
incidental treatment of the plants. The Ignotum seemed
to be somewhat more irregular in the house the first
winter than the second. Lorillard and Ignotum seem
to hold the first place among the varieties which we have
tried, although Volunteer is scarcely inferior. The Golden
Queen is perhaps the best yellow. Yellow tomatoes are
in little demand, but a few plants may prove profitable
from which to sell fruits to those who desire to make
table decorations. If we could have but one variety, we
would choose the Lorillard.

Munson makes the following comments upon varie-
ties :* " Some varieties seem specially adapted for cul-
ture under glass, while others fail to give satisfactory re-
sults. Why this is so we do not know ; but for the pur-
pose of determining the most promising, we have grown
several of the best known varieties for several seasons.
Naturally, as the days grow longer in April and May the
fruit will be of larger size and the product per plant will
be greater than is the case with the first crop — in Jan-
uary and February. The figures given below represent
the average results obtained, including both crops, for
several seasons. Several other varieties — including Ig-
notum, Perfection, Peach, Prelude, Dwarf Champion, etc.
— have been grown, but those named in the table have
proved most satisfactory :

*Rept. Maine Exp. Sta. for 1894.

174

TOMATO

Variety.

Chemin Market
Golden Queen
Ithaca . .

Long Keeper .
Lorillard . . .
Optimus . . .

Average

number

fruits per

plant.

Average

weight of

product —

lbs.

2.29
2.22
1.69
1.86
2.05
1.96

Average
weight of
individual

fruits—
ozs.

3.8
2.5
3-0
2.7
2.5

"The ideal tomato for forcing should be of medium
size — about lYz ounces preferred — and should be uni-
form, smooth, regular, and of firm texture. All things
considered, Lorillard answers these requirements more
completely than any other sort we have grown ; though
Optimus has usually done well. Chemin Market is very
attractive in appearance, and is of good size, but it
lacks solidity.

"No collection is complete without a few plants of
Golden Queen. This is especially valuable for the
pleasing contrast when served with the red or purple
fruits.

"There is a marked difference in the adaptability of
varieties for house culture, among the best of those tried
being Lorillard, Optimus, Chemin, Golden Queen, Ithaca
and Long Keeper.

"All things considered, the Lorillard has proved the
most satisfactory tomato for forcing."

Marketing. — The tomatoes are usually marketed in
small splint baskets holding from 4 to 10 pounds of
fruit. Each fruit is wrapped in tissue paper, and if to
be shipped by rail, the baskets should be lined with
rolled cotton. In midwinter an average price of 40 cents
a pound should be remunerative ; in spring and fall 25
cents a pound should pay. In midwinter our fruits aver-
age from 2 ozs. to 2^ ozs. each, but in late March and

THE MARKETING OF TOMATOES. 175

April the average will rise to 3 ounces and more.
In May, well pollinated fruits often weigh 7 or 8 ounces.
The weight of the best fruits is often increased by cut-
ting off the smallest and most irregular ones. The larg-
est forced tomato which I have ever seen was grown
by John Kerman, Grimsby, Ontario. It weighed 24>^
ounces. It was an Ignotum, and was picked in June.
Mr. Kerman reports* another fruit of the same crop
which weighed 27)^ ounces.

A grower of house tomatoes gives me a description
of his method of marketing: "In shipping I use small
packages. The flat-bottomed splint basket, holding about
8 qts., with handle, is excellent, and can be bought for
$6 or less per gross. They hold 10 lbs. each. In
packing, line the basket with at least two thicknesses of
medium-weight wrapping paper, turning down the cor-
ners even with the top of the basket, or have it cut to
exactly fit. Newspapers can be used, but are not so
neat. Two inches of excelsior shavings is placed in the
basket after being lined with the paper. The tomatoes
are wrapped singly in tissue paper, cut by manufacturers
in convenient sizes, two sizes being sufficient. Two lay-
ers of tomatoes are packed in each basket, with a layer
of excelsior between each layer and on top of the upper
layer. I have found these baskets to hold just 10 lbs.
of tomatoes without undue crowding or rubbing the side
of the basket. The grower's name and net weight of
tomatoes should be placed, by means of a neat label,
inside of the basket, and the basket wrapped in paper,
all tied securely and neatly, with label on outside for
shipping direction, to include consignor's name, and
grade and weight of package. The tomatoes should be
sorted into at least three grades — firsts or choice, sec-
onds, and culls."

Animal parasites. — A white scale {Aleyrodes vapor-

* Canadian Horticulturist, xix. 260 (August, 1896.)

176

TOMATO

arioruni) is a common pest here on tomatoes. The im-
perfect insect is a small white scale-like body, preying
upon the under surface of the leaves, and the mature
form is a minute fly-like insect which flies about the
house. It can be kept in check by fumigating with to-
bacco smoke.

A much more serious pest is a small spotted mite,
scarcely larger than the red spider ( Tetrajiychus bimacu-
latus, of Harvey). The mites feed upon the under sides
of the leaves, causing the upper surfaces to appear
speckled with white, as shown in Fig. 59. They attack

many plants, but to-
matoes and cucum-
b e r s are favorites.
We have tried num-
bers of remedies with
great thoroughness,
but the first way we
discovered of keep-
ing them in check
was to syringe with
water so forcibly
once or twice a day as to knock them off". By the time
they were fairly resettled on the plants we would knock
them off" again. By this alternating warfare, aided by
picking and burning the worst leaves, we kept our plants
in tolerable order. Later, however, we have found that
Hughes' fir-tree oil is fatal to them, as also to all kinds
of lice and scales. For the mites, we use a half pint of
oil to two gallons of water, and the material may be ap-
plied with a syringe or knapsack pump. In more recent
experience, we have not had so good success with this
oil. We now keep them in check by exercising every
care to have the house free of the pests before setting
in the plants, and by spraying the leaves (particularly
beneath) with a fine nozzle every bright morning. If
the mites once get a thorough foothold upon a plant

59. IVork of the mite.

DISEASES OF HOUSE TOMATOES.

177

it is almost impossible to thoroughly eradicate them.

The root-gall, caused by a nematode worm {Hetero-
dera radicicold), often does great damage in tomato
houses (Fig. 29, page 87). The treatment is to use only
soil which has been thoroughly frozen, as explained on
page 85. After cleaning the benches of infected soil, it is
well to wash them in strong lye.*

Diseases. — We have had serious difficulty with dis-
eases. The rot of the fruit has been one of the worst,
and this has appeared chiefly upon the first fruits. This
disease appears to originate as a physiological trouble (not
from the attacks of fungi, as commonly supposed), and the
proper treatment is to keep the house dry and sweet.

The t o-
mato blight
or rust ( Cla-
dos poriu in
fulvtcm) i s
frequent i n
tomato
houses, par-
ticularly to-
wards
spring. Fig.
60 shows the
patches o f

the fungus at the points marked a. It causes rusty patches
upon the leaf, and the foliage soon shrivels and dies. It
is very likely that the disease may be brought into the
house in soil upon which diseased plants have been
grown. If it appears, the plants should be thoroughly
sprayed at once with Bordeaux mixture.

The dropsy or oedema of the tomato is a physiologi-
cal disease produced in house tomatoes by a too succu-

60. Tomato blight {Cladosporium fidvum).

* For a fuller account of the root-gall on house tomatoes, see Bulle-
tin 43, Cornell Exp, Sta. (Sept. 1892).

178 TOMATO.

lent growth consequent upon a dark house, over-watering,
and unskillful attention to ventilation. Outgrowths or
swellings closely resembling fungous infections appear
upon the leaves and stems, and the leaves finally curl
up (Fig. 61). This trouble has been made the subject of
a special study by Atkinson,* whose "summary for
practical purposes" is as follows:

"The oedema of the tomato is a swelling of certain

61. CEdema of the tomato.

parts of the plant brought about by an excess of water
which stretches the cell walls, making them very thin and
the cells very large. The excess of water may be so
great that the cell walls break down, and that part of the
plant dying, exerts an injurious influence in adjacent parts.

"The excess of water in the tissues is favored by the
following conditions :

" I. Insufficient light. The long nights of the early
winter months, numerous cloudy days, and in part, the
walls and framing of the forcing-house, deprive the plants

*Bullttin 53, Cornell Exp. Sta. (May, 1893).

DROPSY OF TOMATO. I79

of needed light. By a process known as transpiration,
plants are relieved of much water when well lighted,
but in poor light, since the roots are absorbing water, it
is apt to accumulate to excess. Well lighted parts of the
house, then, should be selected for the tomatoes.

" 2. Too much water in the soil. Water in excess can
be withheld from the soil and prevent the trouble, and yet
provide enough for the plants to grow.

"3. The temperature of the soil may be too near that
of the air. A high temperature of the soil makes the
roots active, and if the temperature of the air is not con-
siderably higher an excess of water is apt to accumulate
in the plant. The aim would be, then, to have the tem-
perature of the air considerably higher than that of the
roots.

" Lack of proper light also brings about the following
harmful conditions :

"i. Acids in the plant accumulate in the dark, and in
strong light they decrease. When there is an abundance
of water in the plant these acids draw large quantities
into the cells, causing the cells to swell, resulting many
times in oedema, or in the killing of the protoplasm, so
that these parts of the plant die and become brown or
black.

" 2. Lack of light causes weak cell walls. It is only
when well lighted that plants are capable of making sub-
stances to build up cell walls with. Therefore, lack of
light not only favors the accumulation of water, if other
things are favorable, but it prevents the plants from build-
ing up strong tissues. In such cases plants can grow
themselves to death. Possibly artificial light might be
used to advantage.

"A quiet and close atmosphere also favors the ac-
cumulation of water in the plant. Good ventilation
should then be secured. Some means for the artificial
agitation or exchange of the air at night might probably
be profitably devised,
13 FORC,

l8o TOMATO.

"Varieties of tomatoes more subject to the cedema :
those with a tendency to a very rapid and succulent
growth are more liable to the trouble ; tomatoes which
develop a firm, woody young stem are less liable to it."
The most serious disease of forced tomatoes which I
have yet encountered is what, for lack of a better name, I
called the winter blight, ""••" and which is the concern of
the remainder of this chapter. This disease was first de-
scribed in Garden and Forest in 1892.! The disease first
appeared in our house in the winter of 1890-91, when
about a dozen plants were somewhat affected. At this
time the trouble was not regarded as specific ; the plants
were old, and had borne one crop, and it was thought

62. Winter blight of tomato.

that they were simply worn out. In some of our exper-
iments it became necessary to carry about a dozen plants
over the summer, and these were introduced into the
house when the forcing season opened the next October.
From this stock the trouble again spread, and in six or
eight weeks it had become serious, and there was no longer
any doubt that we were contending with a specific disease.
This winter blight attacks the leaves. The first indi-

*In Bulletin 43, Cornell Exp. Sta.

tA New Disease of the Tomato, by E. G. Lodeman. Garden aiid
Forest, v. 175 (Apr. 13, 1892).

WINTER BLIGHT.

i8i

cation of the trou-
ble is dwarfing and
slight fading of the
leaves, and the ap-
pearance of more
or less ill-defined
yellowish spots or
splashes. These
spots soon become
dark or almost
black, and the leaf
curls and becomes
s t i ff, the edges
drawing downward
and giving the
plant a wilted ap-
pearance. This
condition of the
leaf is well shown
in Fig. 62 (page
180). The spots
grow larger, until
they often become
an eighth of an
inch across, or
even more, and
they are finally
more or less trans-
lucent. This in-
jury to the foliage
causes the plant to
dwindle, and the
stems become
small and hard.
Fruit production
is lessened, or if
the disease appears
before flowers are 63.
formed, no fruit

A plant attacked by winter blight {at the
back), compared with a healthy one.

t82 tomato.

whatever may set. In two or three instances, in which
young plants were attacked, the disease killed the plant
outright, but a diseased plant ordinarily lives throughout
the winter, a constant disappointment to its owner, but
always inspiring the vain hope that greater age or better
care may overcome the difficulty. Fig. 63 (page 181) is
a graphic illustration of the appearance of the disease.
The box contains two plants, the lower one of which is
healthy.

It is probable that this disease is the work of germs.
Examination of the diseased tissue has discovered the
presence of micrococcus, but the true relation of the or-
ganism to the disease has not been made out.

Various treatments have been tried upon this disease.
Our first attempt was thorough spraying with ammonia-
cal carbonate of copper, and this is the one which first
suggests itself to growers. Our efforts, although care-
fully made at intervals, were wholly unsuccessful. It
was then thought that treatment of the soil in which
new plants were set might prove effective, and as our
crop was grown in boxes, the experiment was easily
tried.

Boxes in which diseased plants had grown were emp-
tied and the insides were thoroughly washed with va-
rious substances, as follows : Three with dilute solution
of ammoniacal carbonate of copper ; two with lime white-
wash ; one with Bordeaux mixture, and two with lye.
Fresh soil was placed in these boxes and healthy young
plants were set in them. The boxes were then placed
in the tomato house, near both healthy and diseased
plants. For three or four weeks the plants appeared
to be healthy, but after that time the disease attacked
them all without respect to treatment. The same result
followed thorough watering of the soil with ammoniacal
carbonate of copper, nitrate of soda, and lye. Late in
the winter the remaining plants were removed from the '
box, the soil was again treated with ammoniacal carbon-

WINTER BLIGHT OF TOMATO. 183

ate of copper, and fresh seedlings were set in it ; but
these plants also contracted the disease. Just before
this last treatment was given, a lo-inch pot was filled
from the soil in the box, and a seedling from the same
lot as those placed in the box was planted in it. The
pot was set in the tomato house. This plant showed the
disease in less than three weeks. The question at once
arises if the disease was not communicated through the
air from infected plants, rather than through the soil.
This I cannot answer, but it is certain that the disease
travels from plant to plant which stand in separate
boxes, and whose tops do not touch. Through what
distance this transfer can take place I do not know.
We observed it to have occurred through a distance of
2 or 3 feet, but a plant which stood 15 feet from dis-
eased plants, but separated from them by a glass parti-
tion in which two doors stood open, did not take the
blight.

All our experiments, therefore, simply lead us to the
conclusion that the best treatment for this winter blight
is to remove all diseased plants at once, and if it be-
comes serious to remove all the plants and soil in the
house and start anew. They emphasize the importance
of starting with new plants and fresh soil every fall.
And all our experience has shown that the disease is
fatal to success in tomato forcing, for we lost our crop
in an endeavor to treat it. Since clearing our houses
thoroughly of this infection, we have never had it again.

CHAPTER X.

CUCUMBER.

The cucumber contests with the tomato the merit of
being the most popular of the "warm" plants for forc-
ing. In America the extensive forcing of cucumbers for
market is of recent origin. In England, on the other
hand, the species has long been forced, and as a conse-
quence there has developed in that country a peculiar
type of fruit, which is even yet not popularly known
in the United States. The Americans desire the short
cucumbers with which they are familiar in the open
garden. So it happens that there are two branches or
types of the species to which we need to address our
attention.

THE ENGLISH FORCING TYPE OF CUCUMBER.

The English forcing varieties represent the most im-
proved type of the cucumber, and many of them are so
distinct in appearance from our common kinds that vis-
itors to our houses often fail to recognize them as cu-
cumbers. They deserve to become better known in this
country. It is undoubtedly true that the market demand
is more or less confined to particular cities, but it is in-
creasing for these, as for all the better winter products
of forcing-houses. The smaller and cheaper varieties
are better adapted to the general market, but the care-
ful grower, who has access to the larger markets, by
rail or otherwise, should be able to control a select and
very profitable trade in the English sorts, particularly

(184)

CUCUMBERS IN BERMUDA.

185

l86 CUCUMBER.

when grown in connection with tomatoes, beans, and
other winter crops. Good fruits sell at from 25 to 75
cents apiece, and on special occasions even higher.

