Gkeenhouse Kotes. 159 



were grown in 6-inch pots, but this was thereafter abandoned as too 

 expensive. 



The house in which the two crops of last winter were grown is a low 

 two-thirds span, facing the south, 60 feet long by 20 feet 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 seven or eight inches of soil and 

 is supplied with mild bottom heat from two and l^^-inch steam pipes. 

 The main or central bench, seven feet wide, is solid; that is, it is a 

 ground bed and has no bottom heat. The soil in this bed is about eight 

 inches deep and it ) ests upon a natural subsoil of very hard clay. The 

 soil in both beds was placed upon them last 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. We prepare soil for all Avinter vegetables in essen- 

 tially this manner. The lower bed, which had bottom heat, did so 

 poorly 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 equalled 

 them in size and percentage of good heads; and they were conspicuously 

 lacking in uniformity. 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 24th. The 

 plants, having been once transplanted, Avere set in the beds October 4th 

 and 5th, about 16 inches apart each way. Three varieties were used, — 

 Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt, Gild Edge Snowball and Early Snowball, 

 all supplied by J. M. Thorburn & Co. 



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. 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 watering too much and in giving 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. 