General requirements. —The general requirements of
houses, temperature and moisture are essentially the
same as for the forcing of tomatoes and beans. The
temperature demanded by English cucumbers is 60° or
65° at night and 70° to 75° in the shade during the day.
They must have bottom heat, and are, therefore, grown
on benches. Cucumbers are vigorous feeders, and water
must be abundantly supplied to prevent flagging. In
bright weather the air should be kept moist by wetting
the walks, both to assist growth and to check the rav-
ages of red spider. The greatest care is necessary,
however, to dry the house off thoroughly every day or
two (particularly in dull weather) to prevent attacks of
mildew. These cucumbers have been developed in the
mild and humid atmosphere of England, and they seem
to be particularly liable to injury by hot suns. We have
the best success in growing them under shaded roofs.

In preparing the beds, which should be 6 to 8 inches
deep, we generally place about an inch of clinkers or
potsherds on the boards ; then follows 3 or 4 inches of
partially decayed rich sods, preferably from an old pas-
ture, and the bed is then filled with good, rich garden
soil, to which has been added one-fourth part of well-
rotted manure. If the soil is somewhat sticky when a
damp portion of it is pressed in the hand, enough sand
is added to make it loose and porous. During the win-
ter liquid manure is applied as occasion seems to de-
mand. It is imperative that the soil be very rich. Pro-
ductiveness in the cucumber is almost entirely a ques-
tion of food. Most gardeners suppose that three or four
of these large cucumbers are all that a plant can bear at
one time ; but the crop will depend very greatly upon
the food, and the room which they have on the bench.
We have had as many as 14 large cucumbers on a vine

STARTING THE PLANTS. 187

at one time. If the fruits are picked as soon as they
arrive at edible size, the crop will be the larger.

The plants are started in flats, upon small squares of in-
verted sods, or in pots. I prefer the pots. We use 3-inch
rose-pots, filling them only a third full of earth. When
the plant has formed a pair of true leaves and stands well
above the brim, the pot is filled with earth. This affords
additional root space and renders transplanting unneces-
sary. When the pots are well filled with roots, the plants
are transferred directly to the beds. Now comes one of
the most critical times in cucumber forcing. The young
plants are very liable to the attacks of aphis and fungi,
and any failure in the bottom heat will seriously affect
them. There are very few vegetables which require
such careful attention until they become established.
The aphis — which is mentioned later on — must be kept
off, or the plant will be ruined, even in a few days. A
stunted cucumber plant will make a short, bunchy
growth at the top, and the leaves will be small and yel-
lowish ; it may remain almost stationary for some weeks.
Even if it finally resumes vigorous growth, it rarely be-
comes a profitable plant. Some plants become stunted
without apparent cause. A prolific source of poor plants
is the growing of the seedlings in fall before the fires
are started, for if the young plants become cold at night
they will almost surely be ruined. To insure a good
stand, I advise starting three or four times as many
plants as are needed. The most vigorous ones are set
out a foot or foot and a half apart upon the benches.
As soon as the plants are established, the weaker ones
are destroyed, leaving the remaining individuals from
lYz to 3 feet apart. A good plant will grow vigorously
from the start, and sometimes the lower leaves will fall
off, giving it a sqraggly and diseased appearance ; but
so long as the growing portions are vigorous and the
leaves are not attacked by mildew, the plant is in good
condition.

i88

CUCUMBER

Training. — The plants must now be trained. We
make a simple trellis of No. i8 annealed wire. When
there is sufficient room above the benches the plants
are trained upon a perpendicular trellis, but on low
benches they are trained along the roof. The wires
are stretched lengthwise the house in parallel strands
from a foot to a foot and a half apart, and cross-wires
are run down from the rafters every 4 or 5 feet to pre-

^^^£5-'^^^*. ""-

63. A large crop of English cucumbers.

vent the strands from sagging. The vines are tied upon
the wires with raffia or other soft cord. Two or three
strong main branches are trained out, and only enough
side shoots are allowed to grow to cover the trellis, the
remaining ones being pinched out as soon as they
appear. It is essential that the plants do not become
"choked" or overcrowded with young growth, and
some of the large leaves may be taken off in the dark
days of midwinter if the foliage becomes very dense.

WHEN THEY BEAR. 189

The branches are all headed-in as soon as they reach
the top of the trellis or begin to encroach upon the
space allowed for neighboring plants. If the plants
grow very rapidly and the trellis is large, some prelimi-
nary heading back may be useful, but we have not prac-
ticed the very close pinching-in system recommended by
English growers.

Bearing age. — Growers who find no difficulty in forc-
ing the common cucumbers in winter often fail with the
English sorts. I am convinced that this failure comes
mostly from two errors : insufficient bottom heat, and
impatience for quick results. The grower must under-
stand that earliness is not a characteristic of the English
cucumbers. From the sowing of seed to marketable
fruits, in midwinter, is an average of 80 to 100 days, in
our experience. From a month to six weeks is required
for the fruit to attain saleable size after the flower is
set. A writer in Revue Horticole in 1874, records the
growing of Telegraph in 65 days from seed, which was
the quickest time on record in his vicinity. This experi-
ment was made from February to April, however, when
the days are lengthening. The plants continue in bearing
for three or four months under good treatment, and a
plant ought to yield at least eight goods fruits. If the
plants are pinched-in after the English custom, and al-
lowed to bear but two or three fruits at a time, the
fruiting season can be extended, and probably a larger
number of fruits can be obtained ; but it is probably
more profitable, especially in small houses, to secure
the returns more quickly, in order to obtain a larger
supply at any given time. Care must be taken not to
allow the heavy fruits to pull the vines off the support,
and those which do not hang free should be held up in
slings, for if allowed to lie on the soil, they do not color
evenly. Fig. 65 (see opposite page) shows (two fruits at
the right) the method of swinging the fruits in slings.
This swinging also appears to exert some influence upon

igo

CUCUMBER .

the shape of the fruit, as will be discussed farther on.
The figure (made from life) shows a successful cucum-
ber house in full bearing.

T:m

66. Three prominent varieties: S, Sion House; E, Duke of Edin-
burgh ; T, Telegraph.

Varieties. — There are many good varieties of English
cucumbers. We have grown Sion House (S, Fig. 66)
most largely, and for general purposes we prefer it. It

THE VARIETIES. I9I

is of medium length, averaging a foot or 14 inches when
fully mature, smooth and regular. It would probably
sell better than the larger sorts in markets which are
unaccustomed to the large English varieties. Telegraph
(T, Fig. 66) is also a favorite and productive variety,
and is probably the most popular one with commercial
growers. It is a smooth, slender, and very handsome
fruit, ordinarily attaining a length of 18 or 20 inches.
English authorities say that this variety is very liable to
mixture, but we have never had such experience. Ken-
yon {Lord Kenyan'' s Favorite') is also an excellent
smooth, slender sort of medium length. Edinburgh
{Duke of Edinburgh) is a spiny and somewhat furrowed
variety, attaining a length of 20 to 24 inches (E, Fig. 66 .
It is not an attractive variety, and we prefer others.
Lome {Marquis of Lome) is one of the best of the very
large sorts. We have grown a fruit of this 33 >^ inches
long, and it was a perfect specimen. Blue Gown is
also an old favorite.

Very large fruits are less popular than those of me-
dium length. They are too large for convenient table
jse, and they are apt to be inferior in quality to those
a foot in length. The flavor of English cucumbers is
somewhat different from that of the common field sorts,
the texture being, as a rule, somewhat less breaking.
But this is not an evidence of poor quality ; it is simply
a different quality, and evidently belongs to these fruits
as a class. The English sorts retain their green color
longer than the field varieties. They are ordinarily
picked before they attain their complete growth, al-
though they remain edible for some time after they have
reached maturity.

The reader will now be able to understand what the
English mean by "prize cucumbers." Specimen fruits
are exhibited at the shows, and there are certain cus-
tomary scales of points for determining the merits of
individual fruits, such as the age of the specimen, the

192 CUCUMBER.

ratio of thickness to length, the shape of the shoulder
or stem end, the color of the tip, and the like.

Origin of this type of cucumber. — To the student of
plant variation, the forcing cucumbers possess unus-
ual interest. As a class, these cucumbers are very dis-
tinct from all others, and yet they are known to have
come in recent times from the shorter and spiny field
sorts, at least those particular varieties which we
now grow. It is not improbable that very long cu-
cumbers were known some centuries ago. The Cu-
ciimis loiigus of Bauhin, 1651, is figured, as pointed
out by Sturtevant*, "as if equaling our longest and best
English forms." But these older types do not appear
to have been the ancestors of our modern forcing kinds.
Our types all appear to have originated within the pres-
ent century. The English have always been obliged,
because of their climatic limitations, to grow cucumbers
largely by the aid of artificial heat, and since the im-
provements inaugurated by M'Phailf over a century ago,
and extended by others shortly afterwards, special pits
or houses have been designed for them. "Under these
conditions," as Vilmorin remarks, J "the race could not
fail to greatly improve in appearance and size, earliness
and hardiness being regarded as qualities of secondary
importance. This has actually occurred, and there are
now in cultivation in England about ten or a dozen va-
rieties of the long green cucumber, all bearing long and
nearly cylindrical fruits, nearly spineless, with solid flesh,
and seeding very sparingly." M'Phail and other early
writers do not speak of special or named kinds for forcing,
showing that there had been little departure at that time
from common sorts. The earliest mention which I find of

*Amer. Nat. 1887, 909.

fA Treatise on the Culture of the Cucumber, by James M'Phail,
Second ed. 1795.

X Les Plantes Potageres, Second ed. 187.

HISTORY OF THESE CUCUMBERS. I93

a named long forcing cucumber was written in 1822.* It
recites that in 1820 Patrick Flanagan, gardener to Sir
Thomas Hare, sent two specimens of cucumbers, one
green and the other ripe, to the London Horticultural
Society. The green one measured 17 inches in length,
was nearly 7 inches in circumference, and weighed 26
ounces. The ripe one was 25^^ inches long, ii>^ inches
in circumference, and weighed 6 lbs. The record con-
tinues : "Mr. Flanagan states that he has frequently
grown these cucumbers in high perfection for the table,
near 2 feet long; in 181 1 he produced one in a stove
which measured 31 inches in length, was 12 inches in
circumference, and weighed 11 pounds. This is a re-
markable variety of the cucumber, combining with such
extraordinary vigor of growth so much excellence of
flavor as to make it particularly deserving of notice.
Some seeds were communicated to the society, and
have been distributed under the name of Flanagan's cu-
cumber. The sort was obtained by Mr. Flanagan in
1804, from a friend in Buckinghamshire. It keeps true
to itself, without variation ; but it is difficult to make
it yield seed. It requires to be grown in high tempera-
ture." The surprise which these fruits occasioned among
a body of gardeners indicates that they were novelties.
I cannot understand the great weight of the large cucum-
ber. Our specimens of larger size weigh only about a
third as much. The oldest of the varieties which we
now cultivate appears to be the Sion House, a product
of the gardens of the Duke of Northumberland, at Brent-
ford, in Middlesex, to which the gardening world is in-
debted for many achievements. I presume that the first
record which was made of this variety is that written by
the conductor of the Gardeners' Alagazine early in 1831,
as follows:! "An excellent variety of cucumber is grow-

* Trans. London Hort. Soc. iv. 560.
fGard. Mag. vii. loi.

194 CUCUMBER.

ing in the forcing houses at Syon.* The fruit is long,
perfectly smooth, and the leaves extremely large (i8
inches across) ; they are grown in boxes placed over the
back flue of the pine-pits, and the shoots trained under
the glass over the pits. Mr. Forrest [gardener] has
gathered fruit daily since October last, and will continue
to do so, if he chooses, all the year round." In his
first edition of Plantes Potagercs, Vilmorin says that
the Sion House was raised from the White cucumber,
but he omits the statement in the second edition ; and
I am unable to find any confirmation of it.

From this comparatively recent beginning the Eng-
ligh cucumbers have diverged widely from their parents.
In all the following characters they differ, as a rule,
from common cucumbers. The fruits (and ovaries) are
very long and slender, cylindrical (not ridged or fur-
rowed), spineless or nearly so at maturity, remain bright
green until full maturity, and seeds are produced spar-
ingly ; the flowers are very large ; the vines are very
vigorous and long, with long and thick tendrils ; and
the leaves are very broad in proportion to their length,
and the full grown ones appear to have a tendency to
make shallower sinuses or angles than do the field kinds.
But the most remarkable peculiarity is the habit of pro-
ducing seedless fruits, which is discussed farther on.

In 1859, Naudint grouped all cultivated cucumbers
under four divisions : Small Russian, Common Long,
White, and Sikkim (later described by Sir J. D. Hooker
as Oictiinis sativus var. Sikkimetisis). Recently Sturte-
vant,t omitting the Sikkim cucumber, has grouped them
under six heads: Common cucumbers; "a second form,
very near to the above, but longer, less rounding, and
more prickly;" "smooth and medium-long cucumbers ; "
English or forcing kinds ; white ; Russian. I am not

*Sion appears to be the later and preferable spelling,
fAnn. Sci. Nat. Bot. 4th Ser. xi, 28.
JAmer. Nat. 1887, 908.

THE DIFFERENT FLOWERS.

195

sure that this latter classification is a practicable one,
but it is certainly well to place the English forcing va-
rieties in a group alone.

Pollination — Ill-shaped fruits. — Cucumbers are mo-
noecious plants : that is, the sexes are borne in separate
flowers on the same plant. Fig. 67 represents the two
kinds of flowers on the common field cucumber. P is
the pistillate or fruit-bearing flower. The young cucum-
ber, or ovary, can be seen below the petals or leaves
of the flower. S shows the staminate flower, which per-
sists only long enough to supply pollen to fertilize the
pistillate flowers. The staminate flowers are more nu-
merous than the pistillate, and they begin to appear

67. The pollen-bearing and fruit-bearing flowers.

earlier ; a sufficient supply of pollen is therefore insured
against all exigencies of weather or other untoward cir-
cumstances. Out of doors the pollen is carried from
the staminate to the pistillate flower by insects, but pol-
len-carrying insects are absent from the greenhouse. If
the flowers are fertilized in the house, therefore, the pol-
len must be carried by hand. It is certain that some
plants of English cucumbers will set fruit to perfection
without seeds and entirely without the aid of pollen,
but other plants (and in our experience they have been
greatly in the majority) utterly refuse to do so. I do

14 FORC.

196 CUCUMBER.

not know if this is true of the common cucumbers, but
we have made several unsuccessful efforts to grow Me-
dium Green {NichoPs Medium Green) in the house
without pollination. In the early days of cucumber forc-
ing, hand pollination was practiced, but it has been
abandoned by many growers.* It is possible that the
forcing cucumber sets more freely now without pollen
than it did before its characters were well fixed, or per-
haps the early gardeners performed an unnecessary labor.
We have sometimes thought that the fruits set more
freely without pollination as the plants become matu;e.
As a result of several years' experience, however, we
find that hand pollination is essential to the certainty of
securing a crop.

Many gardeners suppose that pollen causes the fruit
to grow large at the end, as in Fig. 68, and they, there-

*" Fertilization was formerly considered necessary for the setting
of cucumbers, but it has long been proved to be needless. Indeed,
fruits intended for eating are better without, as the seeds in them are
not so numerous. For seeding purposes fertilization is decidedly re-
quired, if good, heavy seed be needed." — Kitchen and Market Card. 1^0
(London, 1887).

" Except for seeding purposes, it is not necessary that the latter
[pistillate flowers] should be fertilized, the fruit reaching the same
size, and being all the better for the absence of seeds. In winter
time, or in the case of weak plants, the whole of the male flowers
might with advantage be kept removed." — Nicholson's Diet. Card.
/, 405-

General Russell Hastings, of Bermuda Islands (whose house is
shown in Fig. 64, page 185), writes me as follows upon this question of
pollinating the forcing cucumbers: "I am growing the English frame
cucumber, many fruits growing 2 feet long and weighing as high as 3
pounds. When I first began, some six years ago, having read" of the
necessity of pollinating by hand, I used to perform this work ; but I
became neglectful, and it seemed entirely unnecessary to pollinate, as
my growth was fully as good as before my careful attention. I went so
far in my experiment as to select a pistillate bud which, if left alone,
would have opened the following day, and with care cut ofl" the bud
and destroyed the pistil. From this I raised a very large cucumber,
but, of course, without a seed from one end to the other. When I first
began with my glass house, I had no bees, and never saw one in the
house, but for the past two years I have had bees not far from the house,
and as the sash stands open nearly every day, it is, of course, constantly
visited by bees. The result in the number and growth of cucumbers
is no better than when I did not pollinate, nor when there were no bees
around."

UNSHAPELY FRUITS.

197

fore, aim to produce seedless cucumbers for the double
purpose of saving labor and of procuring
straighter and more shapely fruits. For sev-
eral years we have made experiments upon
these questions, but we are not yet able to
make many definite statements concerning
them ; we think, however, that the large thick-
ened ends of fruits like Fig. 68 are caused by
the production of seeds in that portion. The
early flowers nearly always fail to set if pollen
is withheld, but late flowers upon the same plant
may set freely with no pollen. Fruits which
have set without pollination are uniformly seed-
Jess throughout, as shown in Fig. 69 (page
198), the walls of the ovules remaining loose
and empty. Pollination does not occur when
the fruits are left to themselves in the forcing-
house, especially in midwinter, when pollen-
carrying insects are not present. Upon old
plants we often prevent pollination, for experi-
mental purposes, by tying together the
flower tube, or occasionally by cutting
off the flower bud altogether from the
top of the ovary or young cucumber
but this latter method is uncertain.

In pollinating, we follow the same
method advised by Abercrombie and
other writers of the last century, — pick
off a staminate flower, strip back the co-
rolla, and insert the column of anthers 68. A misshapen
into a pistillate flower. fruit.

The production of misshapen fruits is one of the dif-
ficulties of cucumber forcing. The commonest deformity
is the large end shown in Fig. 68. English gardeners
often grow the fruits in glass tubes to make them
straight. The cause of the deformities, particularly of
the swollen end, is obscure. The forcing cucumber pro-

igS

CUCUMBER

69. A seedless {tiot pollinated)
fruit. The Berkshire Cham-
pion cucumber.

duces seeds only near the
blossom end, the ovules in
the remaining half or two-
thirds never filling out, no
matter how much pollen is
applied to the stigma. It
would seem, therefore, that
if all these ovules in the
blossom end were to de-
velop into good seeds, the
fruit must be larger at this
point. And it would also
seem as if accidental appli-
cation of pollen to one side
of the stigma must make the
fruit one-sided by developing
one cell at the expense of
another, for this actually oc-
curs in tomatoes and apples.
But we have found that seed-
bearing is not necessarily as-
sociated with a swollen end
to the fruit, and pollination
of one side does not appear
to destroy the symmetry of
the fruit. We have per-
formed many experiments
upon the influences of differ-
ent amounts of pollen, but
find that there is very little
difference in external results,
whether little or much pol-
len is used. This is directly
contrary to our experience
with winter tomatoes. Little
pollen (30 to 50 pollen
grains) may produce fewer
seeds than much pollen (200

CUCUMBER CROSSES. I99

or more pollen grains), but the shape of the fruit is not
necessarily influenced. And yet there are instances in
which pollination appears to make the fruit unshapely,
but why it should exert this influence at some times and
not at others I am unable at present to state. It ap-
pears to be often a peculiarity or variation of indi-
vidual plants. There were two plants in our house one
winter which invariably produced deformed fruits when
pollen was used, although fruits on other plants along-
side were not influenced by pollen. Upon these suscepti-
ble individuals we found that the pollinated fruits would
grow to uniform thickness if they were swung or tied up,
as recommended on page 189. It is probable that much
of the irregularity in shape is but an expression of plant
variation, rather than a result of particular treatment. It
is an interesting fact in the variation of plants under
domestication that the long English cucumber cannot
produce seed in its lower half, although ovules are
usually present. It is probable that the fruit has been
developed to such a length that the pollen-tubes cannot
reach the remote ovules.

Crosses. — The English forcing cucumbers cannot- be
successfully grown in the field, but they possess "some
points of merit for a field cucumber, as smoothness and
cylindricity, length, and great vigor of vine. We there-
fore attempted some crosses in the winter of 1889-90 be-
tween the Sion House and Medium Green, hoping to
produce a superior sort for outdoor use. Our results
have been exceedingly interesting from a scientific point
of view, although we have not yet procured the cucum-
ber which we sought. Fruits of unusual promise have
been obtained, but they have not produced good seeds.
Some of the mongrel fruits developed a peculiar weak-
ness in the tendency of the placentae or cell walls to de-
cay. The seeds did not mature, and the soft, pulpy tis-
sue about them solidified. Near the apex of the fruit the
placentae tended to break away from the body, and iij

200 CUCUMBER.

the cavities decay set in and extended finally to the base
of the fruit. All the fruits upon one of the mongrel
plants behaved in this manner. In no case had the fruit
been injured, nor was the decay visible upon the exterior
until it had extended well down the fruit. I am unable
to account for it.

In most instances, the mongrel vines resembled the
Medium Green (the staminate parent) more than the
Sion House. The fruits were generally intermediate,
although almost every gradation was observed. Some-
times the fruits would vary widely upon the same plant.
A number of vines bore beautiful fruits twice longer
than the Medium Green, nearly cylindrical, with very
few spines ; and we are looking for good results from
this or some similar cross.

Enemies. — The most serious enemy with which we
have had to contend in cucumber foi-cing is the spotted
mite, which feeds upon the under surface of the leaves,
destroying the green tissue. This pest is treated in the
preceding chapter (page 176).

A large coal-black aphis or plant-louse (probably
Aphis riimicis, Linn.), has been a serious pest. It is
the worst aphis with which I have ever had experience,
and every effort should be made to prevent its becom-
ing established upon the plants. It can be destroyed by
persistent fumigation, but it must be remembered that
the cucumber cannot endure a very heavy smudge.

The root-gall (already described on pages 84 and
85) is often serious in cucumber houses.

The powdery mildew {Erysiphe Cichoracearum, or
Oidimn erysiphoides var. Cucurbitarum) is a serious en-
emy to cucumber culture if it once gains a good foot-
hold. It will soon ruin the plants. The disease is su-
perinduced by too close and moist atmosphere and a
too soft condition of the foliage. It usually begins as
light green or yellowish ragged spots — a quarter-inch
or half-inch across — on the leaves, and generally soon

THE WHITE SPINES. 20I

develops into frosty patches. When it appears, dry off
the house, raise the temperature, and give plenty of air
(without any draughts). It is also a good plan to dust
the foliage thoroughly with powdered sulphur. If the
disease threatens to become serious, sulphur should be
evaporated in the house. Flowers of sulphur is placed
in a small basin and set upon a small oil stove (Fig. 31,
page 92). The house is tightly closed, and enough
sulphur is evaporated to completely fill the house with
strong fumes for a half hour. Care must be exercised
that the sulphur does not take fire, for burning sulphur
is very injurious to plants.

THE WHITE SPINE TYPES OF CUCUMBER.

The forcing of the White Spine types of cucumber is
not greatly different from that of the true forcing types.
The chief points of dissimilarity to be borne in mind are
these : The White Spine types are shorter-lived than the
others, and tend to ripen up their crop at once ; they
are less succulent in growth, and demand full sunlight
for their best development ; they can be readily grown
under glass in summer, after the house is cleared of its
winter crops, thereby giving a crop much in advance of
the outdoor plants ; they seem always to require pollina-
tion, either by hand or by bees ; they are less rampant
growers, and bear smaller leaves than the others, and
may, therefore, be planted somewhat closer.

With these contrasts in mind, the reader who has
followed the discussion of the English cucumber in the
preceding pages will have no difficulty in apprehending
the essential points in the management of these Ameri-
can cucumbers. The plants will mature the crop in
about three months from the time they are put on the
benches. A certain house of 68 plants yielded, in three
months, 6,180 fruits, or an average of 90 to the plant.
This was possible because every fruit was picked the

CUCUMBER,

YIELDS AND PRICES. 203

moment it was fit for sale, and the crop was grown from
April to June. A common method of growing them is
to let them follow lettuce. Two or three crops of let-
tuce can be taken from a house by early spring (say by
March), and cucumber plants may then be ready to be
set in the beds. These four crops should bring in a
gross return of 30 to 50 cents a square foot of ground,
the income depending mostly upon the man. Even in
winter, these plants can be grown in houses which
were designed for lettuce, if the temperature is kept
pretty high, for these types of cucumbers do not de-
mand bottom heat so imperatively as the English kinds
do. A cucumber forcer tells me that he generally re-
ceives $2, per dozen for extra quality of White Spine
(or Boston Market) cucumbers, and $4. per dozen for the
forcing kinds.

CHAPTER XI.

MUSKMELON.

"There is not, I believe, any species of fruit at pres-
ent cultivated in the gardens of this country," wrote
Thomas Andrew Knight, in 1811, "which so rarely ac-
quires the greatest degree of perfection, which it is capa-
ble of acquiring in our climate, as the melon." The
melon is particularly prized in England, for, because of
the coolness of the climate, it is generally grown to per-
fection only under glass, and is thereby appreciated ;
and it is in England, too, that one finds the most expert
methods of growing it. The melon is treated there,
however, as a spring or early summer, or late fall, crop.

The forcing of melons for delivery in midwinter is
practically unknown. The fruit is often grown as an
early winter crop, ripening in October and early Novem-
ber, and the seeds are often sown in January and the
melons matured in May and June. Gardeners now and
then ripen a few melons in midwinter, but the fruits are
almost invariably very poor, or even disagreeable, in
quality. The writer has long been convinced that it is
possible to secure good melons in December, January
and February, and to grow them nearly as cheaply as
the English or frame cucumbers. The attempt was first
made in the winter of 1889-90, and it has been repeated
more or less persistently until the present time, and the
results during the past two years have been satisfac-
tory. The melon is certainly the refinement of the
vegetable garden. To get it in midwinter, with the
(204)

EPITOME OF MELON EORClNd. 2o5

sweetness and fragrance of August, is no mean ambi-
tion. Then, if at no other time, one may exclaim with
Thoreau —

' ' And what saith Adshed of the melon ?

" ' Color, taste, and smell, — smaragdus, honey, and musk ;
Amber for the tongue, for the eye a picture rare ;
If you cut the fruit in slices, every slice a crescent fair;
If you have it whole, the full harvest moon is there.'"

In order to satisfy the reader's curiosity at the outset,
I will say that the essentials for growing midwinter mel-
ons, as I understand them, are these : Hig^k temperature
from the start (80° to 85° at midday, and 65° to 70° at
night) ; the plants must never be checked, even from the
moment the seeds germinate, either by insects, fungi, low
temperature, or delay in ''handling'' ; dryness at time
of ripening ; a soil containing ple7ity of mineral ele-
ments, particularly, of course, potash and phosphoric acid ;
polliniferous varieties ; the selection of varieties adapted
to the purpose. All these requirements seem to be easy
enough of attainment as one reads them, but it has taken
us six years to learn them. Others would no doubt have
been more expeditious ; but it should be said that no
one of these conditions will insure success, but all of
them must be put together.

Watermelons are not forced, as they demand a too
long season, make too rampant growth, and probably
would not develop their best quality in midwinter. I
have seen them ripened in a glass house in early sum-
mer, following winter crops, with fair success. It is
probable that forcing varieties could be developed, but
it is doubtful if the fruits would be large enough to meet
with ready sale.

The house. — A hou? which is adapted to the grow-
ing of English cucumbers or tomatoes should grow mel-
ons. The first requisite is heat. The capacity of the
heating system must be sufficient to maintain a high
temperature in the coldest weather. The house should

206

MU SKMELON.

i:v>\"

i""S'<'

•: U'i. ^^ J

' ;•« H-^4''

THE HEAT AND THE SOIL. 207

be free of draughts and large leaks. Our melon house
opens into sheds at both ends, so that no outside air
ever blows into it ; yet ev^en here we lock up the house
from the time the melons begin to form, to prevent per-
sons from passing through it. We like to keep the room
close. It should be capable of being kept dry. There
should be ample room over the benches for training the
vines 5 to 6 feet. We use benches, for melons must
have strong bottom heat. Fig. 71 (page 206) is a view
in our melon house, taken on the 3rd of October (at this
time many of the melons were as large as one's fist),
the plants having been set in the bench on the 20th of
August, and the seeds sown the 20th of July. For my-
self, particularly where such high temperatures are
wanted, I prefer steam heat. A melon house should
receive direct sunlight through an unshaded roof. In
this respect melons differ from the English or frame cu-
cumbers, which generally thrive best under a shaded
roof The burning of the foliage by the sun is avoided
by the use of glass which does not possess waves or va-
rying thicknesses in the panes. The bubbles, flaws and
"tear drops" in glass are not the cause of burning.
Fig. 3 (piige 18) shows a cross-section of the house in
which we have grown melons, and which is also shown
in Fig. 71. We have used benches A, b and c. The
lower bench, d, has too little head room, and, being
the lowest, it is too cold for melons.

The soil should be very fertile. We have had good
success with clay sod, which had not been manured,
pulverized and mixed thoroughly with about one-quarter
the bulk of well-rotted stable manure (but fresh or rank
manure should not be used). Such a mixture contains
enough quickly available nitrogen to start the plants off
strongly, whilst the mechanical condition of it is so fria-
ble that all the mineral elements are easily obtained by
the plants. It should be well firmed, after it is placed in
the bench, by pressing it down with the hands or by

208 MUSKMELON.

pounding with a brick. An occasional light application
of potash and phosphoric acid worked into the soil will
be found to be useful. Very much of the ultimate be-
havior of the plants will depend upon the proper selec-
tion and mixing of the soil, and one who has had no
experience in forcing-house work will rarely obtain the
best results for the first year or two in preparing the
earth. The mechanical condition of this soil is really
more important than its fertility, for plant food may be
added from time to time, but the soil itself cannot be
renewed whilst the crop is growing ; and, moreover,
the plant food is of little avail unless the soil is well
drained and aerated, not too loose nor too hard. It is
impossible to describe this ideal soil in such manner
that the beginner can know it. Like many other sub-
jects of handicraft, it can be known only by experience.
It may help the novice, if I say that soil which will
grow good melons in the field may not be equally good
in the house. Under glass, with the fierce heats in full
sunshine and the strong bottom heat, heavy watering,
as compared with normal rainfall, is essential, whilst
the rapid drainage and the evaporation from both the
top and the bottom of the bed, impose conditions which
are much unlike those of the field. But the ideal con-
dition of the soil to be maintained in the house may be
likened to the warm, mellow, rich and moist seed-bed
in which every farmer likes to sow his garden seeds in
spring. There is no sub-soil indoors to catch the drain-
age, and a mellow field soil is often so loose and po-
rous that the water runs through the benches and carries
away the plant food. The house soil must, therefore,
be retentive, but then there is danger that it will be-
come puddled or sodden, or arrive in that condition
which a gardener knows as a "sour" soil. This condi-
tion may be avoided by the use of the stable manure to
add fiber to the soil, by the very frequent stirring of the
immediate surface with a hand weeder, and particularly

THE SOIL AND ITS DEPTH. 209

by great care in watering. As the fruits begin to ma-
ture, water the house very sparingly. "The less water
given, the higher will be the flavor of the fruit."* Inas-
much as old or fruiting plants require a dry house, and
young plants thrive best in a moister atmosphere, it is
not advisable to attempt to grow successive plantings of
melons simultaneously in the same house.

Recent English instructions, by James Barkham,t give
the following advice about melon soil: "The top spit
from an old pasture is what I prefer, if such is obtain-
able, soil such as a good, strong, yellow loam being
most suitable. This should be broken up with the spade
to about the size of a duck's egg. Do not use any
manure, but to every cartload of loam add two bar-
rowloads of old mortar or plaster, broken up and run
through an inch mesh sieve, and one barrowload of half-
decayed leaf soil, turning the whole two or three times,
so as to thoroughly mix it. Mistakes are often made in
preparing soil for melons by making it too rich by add-
ing manure, which encourages a too luxuriant growth.
When this is so, it is an impossibility to obtain satisfac-
tory results, as the growth becomes so succulent that
instead of the fruit setting it turns yellow and decays."

The bench should not be above 7 inches deep, and
perhaps 5 inches is better. If the soil is too deep, the
plants grow too much, and are late in coming into bear-
ing. If the bench is 4 feet wide, two rows of plants,
2)4 feet apart in the rows, may be grown ; but if the
bench is an outside one, it may be handier in training
if there is but a single row, with the plants about 18
inches apart. It should always be borne in mind, how-
ever, that at least twice the number of plants should be
set in the beds which are ultimately to grow in them,

2IO

MUSKMELON.

for there will almost certainly be accidents and black
aphis, and mildew, and damping-off. When the plants
have stood in the benches two or three weeks, the weak
ones may be pulled out. It is a good practice, when
but a single row is planted, to set the plants nearer one
side than the other, and then leave the wider side of
the bench empty, and add the soil to it as the plants
need it. In this way fresh forage is obtained for the
roots in soil which has not been leached of its plant
food nor impaired in its mechanical condition ; and the
plants will make a steady growth from start to finish,
rather than an over-vigorous one at first. If there is
too much soil, the roots spread through it quickly and
the plants run at once to vine.

Sowing and transplanting. — The seeds should be
sown in pots. We like to place a single seed in a 2-
/ inch pot, and in

about three weeks —
if in summer or fall
— to transplant the
seedling into a 4-inch
pot. In two or three
weeks more the plant
may be set perma-
nently in the bench
at the distances indi-
cated in the above
__.^ paragraph. It is a

l^S'L^^^^^^^^^g^'^-^2:^ — most excellent plan

(as explained for cu-
cumbers) to fill the
pots only half full of
earth or compost at
first, and then fill the
pot up as soon as the plant overtops the rim. The
record of one of our crops is as follows : Seeds sown
August 4 ; repotted August 30 ; transplanted to bench

72. Melon plant {in 4-inch pot) in Jit con-
dition for traiisplanting into bench.

TRAINING HOUSE MELONS. 211

September lo ; first fruit picked December 6 ; crop all
harvested for Christmas.* If a crop is desired on the
first of November, the seeds should be sown from the
middle to the 25th of July. Fig. 72 (page 210) shows
the size of a good melon plant as it leaves a 4-inch pot
for the bench. It is very important that the plants should
not become pot-bound, nor stunted in any other way. It
is only strong, pushing plants which give satisfactory
results.

Training. — The plants are "stopped" — the tip of the
leader taken off — as soon as they become established in
the bench. This pinching-in is practiced for the purpose
of setting the plant at once into fruit bearing, and to
make it branch into three or four main shoots. All the
weak or "fine" shoots are removed as fast as they ap-
pear, so that the plant does not expend its energy in the
making of useless growth. The three or four main vines
or arms are trained divergently upon a wire trellis, and
as soon as a shoot reaches the top of the trellis — 4 or 5
feet — it is stopped. Some growers prefer to have a
leader 4 or 5 feet long, and only two laterals and of
about the same length as the leader. The trellis is
made simply of light wire, strung both horizontally and
vertically, with the strands about a foot apart in each
direction. To these wires the vines and fruits are tied
with raffia, or other soft, broad cord. It must be re-
membered that the fruit is borne along the main
branches, and that all small or "blind" growths from
the main stem and branches should be nipped out as
soon as they start. The fruits should hang free from the
vine, never touching the ground. It will generally be
necessary to hang them to a wire, as shown in Fig. 73
(page 212), by making a sling of raffia, or resting them

* It should be said that the forcing season at Ithaca is unusually
cloudy, and that, consequently, these dates of maturity are somewhat
later than they may be in sunnier regions.

[5 FORC.

MUSKMELON.

upon a little swing with a block oi wood for the bottom
(as in Fig. 77, page 217). They will then not hang too
heavily on the vine, nor break off, — as they sometimes
do if unsupported.

Barkham, whom I have already quoted, writes as fol-
lows of the training of melons: "Train the plants to
a neat stake until the trellis is reached ; rub off all
growths as they show from the stem below the trellis ;
train the growths right and left, and allow the leading

jj. Melon in a sling of raffia.

stem to grow up, without stopping, to within a foot of
the top. If the side shoots are likely to be crowded,
pinch out some at first sight, as the melon will not" en-
dure thinning so severely as the cucumber ; therefore the
growths should be stopped and thinned early enough
for those remaining to just cover the trellis with well-
developed foliage, and no more. The first laterals
which are formed at the bottom of the trellis should be

TRAINING AND PRUNING.

213

Stopped at the second or third leaf, and by the time the
sub-laterals show fruit other fruits will be showing on
the first laterals higher up. The plants, whether grow-
ing in houses or pits, should be gone over twice or
three times a week for the purpose of stopping and re-
moving any superfluous growth, so as to allow of the
principal leaves being fully exposed to the light. Stop
at the first joint beyond the fruit, and remove all weak
growths and laterals not showing fruit.

74. Pistillate flower of melon. Full size.

"Overcrowding is the greatest evil in melon culture,
because the excessive foliage must be thinned, and its
removal results in exudation from the wounds, gan-
grene sets in, and the affected parts perish through
'wet-rot' (bacteria and bacillus growths). To arrest
these, antiseptics must be used ; the safest is quicklime,
rubbing it well into the affected parts, and repeating as
necessary. But the worst effect of removing a large

214

MUSKMELON

quantity of growth is giving a check to the fruit, not
unfrequently causing it to cease swelling, and it becomes
hard in the flesh ; fungoid germs fasten upon the exu-
dation, and the fruit decays when it should ripen. These
disasters are generally preventable by attending to the
thinning and stopping of the growths in time."

Pollinating. — The flowers must be pollinated by hand.
INIelons are monoecious, — that is, the sexes are borne
in separate flowers on the same plant. The first flowers
to open are always males or staminates, and it may be
two weeks after these first blossoms appear that the
females or pistillates begin to form. There is nearly al-
ways a much larger number of males than females, even
when the plant is in full bearing. Fig. 74 (page 213) is
a female or pistillate flower, natural size. It is at once
distinguished by the little melon, or ovary, which is
borne below the colored portion of the flower. The
male or staminate flower is seen in Fig. 75. It has no
enlargement or melon below, and the flower perishes
within a day or so after it opens. Pollination is per-
formed in the middle of the day, preferably when the

house is dry and
the sun bright,
so that the pol-
len is easily de-
tached from the
male flower. A
male flower is
picked off, the
petals or leaves
stripped back,
and the central

75. staminate flower of melon. Full size. or poUen-bearing

column is then inserted into a pistillate flower, and there
allowed to remain. That is, one male flower is used to
pollinate one female flower, unless there should happen
to be a dearth of male flowers, in which case two or

POLLINATION. — VARIETIES. 215

three female flowers may be dusted with one male. If
the house is too cool and too moist, the pollen will not
form readily, and there are some varieties which are
poor in pollen when grown under glass.

Every pistillate or female flower, except the first two
or three which appear, should be pollinated, although not
more than four or five on each plant should be allowed
to perfect fruit. It is very rare that even half of the fe-
male flowers show a disposition to set fruit. It is best
to ignore the very first flowers which appear, for if one
strong fruit is set much in advance of the appearing of
other pistillate flowers, it will usurp the energies of the
plant, and the later fruits will be likely to fail. Upon this
point Barkham remarks: "Never commence fertilizing
the blooms until there is a sufficient number ready at
one time, or within an interval of three days, to furnish
the crop. If one or two fruits are allowed to swell off
first, the later-set fruit will not swell, but die away. In-
deed, if only one fruit is set in advance of the rest, it
will monopolize all the strength of the plant, and pre-
vent any more fruit from setting. When a sufficient
number of fruits is set, select the largest and best
shaped, taking off' all small and misshapen ones. If
large fruits are wanted, leave from four to six fruits to
each plant, or if smaller fruits are desired, allow eight
or ten to remam." Mr. Barkham here speaks of the
spring crop (seeds sown in January or later), and his
plants are about 3 feet apart each way.

Varieties. — The general varieties of field melons do
not succeed well in the house. We have tried various
common melons for forcing, but the only one which was
adapted to the purpose is Emerald Gem. We have had
the best success with the English frame varieties, particu-
larly with Blenheim Orange. All these melons are small
(winter specimens weighing from iX to 2 lbs.), with
thin netted rinds, and a red or white flesh of high quality.

Blenheim Orange (Fig. 76, page 216) is a red-fleshed

2l6

M U S K M E L O N

VARIETIES OF FORCING MELONS.

217

melon of medium to medium- large size, with a very ir-
regularly and variously barred rind, scarcely ribbed,
short-oval in shape, highly perfumed, and of the very
highest quality. This has been our favorite winter melon.
In midwinter we have had it with all the characteristic
flavor and aroma of autumn fully developed. It is also
an early melon, in season coming in just after Emerald
Gem.

77. Hero of Locking e melon.

Hero of Lockinge (Fig. 77). This ripens just after
Blenheim Orange. It is a firm melon of medium size,
with white flesh, dark in color, with a few very prom-
inent irregular bars, not ribbed, globular, the flesh ten-
der and excellent, but less aromatic than Blenheim.
This is one of the best of the frame melons, and is
very striking in appearance.

2l8 MUSKMELON.

Lord Beaconsfield follows Lockinge, but it has not
been valuable with us. It is a dull green, globular-con-
ical, misshapen melon, without ribs or netted markings,
and a soft, green flesh, which is rather poor.

Little Heath is a melon of medium size, shghtly ob-
long, dark lemon yellow, with no bars or markings ;

78 Masterpiece melon

flesh white and thin, only fair in quality ; productive, and
the crop is unif<.rm in ripening.

Masterpiece (Fig. 78). A very attractive melon, with
distinct ribs or segments, and a closely and prominently
reticulated rind ; globular-oval, of medium size, becom-
ing yellow, with a thick and very rich red flesh. One of

VARIETIES OP FORCING MELONS. 219

the very best, ripening ten days or two weeks after Blen-
heim Orange.

Enipress. A globular melon of rather small size, rib-
less, but marked with very coarse angular bars ; flesh
pale orange, of good quality, but occasionally inclined to
be somewhat acid. A pretty little melon, with curious
markings, ripening with Masterpiece. Less desirable than
Blenheim or Masterpiece.

Monarch. A good-sized melon, with sparse markings,
except about the blossom end ; dull yellow in color, not
ribbed ; flesh described as thick and solid, red, of ex-
cellent flavor. Ripens with Masterpiece. Our stock of
this melon appears to have been mixed, and we have
also grown a cross with Lockinge. Because of its vari-
able character and somewhat unattractive appearance, we
prize it less than some other varieties ; but it is probable
that a pure stock would have given more satisfactory
results. From one stock we got green-fleshed fruits of
best quality. We do not know which is the true Monarch.

Other varieties we have tested as follows : Sutton
A I, good size (a fruit picked January 26 weighed 2 lbs.
3 ozs.), very prominently and beautifully barred, the flesh
orange, quality of the very best ; Perfection, slightly fur-
rowed and scarcely netted, green outside, the flesh green,
but good and rich, though not so musky and aromatic
as Masterpiece ; Sutton Scarlet, flesh red, of excellent
quality ; Imperial, a rather soft, green-fleshed melon,
but the best variety (in a lot of a dozen or more)
tested in the season of 1895-6 (best fruit weighed i lb.
14 ozs.); Windsor Castle, large (specimen picked Janu-
ary 20 weighed 2 lbs. 6 ozs), with no ridges or bars (oc-
casionally a vestige of bars), flesh green, quality fair to
good. Amongst our own crosses. Masterpiece X Lock-
inge is perhaps the best. It has a pale-red or sometimes
lemon-colored flesh, and is somewhat variable in quality,
but generally very excellent. A sample of this fruit was
sent to a connoisseur on the 15th of January, who wrote

220 MUSKMELON.

as follows: "The melon was by far the most toothsome
article that has passed my lips this winter. Its flavor
carried me back to early fall, and made me doubt my
senses when I looked out of the window and saw snow
on the ground, and saw by the calendar that we had
begun the new year. I am greatly obliged to you for
being able to satisfy a summer taste in midwinter."

The varieties, then, which we chiefly recommend for
forcing, are Blenheim Orange, Hero of Lockinge, Mas-
terpiece, Sutton A I, Imperial, with, perhaps. Emerald
Gem for early.

Yields and markets. — A good crop of melons in the
winter months is an average of two to three fruits to the
plant. This means that some plants must bear four or
five melons, for there will almost certainly be some plants
upon which no fruit can be made to set. The larger the
fruits, the fewer each plant can mature. Four or five
pounds of fruit to the vine is all that can reasonably be
expected after November. In fall (that is, early Novem-
ber or earlier) and late spring crops, the grower should
expect four to five melons to the plant (with the plants
2 feet apart each way) ; this is about all that one can
obtain, even from small varieties like Emerald Gem. Of
the larger sorts, like Blenheim Orange, three or four
fruits is a good crop. In midwinter, we have not yet
been able to average above two good melons to the plant,
at 2 feet apart each way. The fruits will continue to ripen
for a week after they are picked. Ordinarily, if seeds
of Emerald Gem, Blenheim Orange, Hero of Lockinge,
or other early varieties, are sown August first, fruits may
be expected early in November. If the fruits are desired
in January, there should be two or three weeks' delay
in sowing. All plants grow slowly in the short, dark
days of midwinter. The novice should not attempt to
secure fruits later than Christmas time, for the growing
of melons should be undertaken cautiously at first.

The market for forced muskmelons will always be

INSECTS AND DISORDERS. 221

limited. These fruits are in every sense luxuries. I
doubt if one could grow them in winter for less than $i
each, unless he did it upon a large scale. Good musk-
melons in midwinter would bring almost any price, if
placed before the right kind of consumers.

Insects and diseases. — There have been three serious
insect enemies to our winter melons — black aphis, mites
( Tetranychus bimacidatus) , and mealy-bug. The best
method of dealing with these pests is to keep them off.
It is a poor gardener who is always looking for some
easy means of killing insects. If the plants are carefully
watched and every difficulty met at its beginning, there
will be no occasion for worrying about bugs. A fumi-
gation with tobacco smoke, or with the extract, twice a
week will keep away the aphis ; but if the fumigation
is delayed until after the lice have curled up the leaves,
the gardener will likely have a serious task in overcom-
ing the pests, and the plants may be irreparably injured
in the meantime.

For mites, keep the house and plants as moist as
possible. At all events, do not allow the plants to be-
come so dry that they wilt, for this neglect will sap the
vitality out of any plant, and it falls an easy prey to ene-
mies. When the mites first appear upon the foliage, — if
the gardener should be so unfortunate as to have them,
— knock the pests off with a hard stream of water from
the hose, or pick the affected leaves and burn them. If
the plants become seriously involved, so that all the
leaves are speckled-grey from the work of the minute
pests on the under side, then destroy the plants. Melon
plants which have become seriously checked from the
attacks of insects or fungi are of no further use, and
they may as well be destroyed first as last.

Mealy-bugs are easily kept off by directing a fine,
hard stream against them, when watering the house.
When these bugs first appear, they usually congregate
in the axils of the leaves, and a strong stream of water

222 MUSK MELON.

greatly disturbs their domestic arrangements. In one of
our melon experiments, when the mealy-bug got a foot-
hold, we picked them off with pincers. We went over
the vines three times, at intervals, and eradicated the
pests; and the labor of it — the vines were small --was
much less than one would suppose.

There are two troublesome fungous disorders of frame
melons. One is the mildew {Erysiphe Cichoracearum, or
Oidiiim of earlier writers), which appears as whitish
mold-like patches on the upper surface of the leaves.
It also attacks cucumbers. It may be kept in check by
evaporating sulphur in the house, as described on pages
91 and 92. It is imperative that the sulphur do not
take fire, for burning sulphur is fatal to plants.

The second fungus is canker, or damping-off (see
page 84). This usually attacks the plants after they have
attained some size in the benches, sometimes even when
they are in fruit. The vine stops growing, turns yellow,
and finally begins to wilt. If the plant is examined at
the surface of the ground and just beneath the soil,
the stem will be found to be brown, and perhaps some-
what decayed, the bark sloughs off, and sometimes deep
ulcers are eaten into the tissue. In this stage of the
disease nothing can be done to save the plant. The
treatment must be a preventive one. Keep the soil
dry about the stem. Do not apply water directly at
the root. In order to keep the soil dry, it is an ex-
cellent plan to hill up the plant slightly. It is also
well to strew clean, white sand about the plant to keep
the surface of the soil and the stem dry. If a little sul-
phur is mixed with the soil about the plant, the spread
of the fungus will be checked. Some persons sprinkle
lime about the plant to check the fungus.

A most serious difficulty once appeared upon our mel-
ons, and which we have called the house-blight (Fig. 79,
page 223). The first visible injury to the leaves was the
appearing of yellowish fungous-like spots or patches on

HOUSE-BLIGHT OF THE MELON.

223

the leaves. These patches soon become dead, dry and
translucent, and are often very numerous, as seen on
the upper leaf in the picture. Finally the leaf wilts and

79. Housf-blight of melon. The upper leaf just shovjins: the at-
tack {in the spots), the lower one dead as it han^s on the vin^.

224 MUSKMELON.

droops, and then shrivels and hangs on the stem, as
seen in the lower leaf in Fig. 79. So far as our
botanists have been able to determine, this disorder
is not due to any fungus or parasite. It is a physio-
logical disease. Fortunately, the cause of this attack
was not far to seek. The melons were in a perfect
state of health and vigor when, early in October, the
gardener and myself went away for a few days. The
house was left in charge of an attendant. The weather
came off cloudy and damp. The house was over-wa-
tered, the plants syringed, and the foliage went through
the night dripping wet. The next day the house did
not dry off. The second day, when I returned, I had
fears that dire results would follow, although the foliage
looked well. I had the temperature raised and the
house dried off. In two or three days the spots began
to appear on the foliage, and in spite of all our efforts
a third or more of the leaves were ruined and the plant^
seriously checked. What promised to be the best crop
of melons which we had ever raised turned out to be
almost a failure.

CHAPTER XII.

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

There are various crops of secondary importance
which thrive at temperatures which are acceptable to
tomatoes, cucumbers and melons. The details of the
management of the leading ones of these crops are

here set forth. , . , r.

It is probable that okra may be forced with proht,
for there is a good demand for the product in the New
York market. I do not know that any one has had any
practical experience with it as a forcing crop, but it is
now being experimented upon at Cornell.

Squashes and their kin can be grown under glass,
but it is not probable that they can be made a com-
mercial success (see page 6),

Green corn has been tried in a desultory way at Cor-
nell, but nothing has yet been made of it.

BEAN.

Bush beans are easily forced, and they constitute one
of the best secondary winter crops. We ordinarily grow
them upon cucumber, melon, or other benches while
waiting for the cucumbers or melons to attain sufficient
size in the pots for transplanting. We also grow them
in 8-inch pots or in boxes, placing them here and there
in the houses, wherever there is sufficient room and
light. Beans will be ready for picking in six or eight
weeks after sowing, in midwinter. Their demands are
simple, yet exacting. They must have a rich, moist
(225)

226

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

soil, strong bottom heat, and the more light the better.
We cover our benches with about 8 inches of soil, the
lower third of which is a layer of old sods. The top
soil we make by adding about one part of well-rotted
manure to two parts of rich garden loam. The soil
must never be allowed to become dry, and especal
care must be taken to apply enough water to keep the
bottom of the soil moist, and yet not enough to make
the surface muddy. With the strong bottom heat which
we use for beans, the soil is apt to become dry beneath.

Hill ^.^e* , -^tr-f,.^ _^'V^O.^.^- ^ -^

<->^ 1.

.^W

A bench of Sion House winter beans

We once had a good illustration in our houses of the
accelerating influence of bottom heat. One bench, to
which no bottom heat was applied for the first three
weeks, gave beans fit for picking on December 27. On
another bench in the same house, to which heat was
applied from the first, and upon which the same variety
was sown at the same time, the second sowing of beans
had been up for nearly two weeks at that date. The
lack of bottom heat delayed the crop fully four weeks.
The house should be light, and the benches should be
near the glass. A good bench of beans is seen in Fig. 80.

BEANS UNDER GLASS. 227

If the benches are unoccupied, the beans may be
planted on them directly, but if another crop is on
them, the beans should be started in pots. We like to
plant two or three beans in a 3-inch rose pot, and
transplant to the benches just as soon as the roots fill
the pot.

The night temperature of a bean house ought not to
fall below 60°. After the blossoms appear, give a lib-
eral application of liquid manure every five or six days.
The growth of beans should be continuous and rapid
from the first, in order to secure a large crop of tender
pods. The bean is self-fertile, and therefore no pains
is necessary to ensure pollination, as in the case of to-
matoes, and some other indoor crops. The house may
be kept moist by sprinkling the walks on bright days.

The essentials of a forcing bean are compact and
rapid growth, earliness, productiveness, and long, straight
and symmetrical pods. The Sion House answers these
requirements the best of any variety which we have yet
tried. It has green pods and party-colored beans. The
cut (Fig 80, page 226) shows with exactness an aver-
age bench of Sion House. English growers recommend
the Green Flageolet, and we have had good success with
it ; but it is about a week later than Sion House, and
it possesses no points of superiority. German Wax [Dwarf
German Black Wax) forces well, but the pods are too
short and too crooked. It is also particularly liable to
the attacks of the pod fungus. Newtown {Pride of New-
town) is too large and straggling in growth.

For market, the beans are sorted and tied in bunches
of 50 pods, as shown in Fig. 81 (page 228). These
bunches bring varying prices, but from 25 to 50 cents
may be considered an average. At these figures, with
a good demand, forced beans pay well. Only two or
three pickings of beans can be made profitable from one
crop ; and in some cases all the marketable crop is gath-
ered at one time. Much of the success of bean forcing,

16 FORC,

228

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

as of all other winter gardening, consists in having new
plants ready to take the place of the old ones. As soon
as the old plants are removed, fork up the beds, add a
liberal quantity of strong, short manure, and replant im-
mediately.

The enemies are few, red spider and mite being the
worst, and these are kept in check by maintaining a
moist atmosphere.

Sr. Winter beans ready for market.
EGGPLANT.*

The possibility of forcing eggplants successfully was
suggested by a crop which was grown under glass in
one of the market gardens near Boston, in the spring of
189T. These plants were not grown with the intention of
forcing them ; but as the greenhouse was vacant at the
time the main crop of eggplants was set out of doors,
it was filled with plants taken from the same lot as those
set in the open. The beds in which they were planted
were solid ; that is, the prepared soil rested upon the
natural surface of the ground, forming a layer from 12 to
15 inches in depth. During the preceding winter these
beds had served for growing lettuce, and they had con-
quently been well enriched with stable manure, a fertil-
izer which is especially effective in the production of

* E. G. Lodeman, Bulletin 96, Cornell Exp. Sta. Bulletin 26 of
this Station is an account of the cultivation of eggplants in the field.

BEHAVIOR OF EGGPLANTS. 229

rapid growth. In July, when the plants grown under
glass were compared with those planted in the open
ground, an astonishing difference could be observed.
Those set in the house were fully twice as large as the
others ; the leaves were larger and the stems thicker
than those generally found in the gardens of this lati-
tude, and the abundance of healthy foliage was ample
proof that the plants were subjected to conditions ex-
tremely favorable to their growth.

Another interesting point was soon noticed. Al-
though the plants were blossoming very freely, still
comparatively little fruit had set, and it appeared as if
the entire energies of the plants had been directed to-
wards the production of foliage at the expense of the
fruit. This condition may perhaps be ascribed to two
causes. Extreme activity of the vegetative functions of
plants is frequently carried on at the expense of fruit
production ; this fact is commonly illustrated by young
fruit trees which blossom sometimes several years be-
fore they set fruit. The growth of the eggplant men-
tioned above was sufficiently luxuriant to suggest the
possibility of its having some effect upon the fruiting
powers of the plants. The second and perhaps most
probable cause of this unsatisfactory fruiting may have
been imperfect pollination. Insects, and especially bees,
were not working so freely in the house as outside, and
later experience has shown very clearly that in order to
get a satisfactory crop from eggplants grown under glass
thorough pollination must be practiced. The foliage was
so dense that the flowers were for the most part hidden.
In such a position they were necessarily surrounded by
a comparatively damp atmosphere, especially when
borne upon branches that were near the surface of the
ground, and this would still further tend to interfere with
the free transfer of pollen by any natural agencies. Un-
der such conditions a profitable yield could scarcely be
expected ; yet when carefully observed, the plants

230

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

proved to be so full of suggestions regarding the proper
methods of treating them that they should have repaid
the time given to their cultivation by a plentiful harvest of
ideas, if not of fruits. The eggplant will generally set
fruit without the assistance of pollen, but the fruit never
attains its normal size. Fig.
82 shows a non-pollinated
fruit which has reached the
limit of its size. The reader
will be able to measure its
size by noticing that the calyx
covers almost half of it. The
fruit from which this picture
was made was about 4 inches
long.

Acting on the above hints,
several attempts have been
made to grow eggplants in
our forcing-houses, with the
object, however, of fruiting
them out of season. The first
lot of seed was sown August
30, 1893. It embraced the
83. Non-pollinated fruit. following varieties : Black Pe-
kin, New York Improved, Early Dwarf Purple, Round
Purple, and Long White. The seed was sown about
^ of an inch deep in rich potting soil. The flats, or
shallow boxes, which contained the seed were placed in
a warm house, and the after-treatment was very similar
to that commonly followed in the growing of tomatoes.

The seedlings required pricking out about four weeks
after the seed was sown. They were set in 2>^-inch
pots, where they remained until November 14, when
they were shifted into 4-inch pots. On December 17,
or nearly 16 weeks from the time of seed sowing, the
plants had filled these pots with roots, and they were
again shifted, but this time into benches. They were

EXPERIMENTS WITH EGGPLANTS. 23I

set 2 feet apart each way. The soil was about 6 inches
deep, and different in character in each of the two
benches used. One bench had been filled with a mix-
ture of equal parts of potting soil and manure from a
spent mushroom bed. This formed a very open and
rich soil, which appeared to be capable of producing a
strong growth. The second bench received a rich,
sandy loam, which had previously been composted with
about one-fourth its bulk of stable manure. The tem-
perature of the house was that usually maintained in
growing plants requiring a considerable amount of heat ;
during the night the mercury fell to 65° or 60°, and in
the day time it stood at 7o°-75°. In bright weather the
house was still warmer.

Considerable care was exercised in watering the
plants, the soil being kept somewhat dry : when grown
out of doors, eggplants withstand drought so well that
such a course seemed advisable when growing them
under glass. As the plants increased in size the leaves
shaded the soil, and an occasional thorough watering
maintained an excellent condition of moisture in the bed
filled with the loam. In addition, the soil was stirred
with a hand weeder when necessary.

For some time all the varieties in each bench ap-
peared to be doing uniformly well, but the plants set in
the sandy loam made a stronger growth and appeared
to be more vigorous. This was especially noticeable in
Early Dwarf Purple and New York Improved. The first
bloom appeared on the former during the last week in
December, and on the 3d of January, 1894, several plants
showed flowers that were well opened. These were
hand pollinated, and they set fruit freely. On February
15 some of these fruits were 2j^ inches long, the plants
still growing well and producing many blossoms. It
was at this time that the first flowers of Black Pekin
appeared, but New York Improved had not yet pro-
duced any, although it was making a strong growth.

232 MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

Round Purple and Long White were making a very
slow and weak growth.

A plant of Early Dwarf Purple that was photographed
INIay 29 is shown in Fig. 83. It was bearing at this time
21 fruits of varying sizes, and appeared to be strong
enough to mature fruits from buds that were still form-
ing. The larger fruits were fully 4 inches in diameter,
and nearly 6 inches long. They were not removed as
soon as grown, as should be done in order to get as

83. Early Dwarf Purple eggplant in winter.

large a yield as possible, and for this reason the product
of the plant is the more remarkable. All the fruits did
not attain the size mentioned above, for the crop was
too heavy for the plant to mature it properly ; neither
were all the plants of this variety equally prolific, al-
though their yield in many cases closely approached
that shown in the illustration. This variety proved to
be by far the most promising of those grown for forcing
purposes, and it appears to be capable of producing

VARIETIES OF EGGPLANTS.

233

crops which rival those grown out of doors. It is also
the earhest variety tested, a point which is of the great-
est importance. The eggplant is slow in coming to
maturity, even under the most favorable circumstances.
The above photograph was taken nine months from the
time of sowing the seed, but a cutting of fruit might
have been made fully six weeks earlier. This set fruit
more freely than any other variety, and in nearly every
desirable respect was superior to them. This Early

84 sprays of Early Dwarf Purple eggplant.

Dwarf Purple, as grown in the field, is shown in Fig. 84.
New York Improved was a very strong grower, and
produced large, handsome fruits. Unfortunately, but
few could be obtained from a plant, and the total yield
was, therefore, comparatively small, only four or^ five
maturing on the best plants. It is also considerably
later than the Early Dwarf Purple. The New York Inj-

234

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

proved, as grown out of doors, is seen in Fig. 85. In
the house the plant may be expected to be taller in pro-
portion to its breadth.

Black Pekin on the whole closely resembled the pre-
ceding, especially in the manner of its growth. But it
set scarcely any fruit, and that was so late that none
was matured before 10 montiis from the time of seed-
sowing.

8s. field-grown plant of New York Improved eggplant.

Long White proved to be a weak grower of very
slender habit. It was also very late, the fruits being
scarcely over 2 inches in length May 29. The plants of
this variety were slightly checked when young, and this
may have had a certain influence in delaying the ma-
turity of the crop, although the effect was probably not
very great. One desirable feature of this variety is its
smooth foliage, which appeared to be unfavorable for
the development and persistence of some of the insects

VARIETIES OF EGGPLANTS. 235

that attack greenhouse plants. But the lateness of the
variety and the few fruits produced by it will prevent it
from being profitably grown under glass.

Round Purple proved to be the most unsatisfactory
grower. All the plants showed symptoms of being in
unfavorable quarters, and the test with this variety re-
sulted in almost total failure.

Later attempts to force eggplants have been made,
although no duplicate of the above experiment has been
planned. The crops were started later in the season,
when more sunlight and heat were present. These
trials have thrown light upon some of the doubtful points
of former experiments, and have shown that it is possi-
ble to force eggplants in winter. New York Improved
eggplants are seen on the side in Fig. 71 (page 206).
The seeds for these were sown July 20, the young plants
shifted to 3-inch pots on August 28, and planted in the
bench September 13. When the picture was taken
(October 3) flower buds were just beginning to show.
The plants are standing 18 inches apart each way in al-
ternate rows, which is too close.

One of the results obtained is of special interest in
this connection. Some Early Dwarf Purple plants were
started early in August, and some of the seedlings were
grown in houses in which different degrees of tempera-
ture were maintained. The plants grown in an interme-
diate or moderately warm house made but little growth,
and were soon stunted and worthless. This showed con-
clusively that eggplants require a high temperature for
their rapid and vigorous development. Other plants
were placed in each of two warm houses, one of which
was shaded by means of a thin coat of whitewash upon
the glass. The plants in the other house were exposed
to direct sunlight, and they were also subjected to a
bottom heat of scarcely 5 degrees. Although the air
temperature of the two houses was practically identical,
the plants receiving the sunlight grew fully twice as fast

236 MISCELLANfeOUS WARM PLANTS.

as the others, and had open blossoms before those in
the shaded house showed any buds. When some of
the latter were removed into the same favored position,
they very soon showed a benefit from the change. In
this way the plants themselves emphasized the neces-
sity of plenty of sunshine for their development in win-
ter quarters ; and a certain amount of bottom heat, from
4 to 6 degrees, is also very beneficial, the air tempera-
ture at the same time being that of a warm house.

Eggplants designed for forcing should never be
stunted. An important aid to prevent this condition is
a soil which is open and still rich in available nitrogen.
A rich, sandy loam, in which all the ingredients are
well rotted, is preferable to one having the manure in
an undecayed condition. The latter is too open, and
is more difficult to maintain in a proper supply of
moisture. The soil should be sufficiently open to afford
good drainage, but not so coarse that it dries out very
rapidly. The bench mentioned at the beginning of the
article as containing manure from a spent mushroom
bed did not prove so satisfactory as the one containing
the sandy loam, largely because it was more difficult to
manage.

Another point which should not be overlooked in
forcing eggplants is the pollination of the flowers. This
is most satisfactorily done by hand, the small number
of insects found in greenhouses during the colder
months being of very little use in this respect. The
work can be done rapidly by means of a small, flat
piece of metal, such as can be made by flattening the
point of a pin with a hammer, and then inserting the
other end into a small stick, which will serve as a han-
dle. Such a spatula is also very convenient in nearly all
kinds of pollination made by hand, as it is so readily
kept clean of foreign pollen. In the center of the flower
will be seen the stigma, which projects beyond the tips
of the ring of anthers or pollen-bearing organs which

POLLINATION. — ENEMIES. 237

surround it. If an anther is separated and closely ex-
amined, it will be seen that there are two small openings
at the tip ; it is through these that the pollen normally
escapes. But this escape does not take place freely un-
til the flower has matured to such an extent that the
tips of the anthers stand erect and recede from the
stigma, leaving the latter standing unsupported. The
pollen can be most rapidly gathered upon the spatula
by inserting the point of the metal into the side of the
anther and opening it by an upward movement of the
instrument. In this manner a large quantity of pollen
may be gathered very rapidly, and it is the work of but
an instant to press it upon the end of the stigma. One
such treatment, if performed when the surface of the
stigma is adhesive, is sufficient for each blossom.

Eggplants are subject to the attacks of all the com-
mon greenhouse pests, but if care is exercised from the
beginning, no serious damage need be feared. Green-
fly is easily overcome by tobacco smoke, or the fumes of
tobacco extract, while mealy-bug can be overcome by
well-directed streams of water. The foliage of eggplants
is not easily injured by such applications of water, and
the insects may be dislodged with impunity as often as
they appear. The worst pests of eggplant foliage are
the red spider and his near relative, the mite. The lat-
ter is especially difficult to treat, as it is not so much
affected by moisture as the red spider is, and for this
reason it cannot be so readily overcome. The rough
foliage of the eggplant is especially well adapted to the
lodgment of these mites, and when they have once be-
come established, their extermination is practically im-
possible. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in
watching for the first appearance of these scourges, and
in destroying them as soon as discovered. It is well to
apply water freely to the foliage, even before the insects
appear, for the leaves do not immediately show their
presence, and such applications will do no harm. The

238 MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

Long White does not suffer from these insects so much
as the other varieties, since it has comparatively smooth
leaves, which do not afford a very secure retreat. Never-
theless, it will bear watching as well as the others. The
water that is applied should be directed mainly toward
the under surface of the leaves, as the mites are here
found in the greatest abundance, and these parts are also
most difficult to reach.

The returns to be derived from eggplants grown in
greenhouses cannot yet be estimated, since to my knowl-
edge no such products have ever been placed upon the
market. The first fruits from the south command a
good price, but whether the home-grown article will
meet with such favor that it will repay the cost of the
long period of growth cannot be told. The Dwarf Purple
variety may be depended upon to give the earliest and
surest results, but if bigger fruits are desired, the New
York Improved promises to be the best. The fruits
ought to sell in midwinter for 50 cents each, and if they
are very large and fine, for more than this. The experi-
ment of eggplant forcing from a commercial standpoint
is well worth trying.

PEPPER, OR CAPSICUM.

Red peppers are a most satisfactory crop for winter,
so far as the growing of them is concerned. They force
readily, yield abundantly, and are nearly free of insects
and fungous injuries. The large, puffy fruits are in de-
mand, just as they reach their full size and while yet
green, for the making of stuffed peppers, a delicacy
which is much esteemed in restaurants and hotels. The
so-called "sweet peppers" are the kinds sought, such
as Sweet Mountain (which we consider to be the best
for forcing), Procopp, Bell, Golden Dawn, and the like.
If the fruits sell for 5 cents each (and this is a common

PEPPERS UNDER GLASS.

239

87. A good type of pepper for winter forcing.

240

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

price), the grower ought to be able to make his ex-
penses ; and if he secures more, as he often can, the
growing of them should be fairly remunerative ; but he
will likely find that the peppers which are shipped in
from the south nearly all winter are most unwelcome
competitors in the general market. A plant should bear
half a dozen good fruits, which it can do if well grown
and if the fruits are picked just as soon as they are
fit for market.

In winter, about three and a half months are required
from the seed to the first saleable fruit, but the plants

need not be on the
benches more than half
or two-thirds of that
time. They are usually
started in flats, pricked
off into 3-inch pots and
turned out of these pots
(when in the condition
shown in Fig. 86) di-
rectly into the bench.
In one of our experi-
ments, seeds of the Sweet
Mountain were sown July
20, plants put into pots
August 28, set in the
bench September 14, and
gave the first picking
(one fruit to the plant) on October 21. They require
a longer time than this later in the season. A bench
3 feet wide will grow two rows of peppers, the plants
standing a foot apart in the row. Earlier results can
be secured by growing the plants in 6-inch pots, but the
crop .will generally be less and the fruits smaller. We
think that peppers like an intermediate temperature, —
a little cooler than for melons, —although we have had
good results in growing them along the edge of a bench

Pepper plant ready to transplant.

THE CYPHOMANDRA OR TREE TOMATO. 24!

in which melons were growing at the same time. The
flowers do not need pollinating. The fruits set of them-
selves, and are more or less seedless.

CYPHOMANDRA.

In 1886 Peter Henderson & Co. advertised seeds of
the Tree Tomato of Jamaica. I procured seeds and
grew the plants. The results of the effort, as published
at the time,* were as follows: "The so-called Tree To-
mato of Jamaica was reared from seeds last year, and
two plants were carried over winter in the greenhouse.
They were potted out in the spring. They grew well,
attaining a height of 8 feet. They blossomed profusely
during the fall, but did not set fruit. We shall carry
them over another year. This curious plant is a native
of tropical America, a member of the Solanum family,
though not a tomato. It is Cyphomandra betacea. It
has been widely distributed through the tropics of late
years. The fruit more nearly resembles an eggplant
fruit than a tomato. We have also grown it this year
from seeds from Peru, which were sent us as the
' Chileno Tomato. ' Of course the plant is valueless
in this climate."

I lost the plant until three years ago, when I secured
seed again from southern California, and as this book
goes to the printer two tree-like plants growing together,
7 feet high, and with a spread of 4 feet, bear their crop
of 46 curious, egg-like fruits (shown two-thirds natural
size in Fig. 88, page 242). The plants are three years
old, and were once cut back to stumps. The plants —
and we had others — bloomed profusely the second
year from seed, but no amount of hand pollination
would make the flowers set fruit. The present crop was
not hand-pollinated, but the fruits are full of seeds.

♦Bulletin 31, Michigan Agric. College, 10 (1887).

242

MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

Fruit and foliage of cyphomatidra. Two-thirds natural size.

THE CYPHOMANDRA. 243

They set in the summer when the house was thrown
open, but I suspect that the flowers are self-fertile. The
fruits measure almost uniformly 2 inches long and \%
inches wide. The color when ripe is a light, clear, red-
dish brown, shading into dull olive-green towards the
stem, and sparingly streaked with olive-green. In ex-
ternal features the fruits strongly resemble small speci-
mens of pepino. The fruit is two-celled, like a small
tomato, and has numerous tomato-like seeds on central
placentae. The flavor is a musky acidity, not very un-
like that of some tomatoes. Theodosia B. Shepherd, of
southern California, writes in American Gardening for
July II, 1896 (and gives a picture), as follows, of the
quality of the fruit, which, she says, is sometimes called
Brazilian Melon Fruit: "When fully ripe, it is deli-
cious. When the outer rind is taken off, and it is sliced,
it can be served as a salad, with dressing, or eaten with
sugar and cream. It makes a fine jelly or jam, with the
flavor of apricots, but more delicate. The ripe fruit does
not bruise easily, because of the thick outer rind, so
that it keeps a long time, and can be shipped long dis-
tances."

The leaves of this cyphomandra are large and heavy,
heart- shaped, and perfectly entire. The plant has a trop-
ical look, and a well-grown plant is always sure to attract
attention. The plant is much loved of the mealy-bug, but
we have found no fungi attacking it. We do not know
what forcing temperature best suits this plant, but I
imagine that it likes a cooler place than tomatoes do.

The cyphomandra fruit is sometimes seen in the New
York markets, coming from Jamaica, and is often called
Grenadilla. In the tropics, the fruit is eaten either raw or
cooked, after the manner of tomatoes. The plant there
attains a height of 10 or 12 feet. In Spanish America it
is said to be known as tomato de la Paz. The plant is
a native of South America, it having been introduced into
British gardens from southern Brazil by Tweedie, who

17 FORC.

244 MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS.

sent it to the Botanical Garden at Glasgow. It was
figured, without fruit, in 1839 in Botanical Magazine
(t. 3684), with a description by Sir W. J. Hooker. At that
time it was known as Solaftum fragrans. The genus
Cyphomandra was separated from Solanum by Martius in
1845. The latest account of the genus Cyphomandra
admits 38 species, all South American.

CHAPTER XIII.

SUMMARIES OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE
VARIOUS CROPS.

ASPARAGUS.

Asparagus is customarily forced from roots which
have been allowed to reach the age of four years or more
in the field. These roots are removed to the forcing-
house, and after being forced once are thrown away
(pages 127, 130).

The roots are dug late in fall, and are stored in a
cold cellar or a shed until they are wanted for forcing.
They are usually covered with straw, but freezing is not
injurious if they remain moist (page 130).

The clumps are generally forced under benches, in a
temperature suited to lettuce or cauliflower. High tem-
peratures give quick results, but the shoots are generally
more slender and spindHng (page 131).

The clumps are packed close together upon 2 or 3
inches of earth and covered with about 3 or 4 inches of
loose earth. In two to three weeks, edible shoots will
appear, and the cutting may continue for five to eight
weeks. The amount and value of the crop will depend
largely upon the strength of the clumps (pages 131, 132).

BEAN.

Beans are very easily forced for the green pods
("string beans"). They may be grown to maturity in
pots or boxes which are set in vacant places about the
(245)

246 MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS.

house, or they may occupy benches either as a leading
crop or as a catch crop with cucumbers, melons, or to-
matoes (page 225).

The soil for beans should be rich and " quick." We
use 6 to 8 inches of soil placed upon benches, making it
of garden loam and nearly or quite one-quarter of very
thoroughly rotted manure (page 225).

The temperature for beans should be approximately
that for cucumbers, — 60° to 65° at night, and 10 to 15 de-
grees higher during the day. The plants should have
strong bottom heat (pages 226, 227).

A good forcing bean is one which is early and pro-
ductive, compact in habit, and which bears long, straight
and symmetrical pods. We prefer the Sion House bean,
a green-podded variety (page 227).

Six or eight weeks are required from the sowing of
the seeds to the first picking (page 225).

Beans are self-fertile, and hand pollination is, therefore,
unnecessary (page 227).

House beans are usually marketed in neat bunches
(Fig. 81), containing 50 pods. In special and personal
markets, the pods should bring from Yz cent to i cent
each (page 227).

Not more than three good pickings can be expected
from any crop, and very often it is not profitable to re-
tain the plants after a single picking (page 227).

The leading enemies of beans are red spider and
mites. Keep the foliage moist if attack is feared (page
228).

BEET, CARROT.

Beets require such a long season, and yield so little
profit, that they are rarely grown as a main crop in forc-
ing-houses. They are commonly grown between late cu-
cumbers or tomatoes. Seeds are generally sown in flats,
and the young plants are pricked out into rows between
the other crops. If grown by themselves, beets require a

CAULIFLOWER CELERY CRESS. 247

lettuce-house temperature (page 145). Carrot is treated in
the same way, but is rarely forced for market.

CAULIFLOWER.

Cauliflower demands a low temperature (about 50° at
night and 10 to 15 degrees higher in the day), and a
solid bed (page iii).

Four to five months from the seed are required in
which to get marketable heads. The plants should be
transplanted at least once before they are set in their
permanent quarters. They should be planted about 16
inches apart each way (pages iii, 112).

The plants must be kept growing uniformly, else the
heads will "button" (pages 109, 112, 113).

The Snowball and Early Erfurt strains are good for
forcing (pages 11?, 113, 114).

The cauliflower may be troubled with aphis or green-
fly, but it has developed no other serious diseases or
difliculties under glass, unless possibly, in common with
all plants, a facility for damping-off (page iii).

Celery may be forced by starting the seed in fall or
very early winter, and holding the plants back until
spring. Early in March (or in February), the plants are
put in solid beds (in a lettuce or carnation house) 8 to 10
inches apart, and they are then set into rapid growth.
The plants are bleached by tying them up in stiff, hard
paper (page 139).

CRESS.

Water-cress grows readily on moist ground under-
neath benches in a cool or intermediate house (page 141).

Garden cress may be grown in beds or on benches
which are suited to the raising of lettuce. The seeds are
commonly sown where the plants are to stand (page 142).

248 MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS.

CUCUMBER.

Forcing cucumbers are of two types, the English or
frame kinds, and the White Spine kinds. The former are
characterized by very large size, partial or complete ab-
sence of spines, more or less seedlessness, very ram-
pant growth of vine, tardiness in coming into fruit, and a
long-continuing period of bearing. The White Spine type
is more commonly forced for market in this country
(pages 184, 194).

The English cucumbers like a temperature of about 60°
or 65° at night, and of 70° to 75° at day (page 186).

It is exceedingly important that the vines should be
kept in a uniform and vigorous condition of growth from
the start, but avoid pushing them very much in dull
weather. English cucumbers are gross feeders, and must
have a rich soil (page 186).

From 80 to 100 days are required, in winter, from the
sowing of the seed of English cucumbers to the securing
of the fruit. The plants must have good bottom heat
(page 189).

The plants are started in pots (3-inch rose pots being
excellent), which are at first only a third or half full of
earth. From these pots the plants are turned directly into
the benches, where they should stand about lYz by 3 ft.
apart. When in the pots, the plants must never be
allowed to become checked, and they must be kept free
of aphis (page 187).

The plants are trained upon a wire trellis, or some-
times on the roof. Usually two or three strong branches
or leaders are allowed to each plant, and a few strong
side shoots are taken out of each leader. All weak
growths are pinched out (page 188).

Leading varieties of English cucumbers are Sion
House, Telegraph, Edinburgh, and Blue Gown (page

190)-

It is generally necessary, to insure a crop, to hand-

DANDELION — EGGPLANT* 249

pollinate English cucumbers, although fruits will often
set without this labor and will be, therefore, wholly seed-
less (page 195).

White Spine cucumbers are forced in essentially the
same way as the English sorts, but they are oftener
grown as a spring crop (following lettuce or plant stock)
than the others are. They come into bearing sooner,
ripen their fruits more simultaneously, demand full sun-
light, and may be planted rather closer together than
the others (page 201).

The White Spine types should mature the entire crop
in about three months after the plants are set in the
benches. A plant will yield from 20 to 90 fruits, depend-
ing upon the management of the house, the strength of
the soil, the distance apart of the plants, and the thor-
oughness with which the fruits are picked when fit for
market (page 202),

Cucumber enemies are the mite, aphis, root-gall, and
mildew. For the mite, syringe the plants and pick off
the infested leaves ; for aphis, use tobacco fumigation and
pick infested leaves ; for root-gall, use soil which has
been thoroughly frozen ; for mildew, improve the sani-
tary conditions, and then use sulphur (page 200).

DANDELION.

Dandelion is sometimes forced from roots which are
lifted in the fall, the seeds having been sown in the
spring. The plant requires about the same temperature
and treatment as lettuce does (page 143).

EGGPLANT.

Eggplants are not forced for market, but the plants
can be grown under glass without especial difficulty.
Their season is long (5 to 9 months), and eggplant fruits
come in from the south in winter (pages 228, 233, 235).

The plants should be started in fiats or pots, and

250 MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS.

transplanted two or three times before going into perma-
nent quarters. The temperature, soil and general treat-
ment should be essentially the same as for tomatoes.
They must have bottom heat and full sunlight (pages 230,
235)-

Eggplants should stand about 2 feet apart each way if
the coarse-growing varieties are grown, and 20 inches if
the Early Dwarf Purple is grown (pages 230, 235).

Fruits will set without hand-pollination (Fig. 82), but
they will not grow to marketable size. Instructions for
pollination are given on pages 236 and 237.

Early Dwarf Purple is the earliest and most productive
variety for forcing, but the fruits are small. Our second
choice is New York Improved (pages 232 to 235).

Eggplant is loved of the green-fly, mealy-bug, red
spider, and mite. The spider and mite are its most
ardent admirers, and they must be freely baptized if it is
desired to keep them off (page 237).

LETTUCE.

There are two general kinds or types of forcing let-
tuce, that which forms more or less solid heads (Fig. 34),
and that which remains open and leafy (Figs. 32, 33).
The former is more prized in New England and other
eastern markets. It is more difficult to grow to perfec-
tion than the leafy type is, and is particularly subject to
influence by the soil.

Lettuce demands a night temperature of about 45°, and
never higher than 50°, and a day temperature of about
55° to 65° (page 94).

Solid or ground beds are most satisfactory for the
growing of lettuce. Upon benches, more care is required
in growing the crop, and the difficulties are aggravated if
the bench has bottom heat (page 94).

Good lettuce may also be grown in pots, and thereby
be marketed with a good ball of earth attached. This

LETTUCE. 251

method is little used, however (Fig. 33, page 99^.

The character of the soil has very much to do with
the ease of growing lettuce, and also with the quality of
the crop. Good lettuce soils should be very open and
porous (made so by the presence of sand and the absence
of clay), with a capacity to hold much water, but an
ability, nevertheless, to remain comparatively dry on top
(page 96).

The electric light has a marked effect in hastening the
maturity of lettuce (pages 80, loi).

A lettuce crop matures in seven to ten weeks if the
seed is sown in September. In the winter months, two
to four weeks longer may be required (page 10 1).

The first sowing (in early September) may be made in
the open, but subsequent ones are made in flats or in
vacant places in the beds (or possibly in hotbeds). Best
results are obtained if the plants are transplanted twice,
once into other flats or into temporary beds (about 4
inches apart each way), and again into their permanent
quarters, where they should stand about 8 inches apart
each way (pages loi, 102).

Leading varieties are the Boston Market (or White-
seeded Tennis Ball) and Grand Rapids. The former is a
heading lettuce (Fig. 34), and the latter non-heading (Fig.
32). There are several other good varieties (page 104).

Aphis or green-fly is held in check by keeping the
plants in a uniform condition of vigorous and healthy
growth, and then by fumigating with tobacco or by strew-
ing tobacco stems amongst the plants (page 104).

The rot is worst in soils which remain wet on top and
which contain much manure or decaying matter. Keep-
ing the temperature high and the house very wet also
favors it (page 105, Fig. 35).

The mildew is worst in houses which are kept very
close and warm and wet. It is most frequent when
draughts are allowed to strike the plants. When it ap-
pears, evaporate sulphur (first, however, improving the

25^ MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS.

sanitary conditions), taking care not to let the sulphur
catch fire (page io6).

Leaf-burn or top-bum is the result of bad sanitary
conditions, being especially favored by a soil which holds
too much water ; also by insufficient care in ventilating
and watering in dull weather. It is most harmful in the
heading varieties (page io6).

MINTS.

Sage and spearmint may be forced from plants trans-
planted to the house in the fall ; or, better, established
beds may be covered. They require a lettuce-house tem-
perature (page 143).

MUSKMELON.

Melons, when raised under glass, are generally grown
for a late fall or early spring crop. For midwinter use,
they are practically unknown, because the quality is gen-
erally poor (page 204).

Muskmelons may be ripened in full normal quality in
midwinter, however, if given much heat (65° to 70° at
night, and 80° to 85° at midday), if the soil is strong (par-
ticularly in mineral fertilizer), if the plants are never
allowed to become checked, and if the soil is kept dry
when the fruits are ripening (page 205).

Houses which are adapted to winter cucumbers and
tomatoes are also adapted to melons. The plants are
grown only on benches, at least for the winter crops, and
are given ample bottom heat. They need unshaded roofs
(page 207).

The soil for melons may be well-rotted sods from an
old pasture, with some thoroughly composted manure
worked into it. If the soil is naturally rich in nitrogen
(tending to make plants run to vine), stable manure
should be used very sparingly, or not at all. The soil on
the bench may be from 5 to 7 inches deep (page 207).

MUSKMELON. 253

Melon seeds are started in 2-inch or 3-inch pots, only
one plant being allowed to grow in each pot. The plants
are transferred to 4-inch pots, and then to the benches.
If the plants become stunted, they are worthless (page
210).

In benches 4 feet wide, the plants may be set 2>^ Ifeet
apart in two rows ; or they may be set 18 inches apart in
a single row. When only a single row is used, the row
may be set near one side of the bench and a part of the
wide side left unfilled ; in this unfilled portion the soil is
added at intervals, thus affording new forage as it may
be needed. It is always well to set twice as many plants
in the bed as will be needed, in order to insure against
losses from accidents, damping-off, and the like (page
209).

The plants are headed-in as soon as they are estab-
lished in their permanent quarters, in order to make them
branch and to set them into fruit-bearing. Three or four
main arms are trained out fan-shaped on a wire trellis,
and each one is headed-in when 4 or 5 feet high. All
blind and fine shoots must be kept off. Some growers
allow the main stem to grow straight up, and take out
side branches from it (page 211).

The fruits hang free, and are supported in slings of
soft broad cord, or in swings (Figs. 73,77, page 211).

Melon flowers must be pollinated by hand. The first
two or three pistillate flowers are not pollinated, for if
one fruit is set much in advance of the other flowers it
will absorb the attention of the vine, and it will be found
to be very difficult to set other fruits (page 214).

We have found good forcing varieties to be Blenheim
Orange, Hero of Lockinge, Masterpiece, Sutton A i, Im-
perial, and Emerald Gem. There are numerous other
acceptable varieties (page 215).

An average of two good melons to a plant is a good
crop in midwinter. In fall and spring, four and five fruits
may be obtained (page 220).

,254 MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS.

Insects troubling melons are aphis and mealy-bug, es-
pecially the latter. Fumigate with tobacco for the aphis,
and knock off the mealy-bug with a hard stream of water.
Mites are also serious on house melons. For these, keep
the foliage well syringed (page 221).

Diseases of house melons are mildew and damping-
off. For the former, improve the sanitary conditions, and
then use sulphur. For damping-off, or canker, keep the
earth dry about the crown of the plant, and use soils
which do not remain wet and pasty on top. House-blight
is a name which we have given to a physiological trouble
(Fig. 79), which arises when the plants are allowed to go
through the night wet, especially when other sanitary con-
ditions are bad (page 222).

PARSLEY.

Parsley is forced from roots taken to the house in the
fall, and which are raised from spring-sown seeds. Treat
essentially the same as for lettuce (page 142).

PEA.

Both dwarf and tall peas may be forced. The former
give earlier results, but the larger and better yields are
obtained from the half-tall varieties. Varieties like Rural
New-Yorker will mature in 70 to 80 days from the seed
in winter. The temperature should be as low as for let-
tuce. Peas may be grown in solid beds or in boxes
placed amongst other plants. Peas yield little, and they
are rarely forced for market (page 135).

PEPINO.

The pepino is a solanum, something like eggplant,
which may be forced in a cool house. It is a sub-shrub,
and is propagated by cuttings. Cuttings taken in March
may be expected to bear the next January or February.

PEPPER RADISH. 255

It is best to grow the plants in pots or boxes. The plant
is little known in this country, but it is no doubt worthy
of considerable attention (page 146).

PEPPER.

Red peppers are very easily forced, and if one can get
5 cents or more apiece for the fruits he should be able to
grow them for the winter market. The southern-grown
product is cheaper, however, and scarcely inferior (page
238).

Peppers need bottom heat, a little cooler temperature
than melons, but hand-pollination seems to be unnec-
essary (pages 240, 241).

The plants are handled like tomato plants, and about
3^ months are required, from the seed-sowing, in which
to get the first fruits. The plants may stand a foot apart
in the row, and 2 rows can go on a 3-ft. bench (page
240V

We like the Sweet Mountain best for forcing. Only
the large and puffy, or "sweet," peppers are forced
(page 238).

RADISH.

Radishes require to be grown quickly, else they are
worthless. About 35 to 40 days is required to mature
^he crop, from the time of sowing the seed (pages 115,

123).

The proper temperature for radishes is 45° to 50° at
night, and 55° to 65° at day (pages 118, 125).

Radish seed is commonly sown where the plants are
to stand. The smaller varieties may be grown in drills
which are only 3 inches apart, but most varieties need 4
or 5 inches between the rows. The plants should be
thinned to nearly or quite 2 inches apart in the row.
Uniformly large seeds give the surest and most uniform
results (pages 115, 117, 122).

256 MANAGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS CROPS.

Solid beds should be used for radishes, and the house
should be light and airy. If benches are used, they
should have no bottom heat (pages 116, 119, 122).

The soil should be warm and quick, with an ordinary
amount of sand, and no coarse manure. It should be
made rich by working old manure thoroughly into it.
The short radishes will thrive in 4 inches of soil, but bet-
ter results with most kinds will be obtained in 6 to 8
inches (pages 116, 122).

The varieties are many. Amongst those which may
be commended are Ne Plus Ultra, Roman Carmine, Prus-
sian Globe, New Rapid Forcing, French Breakfast, New
Crystal Forcing, and Long Scarlet Short-top. The turnip-
shaped kinds are usually preferable (pages 120, 124).

RHUBARB.

Rhubarb or pie-plant is forced in essentially the same
manner as asparagus (which see). The roots of mature
plants are dug in the fall, and they are bedded in hotbeds
or underneath benches in a cool or intermediate house,
being covered with 2 to 6 inches of soil (page 134).

SPINACH.

Spinach is now rarely forced under glass, because the
crop can be more cheaply grown in the south. It is
handled in essentially the same manner that lettuce is
(page 142).

TOMATO.

The tomato is rapidly assuming great importance as a
commercial forcing crop. It is often profitable even in
the face of the competition of the early crop from the
south (page 153).

For winter crops, the best results are obtained in
houses which are used primarily for tomato growing, but
spring crops may be advantageously grown following car-

TOMATO. 257

nations or winter lettuce. The house should be warm
and very bright, with at least 5 or 6 feet of head room
above each bench (pages 153, 8).

The temperature for tomatoes should be about 60° to
65° at night, and about 75° at day (page 154).

The soil should be rich, but the manure which is used
in the earth should be well rotted and broken down.
Rich, rather loose garden loam, to which a fourth or fifth
of the bulk of fine manure is added, makes an ideal soil.
Liquid manure may need to be applied when the plants
come into bearing (pages 154, 53).

Tomatoes should always have bottom heat, unless,
perhaps, for the late spring or early summer crop. They
are grown in both benches and boxes, nearly all com-
mercial growers preferring the former because of their
cheapness. The benches contain from 6 to 8 inches of
soil (page 157).

House tomatoes are grown both from seeds and cut-
tings, and both methods are in common use. When
made from strong, healthy shoots the cuttings are prob-
ably in every way as good as seedlings, and they usually
bear sooner ; but cuttings are likely to perpetuate a weak-
ness of a plant, and they are apt to give only indifferent
results when taken from old and partially exhausted
plants. On the whole, seedlings are probably preferable
(page 155).

The second crop of the season (coming on in late
winter) may be obtained either from new seedling plants,
from cuttings, from a shoot trained out from the old
stump, or by burying the old stem and allowing the tip
to continue to grow. Seedlings are usually preferable, as
indicated in the last paragraph (page 166).

From four to five months are required, after seed-sow-
ing, to secure ripe fruit. Seeds are usually sown in flats,
and the young plants should be handled at least twice
(preferably into pots) before they are put into permanent
quarters (page 155).

258 MANAGEMENT OF TKE VARIOUS CROPS.

The plants may be trained either to a single perpen-
dicular stem (being tied to a vertical cord), or two or
three stems or branches may be taken out and trained in
a fan-shaped fashion (either on diverging cords or on
wire trellises). For single-stem training (which is gen-
erally considered to be best), the plants may be set about
20 X 24 inches ; in the fan system, they are set from 2 to
3 feet each way (pages 160, 158).

The heavy clusters of fruit are held up in slings of
raffia or soft cord. The plants must be kept open, and
free from all stray and blind growths (page 161).

Especial care must be taken not to water too freely
in heavy soils, and particularly in dull weather. Over-
watered plants may develop dropsy, and they are liable
to many ills (pages 161, 177).

Tomato flowers must be hand-pollinated. This opera-
tion is done in midday, when the sun is bright and the
house dry. The best method is to collect the pollen in a
spoon or ladle (Fig. 53) and to touch the end of the
stigma with the dust (page 162).

The tomato fruit seems to be increased in size by a
very liberal application of pollen (Fig. 55), and it devel-
ops more symmetrically if care is taken to apply the
pollen equally over the entire stigmatic surface (page 163).

In winter, single-stem tomatoes should average about
2 lbs. of good fruit to the plant, and in spring and early
summer twice that much (page 169).

The most popular forcing tomato in this country is
Lorillard. Other good ones are Ignotum, Chemin Market,
Golden Queen, Volunteer. Almost any of the free-grow-
ing varieties force well (page 172).

House tomatoes are generally sent to market in neat
splint baskets (like the Climax) holding from 4 to 10 lbs.
of fruit. Each fruit should be wrapped in soft paper
(page 174).

Animal parasites of the tomato are the aleyrodes scale
(kept in check by tobacco fumigation), mite (held at bay

TOMATO. 259

by syringing the plants and picking off infested leaves),
and the root-gall (prevented by using only soil which has
been thoroughly frozen since a crop has been grown upon
it) illustrated in Fig. 29, and discussed on pages 84 and
85 (page 175)-

Diseases of house tomatoes are fruit-rot (pick off the
injured fruits), blight or rust (spray with fungicide), dropsy
(caused by too much wet and too little light), and winter
blight (destroy the plants), this last being very little
understood (page 177).

tS forc.

INDEX.

Page

Accidents 2

Adsched, on melon 205

"Agricultural Science," quoted. 96

Aiton, on pepino 150

Aleyrodes 89, 175

Alga 67

Alternation of crops 7

"American Garden," quoted 85^ 151
"American Gardening," quoted,

102, 121, 243
"American Naturalist," quoted,

192, 194
* ' Annales des Sciences, ' ' quoted . 194
Aphis 104, III, 125, 200

— destroying 84, 86, 89

Apples, pollination of 165

Artotrogus Debaryanus . . .85, 86
Ashes for forcing-house soil. . 55
Asparagus, account of . . .127, 130

— mentioned 4, 5. 7

— summary of 245

— temperature for . . . .5,49, 50
Atkinson, on damping-off. . . 84

— on cEdema 178

Bailey, on damping-ofF 85

— on electric light 80

Barkham, James, on melon . . 209,

212, 215

Bauhin, quoted 192

Bean, account of 225

— mentioned . 6, 7

— prices of 4

— summary of 245, 246

— temperature for 5

Beds 40

Bees in forcing-houses 81

Page
Beet, account of 145

— electric light on 80

— mentioned 5, 6

— summary of 246

— temperature for 5

Beets and sub-irrigation .... 77

Benches 40

Benson, Martin, and pepino. . 151
Bermuda, cucumbers in . . 185, 196

Bisulphide of carbon 90

Blight of tomato 180

Bordeaux mixture . . 84, 177. 182
" Botanical Magazine," quoted 244

Botrytis vulgaris 105

Brazilian melon fruit 243

Britton, W. E., quoted 53

Bubbles in glass 207

Building forcing-houses .... 16
Busch, Fred., mentioned ... 48

Butted glass 37

Cabbage-worm in

California, cyphomaiidra in, 241, 243

— pepino in 151

" Canadian Horticulturist,"

quoted 175

Canker 84, 222

Capsicum. See Pepper.
Carnations and vegetables ... 8
Carrot, account of 145

— electric light on 80

— mentioned 5, 6

— summary of 246

— temperature for 5

Category of forcing crops ... 4
Cauliflower, account of . . . 108

— electric light on 80

(260)

INDEX.

261

Page
Cauliflower, mentioned, 6,17, 43, 140

— summary of 247

— temperature for 5. 49

Celery, account of 139

— mentioned 5,6,7

— summary of 247

— temperature for 5. 49

Cellars, use of . . 4

Cement for gutters 33

— for walls • . • 35

Central America, pepino in . . 150
Charcoal and damping-ofF. . . 84
Chester Co., carnations in . . . 8

Chicory 4

Chileno tomato 241

Chrj'santhemums, mentioned. . 140

Cladosporium fulvum. 177

Clay and lettuce-growing ... 8

Climate and forcing 8

Coal, cost of 9-15

Coates, Leonard, quoted. ... 2

Compost heaps . . 64

Connecticut experiments in

fertilizing lettuce 61

on manures 63

on tomatoes 53

Construction of houses 16

Cool plants 4, 49

Corbett, L. C, mentioned ... 92

Corn . 225

Cornell experiments, quoted . . 42

54,80,82,84. 135.

146, 177, 178, 180 225, 228

— experience with radishes. . . 121
Cornell, sub-irrigation at. . . . 68

Cos lettuce 4

Cost of forcing-houses . . . 46

Cow manure 52

Cresses 141, 142

Cress, mentioned c

— summary of 247

— temperature for 5

Crops for forcing, category of. 4

Crosses of cucumbers 199

Cucumber, account of 184

Page

Cucumber, mentioned . 2, 5, 7, 43'

51,52,80,83

— prices of 4

— summary of 248

— temperature for . . . . . 5, 50
Cucumis longus 192.

— sativus van Sikkimensis. . . 194
Cut-flowers and vegetable

growing i

Cut-worms 52

Cyanide of potassium , . . . 90
Cyphomandra, account of . . 241

— temperature for 5

Daintiness of product 3

Damping-off" 67, 84, 222

Dandelion 143

— summary of 249

Denitrification . 62

Diseases, account of 83

Distance from market ... 8

Drip 29, 30, 38

Dreer's " Vegetables under

Glass," mentioned . . . . 16, 118

Dropsy 84, 177

Duke of Northumberland cu-
cumber 193

Eggplant, account of 228

— mentioned 5, 6

— summary of 249,250

— temperature for 5, 50

Eisen, Gustav, on pepino . . . 149,

150, 151
Electric light for forcing.

houses 80, 94, 101

England, melon in ... . . . 204

Erysiphe 200, 222

Escarolle 4

Even-span 18

Failures, cause of. 3

Fertilizers 52

Fire, risk of 2

Fir-tree oil 176

Flanagan, Patrick, and the cu-
cumber 193

" Flora Peruviana," quoted . . 149

262

INDEX.

Page
Florida, pepino in 151

— tomatoes from 7

Flowers and vegetables .... 7

Flues 46

Forcing crops, category of . . 4

Forrest on cucumbers 194

Framework 24

Frost, risk of 2

Fruit-rot of tomato 177

Fuel, cost of 9, 15

Fumigation 86

Fungi, account of. ... .83

— mentioned . . . 23, 51, 59, 66, 67
Galloway, B. T., on lettuce soils 96

— on radishes 121

"Garden and Forest," quoted. 132,

146, 151, 180

Garden-cress 142

"Gardeners' Magazine,"

quoted 193

" Gardeners' Monthly," quoted,

149, 151, 152
Gardner, John, on asparagus . 132

— on damping-off. ^5

Gas pipe and sub-irrigation. 71, 72
Glasgow Botanical Garden,

cyphomandra in 244

Glass 36, 207

Glazing 36

Green-fly, 84, 86, 89, 104, iii, 125, 200

Green corn 225

" Greenhouse Construction,"

mentioned 16

Green, W. J., on lettuce soils . 97

— on sub-irrigation 68, 77

Grelck, J., and pepino 150

Grenadilla 243

Grubs 52

Guatemala, pepino in 149

Gulf states, eggplant in ... . 6

Gutters 24, 33

Hare, Thomas, and the cucum-
ber 193

Hastings, Gen. Russell, on cu-
cumber 196

Page
Heating, account of 40

— cost of 9-15

— item 2

Help, cost of. 9-15

Henderson, Peter & Co., on

cyphomandra 241

Heterodera radicicola 177

Hooker, Sir J. D., on cucumber 194
Hooker, Sir W. J., on cypho-
mandra 244

Horse dung 63

Horticultural Soc, Royal,

quoted 209

" Hortus Kewensis," quoted . 150
Hotbeds, asparagus in .... 132

Hot-water heating 40

House-blight of melons ... 222

Hughes' fir-tree oil 176

Humphrey on damping-off ... 85

Hydrant water 65

Hydrocyanic gas 90

Illinois, heat and labor in . . . 13
Importance of forcing industry 7
Indiana, heat and labor in . . 13

Indian corn 225

Insects, account of 83

— mentioned 23, 51

Irrigation in forcing-houses . . 68

Ithaca, climate of. 113,211

Jamaica, Tree Tomato of . . . 241

Jenkins, E. H., quoted 53

"Journal Obs. Phys.," quoted . 149
Journal Royal Hort. Soc.

quoted 209

Kentucky, heat and labor in . . 15
Kerman, John, on tomato . . . 175
Kerosene, to clean houses. . 84, 85

Kinney pump ... 68

"Kitchen and Market -Gar-
den," quoted 196

Knight, Thomas Andrew, on

melon 204

Kiihn on manure 63

Labor, cost of. 9-15

— item 2

INDEX.

265

Page

Lapped glass 38

Leaf-burn of lettuce 106

Leaf-mold 51

Lean-to. ... 18

Lepidium sativum 142

Lettuce, account of. 93

— and sub-irrigation ... 72, 77

— Cos 4

— electric light on 80

— fertilizing 61

— mentioned 5,7.8,43,46'

68, 8j, 140, 146, 153

— prices of 4

— summary of . . . 250,251,252

— temperature for 5, 49

Lima bean 6

Lime whitewash . 80

Liquid manure . 52

Locations for vegetable forcing 8
Lodeman, quoted . .82, 86, 115,

135, 180, 228
London Horticultural Society,

mentioned . 193

Lonsdale, on damping-ofF. . . 85

Lye to clean houses 85

Maine Experiment Station,

quoted 159, 164, 173

Maize 225

Management of forcing-
houses 49

Manure 50, 52, 62

Marketing 3, 8

Marrows 6

Martins, on cyphomandra . . . 244
Massachusetts bulletins, quoted,

35,42,53, 85

— heat and labor in 11

Massey, on damping-ofF. .... 85
Maynard, on damping-off . . . 85

— on heating . . 42

Mealy-bugs .. . .84,221,237,243
Meehan, on damping-ofF. ... 85
Melon, account of 204

— mentioned . . . . 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 17,

43,51,52,53,65,67

Page
Melon fruit, Brazilian 243

— pear 147

— shrub 147

Melongena laurifolia 149

Mentha viridis 1,13

.Michigan bulletins, quoted . . 42

165, 241

— heat and labor in 12

Micrococcus in winter blight .1S2
iVIiUlew of lettuce 106

— mentioned 10, 83, 84

Mills, George, on melon. . . 209
Minnesota bulletins, quoted . . 35

— heat and labor in 13

Mints, account of 141, 143

Mint, temperature for . ... 5
Mites . . 84, 90, 176, 200, 221, 228, 237

Mold, leaf. 51

Mortises 33

Moss 67

MThail, quoted . . . . 192

Munson, W. M., exiieriments

with tomatoes . . . 159, 164, 173

on pepino ..... 146, 152

Muskmelon, account of . . 204

— summary of . . . 22, 253, 254

— temperature for 5, 50

— see also Melon

Mustard 143

— temperature for 5

Naphtha, in whitewash .... 80

Naudin, on cucumbers 194

Nematode 84, 177

New Hampshire bu'Ietin,

quoted 69

New Jersey, heat and labor in 14

pepino in 152

Station, quoted .... 5}

New York Exp. Station, quoed 99

heat and labor in ... 11

" Nicholson's Dictionary of

Gardening," quoted 196

Night man 10

Nitrogen and forcing crops . . 54

— availability of 62

264

INDEX.

Page

Nitrogen, loss of 62

CEdema 177

Ohio bulletins, quoted . . .53, 69,
72, 97, 104

— Station, sub-irrigation at . . 68

Oidium 200, 222

Okra 225

Onion, account of 144

— temperature for 5

Ontario, heat and labor in. . . 11

— tomatoes in 157

" Orchard and Garden," quoted,

149. 151, 152

Packing 3

Parsley, account of. 142

— and sub-irrigation 77

— summary of 254

— temperature for 5

Pea, account of. 135

— electric light on 80

— mentioned 5, 6

— summary of 254

—temperature for 5

Peat 51

Pennock, C. J., on tomato

growing 163, 167, 169

Pennsylvania, heat and labor

in 13

Pepino, account of 146

— de la tierra 150

— mentioned 6

— summary of 254

— temperature for 5

Pepo 149

Pepper, account of 238

— mentioned 5, 6

— prices of 5

— summary of 255

— temperature for 5, 5°

Peronospora gangliformis . . 106

Peru, pepino in 149

Pie-plant 134

Piping 16, 41, 43

" Plantes PotagSres." quoted . 192,

194

Plants and vegetables 7

Plate 30

Pollination . . .81, 162, 195, 214, 236

Potato 146

Pot-herbs, account of. 141

Prices of hothouse vegetables . 4

Purlines 26

Putty, recipe for 37

Radish, account of 115

— electric light on 80

— mentioned 5, 6

— summary of 255, 256

— temperature for 5, 49

Radishes and sub-irrigation . . 77

Rafters 26

Rain water 68

Rane, F. W., on electric light. . 80

on sub-irrigation, 69, 71,77, 78

Rawson, W. W., on electric

light 80

on lettuce growing . . 102, 104

Red pepper: See Pepper.
Red spiders (see Mites) 84, 228, 237
" Revue Horticole,'" quoted. . 189
Rhubarb, account of ... . 127, 134

— mentioned 7

— summary of 256

— temperature for . . . .5, 49, 50

Ridge-pole 33

Risks in forcing business. ... 2

Romain salad 4

Roofs i7i 18, 24

Root crops 145

Root-galls 79, 84, 87, 177

Rose-leaf extract of tobacco . . 89

Rotation of crops 7

Rot of lettuce 105

— of tomato 177

Rousignon, on pepino 151

Royal Hort. Soc, quoted. . . . 209
Ruiz and Pavon, on pepino . . 149
" Rural New-Yorker," quoted . 144

Rust of tomato 52,177

Sage 143

Salads^ account of 141

INDEX.

265

Page

Salad, Romain 4

Sash-bars 27, 29, 37

Sash-bar roofs 26

Sash for ventilating 35

Scott, William, on asparagus. . 132

Sea-kale 4, 128

Sewer pipe and sub-irrigation . 70
Seymour, on damping-off. ... 85

Shading, account of 78

Shed roofs 17, 18

Shepherd, Theodosia B., on

cyphomandra 243

Shipping 3, 8

Short-span-to-the-south .... 23

Side-hill houses 24

Sikkim cucumber 194

Sion House, cucumber . » . . . .193

Soil and forcing 8

Soils, account of. ... . 50, 66, 96
Solanum fragrans, 244

— Guatemalense 147

— Melongena 151

— muricatum 150

South America, cyphomandra

in 243

Spearmint 143

Spiders, red 84, 228, 237

Spinach 142

— and sub-irrigation 77

— electric light on 80

— mentioned 6

— summary of 256

— temperature for 5

Spraying for insects and dis-
eases 84

— roofs 80

Squashes -6,225

Stable manure 50, 52, 62

Staple crops 5

Steam heating 40

Stoves 46

String beans • 6, 225

Sturtevant, quoted .... 192, 194

Sub-irrigation 68

Sulphur, evaporating . . 84, 91, 106

Page

Sulphuric acid 90

Sun-scald 79

Sun-scorching 79

Taft, on cost of houses 46

— on heating 42

Taft's "Greenhouse Construc-
tion," mentioned 16

Tear-drops in glass 207

Temperatures for various crops 5,
49

Tenons 33

Tetranychus bimaculatus 90,
176, 221

Thoreau, on melon, 205

Thouin, on pepino 150

Tiles and sub-irrigation .... 70
Tobacco extract 89

— for fumigation . . . .87,104,111
Tomato, account of. 153

— de la Paz .... 243

— fertilizers for 53

— mentioned . . . . 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 17,

43, 44. 52, 53. 67, 184

— prices of 4

— summary of. . . 256, 257, 258, 259

— temperature for 5.5°

Tomatoes and sub-irrigation. . 77

Top burn of lettuce 106

Transportation facilities .... 8
Tree tomato of Jamaica .... 241

Turnip, account of 145

Tweed ie, and the cyphomandra 243

Uneven-span 18, 36

Van Fleet, W., on onions ... 144
" Vegetable Forcing," men-
tioned 16, 92

" Vegetables under Glass,"

mentioned 16, 118

Ventilating, account of .... 78

Ventilators 35

Vilmorin, quoted 192, 194

Violets, fumigating 90

Wagner on manure 62, 63

Walker, C. D,, on electric cur-
rents 80

266

INDEX.

Page

Walks i6, 17, 24

Walls 16, 33

Warm plants 4, 50

Washington experie.ice with
radishes 121

— heat and labor in 15

Water-cress 141

Water heating 40

Watering, account of. 65

— mentioned 9, 50

Watermelon 205

Page
Watson, on damping-oflf. ... 85
West Virginia Station and sub-
irrigation 69, 71

electric light at So

White Spine cucumbers .... 201

Whitewash 80

Winkler's " Vegetable Forc-
ing," mentioned • 16, 93

Winter blight. ........ i8.>

Wire-worms 52

The Best and Newest
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THE SPRAYING OF PLANTS. By E. G. Lodeman, late of Cornell Uni-
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WORKS BY PftOFESSOR BAILEY

HE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE:

A Collection of Evolution Essays Suggested
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BAILEY, Professor of Horticulture in the Cornell
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FOURTH EDITION- 515 PACES — 22 ILLUSTRATIONS — 92.00

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47< PACES— 13S ILLUSTRATIONS — $2.00

In this entertaining volume, the origin and de-
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ESSONS WITH PLANTS: Surges-
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revision of names of organisms, whether of plants or animals. Those in-
vestigators who are busied with the ecological aspects of organisms, and
also those who are chiefly concerned with the application of plants to the
arts of agriculture, horticulture, and so on, care for the names of organisms
under examination only so far as these aid in recognition and identification.
To introduce unnecessary confusion is a serious blunder. Professor Bailey
has avoided the risk of confusion. In short, in range, treatment and edit-
ing, the Cyclopedia appears to be emphatically useful ; . . . a work worthy
of ranking by the side of the Century Dictionary."— TA« Nation.

This work is sold only by subscription, and terms and
further information may be had of the publishers.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

64 66 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK

B/.5-5.^

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